Mississippi's No. 1 recruit Suntarine Perkins leads Raleigh to district title

Ryan Higdon was filled with pride when addressing his team in the postgame huddle. Raleigh (9-1, 5-0 3A Region 6) outlasted Hazlehurst (9-1, 4-1) 36-34 to claim a third consecutive MHSAA Class 3A-Region 6 district title.

This time, the Lions needed late game heroics from Ole Miss commitment Suntarine Perkins and Javarious Walker to escape with the victory.

However, Higdon and his coaching staff are already looking forward to the start of the Class 3A playoffs on Nov. 4. Raleigh was in a similar position last season, 5-0 in district play, before losing 26-20 to Jefferson Davis County in the state semifinals. Higdon has his eyes on a state championship.

"Five more games," Higdon said. "Let's get ready to go back to Raleigh to win five more games."

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Perkins, a 2022 Dandy Dozen selection, finished with 162 rushing yards, a touchdown and an interception in the two-point victory. The senior helped the Lions remain together on after a 39-28 loss to Madison-Ridgeland Academy on Sept. 23.

Higdon's mother, Cherie Higdon, died on Sept. 19, followed by the death of junior defensive back Isaiah Strickland two days later. Raleigh's football program also lost 16-year-old Ethan Adcock in a drowning in June.

"We stayed focused," Perkins said. "We lost Ethan over the summer before the season and then we lost Isaiah. It was hard."

The Lions won five straight games after the loss to the Patriots by an average of 31.2 points per game. Higdon called on his team to remain focused on the ultimate goal of winning another district title and hosting playoff games that night and Raleigh delivered. There is no adversity in the district championship game that would be harder than they faced earlier this season, Higdon told the Lions before the game.

"These kids are fighters," Higdon said. "They're tough kids. They very easily could have hung their head, started pouting when Hazlehurst had a couple big plays on us but they didn't. We got the ball back and went right to work. I just think that's the mentality. After we lost Isaiah, our guys went righ back to work.

"We took a little time to mourn and all that but our kids went right back to work, even after the loss of two players this season."

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Hazlehurst tied the game at 20 with 1:01 left in the third quarter behind a 64-yard TD run from Cameron Hawkins. Perkins, the No. 1 recruit in the state, had an immediate response with a 38-yard TD run on the following drive and Javarious Walker sealed with victory with a 11-yard TD run with 4:52 remaining.

Now, Raleigh is focused on avenging last season's loss to Jefferson Davis County.

"Last year we failed at South State against JDC," Perkins said. "We're hungry off that and we showed it this year."

This article originally appeared on Mississippi Clarion Ledger: Mississippi's No. 1 recruit Suntarine Perkins leads Raleigh to district title