By Brad Greer

Heading into Friday night’s opening round game of the Academy AA playoffs, one of North Delta’s main objectives was to slow down Simpson Academy’s leading rusher Kyle Munn. As it turned out Munn was the least of the their problems.

While the Green Wave did keep Munn in check to the tune of 56 yards rushing, it was Cade Eiland that stole the show. The sophomore tailback shredded the state’s top rated defensive scoring unit for 302 yards rushing and four touchdowns to lead the No.2 ranked Cougars to a 27-8 victory over the Green Wave Friday night in Mendenhall. Simpson will now advance to the second round where they will host Indianola.

Eiland’s scored on runs of 77, 65, 63 and 3 yards as the Cougars rolled up 368 yards rushing on the night.

North Delta drove to the Simpson 33-yard line on their opening possession but were forced to punt after an illegal procedure penalty negated a 28-yard pass play from Derek Shawn to Bryan Nickle that would have given the Wave first- and-goal inside the Cougar 10-yard line.

Following the punt, Simpson wasted little time getting on the board as Eiland took a handoff and raced 77 yards into the endzone to cap a six-play 95-yard drive as Justin Griffin tacked on the PAT at the 5:52 mark of the first quarter.

Eiland added his second touchdown on a 63-yard scamper on the first play of the second quarter to give the host team a 13-0 lead after Griffin’s point after attempt sailed wide left. North Delta started their next series in great field position after Tres Brasell returned the ensuing kickoff 58 yards to the Cougar 32. But on the second play from scrimmage, Shawn was picked off by Matt Herrington on the Simpson seven to end the threat.

Simpson, (10-1), pushed the lead to 20-0 as Eiland scored from three yards out with 3:14 remaining in the half. The Cougars rushed for 178 yards in the first half while holding North Delta to three first downs.

“I felt like offensively we should have moved the ball better and kept them off the field , but we did not execute very well. Our passing game is not were it needs to be and they loaded up the box on us with eight men and forced us to throw the ball and right now we are not good enough to do that,” said Green Wave head coach Dan Werner. “We drove the ball down the field and had a couple of chances to put points on the board but we did not take advantage of them.”

After Griffin shanked a 26-yard field goal that ended Simpson’s opening possession of the third quarter, North Delta drove to the Cougar 16 only to turn the ball over as Herrington picked off Shawn’s pass in the endzone. Simpson then put the game away on their following drive as Eiland scored his final touchdown on a 65-yard jaunt to complete a three-play, 80-yard drive to make the score 27-0 after Griffin tacked on the PAT with 1:09 remaining in the quarter.

North Delta, (8-3) avoided the shutout with 2:14 remaining in the game as Brasell spun his way into the endzone on a 15-yard run. Nickle added the final margin by running in the two-point conversion. The drive was aided by pass completions of 29 yards from Shawn to Nickle and a 26-yard keeper from Shawn.

“Other than winning a state championship I could not be happier with how our guys played and worked hard all year and how they reacted to me and the coaches. It is a great group of kids and I enjoyed myself,” said Werner.

North Delta finished the night with 155 yards rushing to go along with 118 yards passing for a total of 273 yards of offense. Simpson meanwhile registered 368 total yards with all of that coming on the ground. Brasell led the Green Wave with 76 yards on 22 carries while Nickle followed with 32 yards on seven carries. Brasell eclipsed the 1,000 rushing mark for the second straight year as the junior finished the season with 1,045 yards and 12 touchdowns.

Fullback Michael Magee chipped in with 28 yards on four carries while Shawn added 19 yards on two totes. Shawn finished the night 9-of-19 passing but was picked off four times. Nickle was the leading receiver with three catches for 60 yards while John Cody Dalrymple also hauled in three passes for 26 yards. Corbin Baker, Magee and Brasell all added one reception each.

North Delta held a 16-15 advantage in first downs while being penalized six times for 48 yards. Simpson meanwhile was flagged three times for 25 yards.