By Veto Roley/Sports Writer

D’IBERVILLE — Behind Jordan Walley, who threw for three touchdowns and ran for two more, D’Iberville built a two touchdown lead with a little under six minutes left and hung on to beat Petal 42-35 in the first round of the Class 7A Mississippi high school playoffs Friday night.

The win moves the Warriors (10-1) into the second round for the first time since 2020. D’Iberville has not been past the second round since they lost to Noxubee County 12-10 In the 2008 Class 4A state championship.

The Warriors will travel to Oak Grove (9-2) next week for their second round matchup. Oak Grove trounced Biloxi 34-8 to advance.

The Panthers ended their season with a 9-3 mark.

“We got beat by a very good football team tonight,” said Petal coach Marcus Boyles. The loss is the earliest exit for a Petal playoff team since 2020, when they fell to D’Iberville 33-31 in the opening round.

D’Iberville was the only team from its region to advance to the second round.

Despite Petal winning five of the last six playoff meetings between the two teams, D’Iberville coach Josh Ladner, who moved to sole possession of fifth place on the Warriors’ coaching win chart with his 30th win directing the Warriors, said he didn’t believe in curses. Still he said it was good to get past Petal and into the second round.

“That’s a very good football team over there,” he said. “Coach Boyles runs an excellent program.”

However, if not for the foot of senior kicker Melzer Villeia, the Warriors might have been the fourth team from Region 4 eliminated in the first round.

Walley’s 44-yard strike to Chan Harvey in the third quarter put D’Iberville up for good, 35-28.

Walley would then engineer a 16-play 95 yard drive to seemingly seal the Warrior’s lead at 42-28 with 5:59 left to play. In the drive, Walley converted three third downs, finishing the drive with a 10 yard run that became a rugby scrum at the five with Walley staying on his feet and his offensive line pushing him the last 5 yards.

However, quarterback Caiden Belton and runningback Chavez Walker brought Petal back. On the third play of the drive, Walker found a seam for 23 yards. Later, he would catch passes of 14 and 6 yards to advance the ball to the D’Iberville 22.

From there Melton would need just one play to bring the Panthers to within 7, 42-35, hitting Jarvis Roberts in the endzone with 2:47 left.

Petal would attempt an onside kick, but D’Iberville’s Harvey recovered the kick at the Warriors’ 43. The Petal defense would force a three-and-out with 1:59 left.

Villeia, who had converted two onside kicks earlier in the game for the Warriors, connected on a high spiraling punt that went 52 yards and out of bounds at the Petal 1.

“He’s the best kicker in Mississippi,” said Ladner. “He can put the ball where he wants it to go. He’s a magician kicking the ball.”

Belton went back to work for Petal, hitting Josh Crawford on a 9-yard throw and Acely Brown on a 16-yard pass play to get to the 34. A 32-yard strike to Brown would take the ball to the Warriors 29 with 31 seconds left in the game.

That would be, though, as close as the Panthers could get as two incomplete passes led to a 7 yard Aaden Ladner sack of Belton with the clock expiring before Petal could get another snap off.

Bowles said Villeia’s punt to the Petal 1 was too far to overcome with just two minutes to play. “Driving the ball 99 yards with two minutes is tough to do.”

The game opened with Petal dominating with two long drives. The Panthers drove 86 yards in eight plays, overcoming two false starts in the first possession of the game, penalties that moved the ball back to the Petal 4.

Belton connected with Brown for 23 yards before hitting Crawford on a 47-yard strike to give Petal an early 7-0 lead.

After a D’Iberville fumble gave Petal the ball on their 40. Brown had runs of 18 and 14 yards before concluding the 9-play drive with a 5 yard run.

“I knew we had to get to work,” said Walley.

Walley, who was 18-of-27 passing for 266 yards on the night, connected on three passes in D’Iberville’s second drive, hitting Kori Gibbs on a 28 yard strike bring the Warriors to within seven late in the first quarter.

With 7:10 left in the opening half, Walley would tie the game at 14 apiece sprinting in from 15 yards out. The Minnesota commit finished with 140 yards on 16 carries to account for 406 yards from scrimmage.

“He is awesome,” said Ladner. “It’s a team sport and everyone helps out, but he makes a lot of plays.”

Belton would respond for Petal, hitting Crawford on a 38 yard pass play, setting up Walker’s 5 yard run to put the Panthers up 21-14 with just under 4 minutes in the half.

D’Iberville, though, would close the half with a flurry. Walley found Gibbs alone behind the Petal defense on a 68-yard strike. Then, following a Petal fumble that gave D’Iberville the ball at the Panthers 32, Walley scrambled for 24 yards to set up Owens’ 2-yard plunge that left the Warriors leading 28-21 at the half.

After holding the Warriors to a punt on the first drive of the second half, Belton tied the game at 28-28, hitting Tate Myers on a 38-yard strike four minutes into the third quarter.

Belton finished 16-of-26 for 278 yards and three touchdowns to pace Petal. Crawford had four grabs for 110 yards and Brown three catches for 73 yards. Brown added 69 yards and a score on 11 carries and Walker notched 87 yards and a touchdown on 16 carries. His 3 catches for 20 yards pushed him past 100 scrimmage yards.

Armani Bell had six catches for 54 yards to led the D’Iberville receiving corps. Owens added 47 yards on four catches. Although Gibbs had only two catches on the night, both ended in the endzone and accounted for 96 yards.