By Stan Caldwell/Sports Writer

BROOKLYN – Tylan Keys continues to make the amazing look routine.

The junior running back for Poplarville High, who was named “Class 4A Mr. Football” in the state Friday afternoon, was in rare form Friday night in the opening round of the Class 4A football playoffs running all over Forrest County AHS in a 49-20 victory in front of a loud crowd at Henley Field.

The Hornets (6-4 overall) continue their state championship defense in the second round, where a trip to Forest awaits next week. The Aggies completed a successful season at 6-4 themselves.

“At times, we relaxed mentally, and made some mistakes,” said Poplaville coach Jay Beech. “But we made enough good plays, big plays to come out on top.”

So, how good was Keys against Forrest County?

Keys came into Friday’s contest with 2,051 rushing yards this season, averaging 11.0 yards per carry and 227.9 yards per game. And he surpassed both averages by a healthy margin, running 22 times for 281 yards and four touchdowns.

“We’re on a roll now,” said Keys. “We’re practicing as hard as we can. Seniors are stepping up, everybody’s taking accountability, and we’re coming together.

The Aggies were on their heels for most of the night, after surrendering a quick 14-0 lead in the first quarter, but fought back and played on even terms with Poplarville through the rest of the first half.

“You put men in the box, and if they get to him, he’s going to break tackles,” said FCAHS coach Bo Russum. “He’s so elusive.

“On film it doesn’t show up as much as it does when you see him in person, how elusive he is, how it doesn’t take much of a hole for him to hit and be there at the next level. There’s a reason he’s got 10,000 offers from Power 5 programs. He’s that good.”

Poplarville got the ball to open the game and wasted no time getting down the field, with Keys capping a five-play, 51-yard drive with a 4-yard scoring run.

The Hornets rarely pass the ball, but when they do, it’s usually effective, and a 33-yard pass from sophomore quarterback Trac Smith to sophomore Remy Naquin to the Aggie 8-yard-line was the big play in the opening drive.

FCAHS responded with a good drive, led by sophomore quarterback Sean Walker, getting two first downs, converting the second on a third-and-8 for a first down at the Poplarville 41.

But a holding call on second-and-10 walked the Aggies back, the on third down, Walker was sacked and the ball was stripped, and senior Nathan Brown recovered for the Hornets.

“We’ve been waiting for a game where we can rush the passer like we want,” said junior defensive tackle Sam LeJeune “We had some sacks, but we also had some pressure that hurried some throws. It was a good game.

“(Walker) was giving some issues early, but we realized we needed to get into our bag with our pass rush. We picked up the pass rush, forced some bad throws.”

Taking over at the FCAHS 37, Poplarville used six plays to score, and again, it was the pass that did it, a 19-yard scoring toss from Smith to junior tight end Chadwick Brown, just his third catch of the season.

“It was nice to get a lead there, and put them behind,” said Beech. “Give them a lot of credit, they never gave up, they stayed in the game right to the very end

But Walker started finding the mark on the subsequent possession, after a 40-yard kickoff return by junior Cleveland Thompson to the Aggie 45.

Walker passed to junior Tyrique Britton for 16 yards, then 15 yards to senior Terrence Horne on a fourth-and-8 to the Poplarville 12. On third down, Walker rifled a pass over the middle to senior Derrell Britton for the touchdown that got the Aggies back in the game.

Walker finished the night with 14 completions in 34 attempts for 221 yards and three touchdowns. But he was picked off twice in the second half, one on a leaping grab by Smith along the sideline and the other on a tipped ball.

Poplarville answered the Aggie touchdown in the most Poplarville way ever, grinding out an 18-play, 86-yard drive – all runs – that took almost 10 minutes off the second-quarter clock.

“Give our kids, and their kids, credit,” said Beech. “They didn’t let us break a long one, made us earn it. We had to execute 18 plays without mistakes to score. Usually if we can win on first and second down, it makes it easier on third down.”

The Hornets converted four third downs on their long march – they were 6 of 8 on third down for the game – starting with a third-and-4 on an 11-yard run by Naquin from the Poplarville 20.

Keys had a 10-yard pickup on a third-and-6 near midfield, Smith ran for 8 yards on a third-and-5, and a third-and-1 with a 2-yard sneak up the middle for a first-and-goal at the Aggie 7, and Smith got the touchdown on a 4-yard run two plays later.

The PAT was blocked, but Poplarville had its two-touchdown lead back.

In all, Poplarville owned significant advantage in time of possession, holding the ball for 29 minutes, 34 seconds to 18:26 for Forrest County.

Poplarville made frequent use of Keys, and later sophomore Samaj Jamison, in a wildcat formation taking a direct snap, sometimes keeping, other times handing off.

“It does, man, it befuddles the defense,” said Keys. “But my o-line worked their butts off tonight, and I just followed behind them.”

But the Aggies weren’t quite done yet. On third down from the Aggie 47, Walker found Horne all alone along the right sideline, and Horne took the reception 53 yards to cut the Hornets margin to 20-14 with 56 seconds to play in the first half.

So it was a confident Forrest County team that went to the locker room, and the Aggies would get the ball to start the third quarter, but there was a wisp of a shadow over their heads after the final play of the half.

After the Aggies sacked Smith for a 15-yard loss, the Hornets gave the ball to Keys to just run out the clock, and all he did was break into the clear as the horn sounded and dash 66 yards before the desperate Aggie pursuit ran him out of bounds.

It was a portent of things to come.

On the first play from scrimmage in the second half, Walker had a nice gain on a pass to Tyrique Britton only to have it nullified by a false start, and the Aggies were forced to punt after the thee-and-out.

Poplarville took over at their own 38-yard-line, and this time Keys took it to the house, sweeping around right end and racing away from the FCAHS defense for a 62-yard scoring run.

“I was trying to make something happen big,” Keys said. “But he had a good angle on me, though, and he got me. Then to come back after half and get that big one on the first play, my o-line, they did a big one there. I’m really proud of them.”

Defensively, the Hornets completely took the ground game away from the Aggies, allowing a net of 22 yards rushing, a total that included three sacks for 34 yards in losses.

“We took them out of what they wanted to do,” said LeJeune. “We shut down the run, and that was our game plan.

“I thought I played sorry in the first half, and I told myself, I’m better than this. We realized we had to come out and dominate in the second half.”

FCAHS tried a fake punt after a second three-and-out, but punter Landyn Anderson’s pass to Horne on fourth-and-9 came up 5 yards short.

Poplarville made the Aggies pay for it, taking the turnover and covering 40 yards on six plays, with Keys getting last 15 yards to give the Hornets a 35-14 lead midway through the third period, after Keys ran the conversion.

Poplarville’s only turnover of the game, a fumble early in the fourth quarter gave Forrest County the ball at the Hornet 30, and after a holding call walked them back 10 yards, Walker connected with Britton, who leaped over two defenders for a 38-yard touchdown pass.

“First half, we had some plays where we weren’t where we were supposed to be,” Beech said. “But our coaches did a good job of adjusting at halftime on defense, and got that corrected a little.”

But that was the last gasp for the Aggies. On the first play after the kickoff, Keys wrapped a bow around his performance with a 54-yard touchdown run.

Forest, the top seed in Region 6-4A, advanced with an 18-7 victory over Choctaw Central, and Poplarville and its fans know the way, having traveled to play the Bearcats on its march to the state title.

“Yeah, we played up there last year, so we know how to get there,” Beech said.