Sophomore PJ Brown was the workhorse for No. 1-ranked Mobile Christian as the Leopards rolled into the quarterfinals of the Class 3A playoffs, beating Houston Academy 35-10 on Friday at Harrison Field in Mobile.

Brown carried the ball 27 times for 235 yards and a pair of touchdowns for Mobile Christian, which finished with 393 total yards. Quarterback Damien Gatson completed 6-of-11 passes for 121 yards.

The undefeated Leopards won their 12th straight game and have reached the third round of the playoffs for the seventh time in the past 12 years.

Mobile Christian scored first on a 2-yard run by Jordan Woullard in the opening quarter. Houston Academy (10-2) knotted the score in the second period on a 72-yard touchdown pass from Kadyn Mitchell to Rod Jackson.

The home team took a 14-7 lead into halftime after Gatson scored on a 4-yard run.

Nate Selig cut the advantage to 14-10 with a 28-yard field goal for the Raiders, but Jason Todd pushed the Leopards out to a 21-10 margin with a 11-yard touchdown run. Brown closed out the contest with a pair of fourth-quarter touchdowns, on runs of 16 and 8 yards.

Houston Academy’s Mitchell hit 10-of-18 pass attempts for 207 yards with a TD and one interception. Jackson caught 4 passes for 104 yards. Brady Whigham ran the ball 22 times for 69 yards for the Raiders.

The Mobile Christian defense was stingy on third down, allowing just 2-of-10 third-down attempts by the Raiders. The winners converted 4-of-9. Both teams made 1-of-2 fourth-down tries. The Leopards also recovered a pair of fumbles and had 3 sacks.

Mobile Christian will meet Trinity in a third-round game next week.

Here’s a look at other playoff games from throughout the state:

CLASS 6A

Pike Road 31, Spanish Fort 17

Pike Road returned an interception for a touchdown and blocked a punt for another score in Friday’s 31-17 victory over Spanish Fort in the second round of the Class 6A playoffs.

Pike Road (10-2), which trailed 17-0 at halftime, has won 10 straight games and has now won at least 10 games in four of the last five seasons.

Spanish Fort (9-3) has now fallen in the first or second round for three straight seasons. The Toros’ seven-game win streak also ended.

Pike Road’s Trey Caver blocked a punt and Adrian Thornton recovered it for a TD in the third quarter, and LaCedric Foster’s 30-yard interception return for a touchdown with about a minute to go sealed the victory.

Pike Road quarterback Cason Meyers finished 14-of-22 passing for 214 yards and two touchdown passes, and Jordan King had four catches for 138 yards, including TD catches of 75 and 49 yards.

Pike Road travels to Benjamin Russell next week.

CLASS 5A

Headland 35, UMS-Wright 21

Headland’s playmakers shined and the supporting cast was solid during a 35-21 win over UMS-Wright in the second round of the Class 5A state playoffs Friday night.

Jaxon Williams threw four touchdown passes – two to Caleb Dozier and one each to Connor McKenzie and Tylen Williams – and Marcus Reeves scored a rushing TD as the Rams (10-2) advanced to host Class 5A No. 1-ranked Gulf Shores next week in the quarterfinals.

“Our big-play guys – we knew they couldn’t guard Conner McKenzie (wide receiver), Caleb Dozier (wide receiver) and they couldn’t tackle Jaxon Williams (quarterback) in space … not a lot of people can,” Headland coach Reggie Melton said.

“Those guys really locked in this week and worked really hard and bought in to what we said. We said the first one to get to 28 in this ball game is going to win, because they’ve (UMS-Wright) struggled to score all year.

“But they’re great on defense and we knew that we weren’t going to be able to run the ball on them all night, so we knew we were going to have to use some of our playmakers. We got those guys in space and they just did what they know how to do – make plays.”

A year ago, UMS-Wright (7-5) defeated Headland in the first round of the playoffs 56-13, but the Rams were the aggressor from the start.

UMS-Wright coach Terry Curtis, the state’s all-time winningest coach with 355 wins in 35 seasons, was impressed with Headland.

“I just like for people to play that hard, and they played hard and played well,” Curtis said. “They outplayed us from the get-go and deserved to win.”

Jaxon Williams had 228 yards passing in completing 17-of-22 passes and rushed for 95 yards on 26 carries.

Reeves had 74 yards rushing on 18 carries.

For UMS-Wright, Joe Lott rushed for 158 yards on nine carries and threw for 142 yards, completing 11-of-16 passes with two interceptions. He threw a 13-yard touchdown pass to Ty Yance.

— The Dothan Eagle

Pleasant Grove 49, Boaz 7

Pleasant Grove scored on its first six possessions and earned a 49-7 win over Boaz in the second round of the Class 5A playoffs at Dr. L.F. Corley Jr. Stadium.

Boaz (6-6) scored first beginning the game’s opening possession at its 36 and needed only five plays to score, as Tristan Childers scored on a 1-yard run with 10:24 to go in the first quarter.

Pleasant Grove began its first drive from midfield. On the first play, quarterback Eric Handley threw an apparent 50-yard touchdown pass to Cam Wormley but Pleasant Grove was flagged for an illegal block. After the penalty the Spartans still had a first down at the Boaz 24.

Two plays later, Collin Moore scored on a 5-yard run for a 7-7 tie.

After a Boaz three-and-out, Pleasant Grove needed seven plays to go 59 yards to take the lead. Jordan Smith scored the touchdown on a 3-yard run. B

Wormley scored the next touchdown on a 40-yard run with 3:16 left in the first quarter to cap a three-play, 68-yard drive. Smith added a 1-yard run to cap a three-play, 57-yard drive to make it 28-7.

Pleasant Grove’s added two touchdowns through the air, as Handley threw a 43-yard touchdown pass to Monterrius Towns with 8:25 to go in the first half and a 46-yard touchdown pass to Clarence Taylor.

Boaz then drove from its 43 to the Spartan’s 31 where Pierce’s fourth down pass was batted in the air by Michael McGuire, who caught the ball and raced 91 yards for the final touchdown of the game to make it 49-7 at halftime.

Stat sheet: Handley completed 10-of-17 passes for 234 yards. Moore finished with 98 yards rushing on 11 carries. Pleasant Grove finished with 402 total yards. … Childers led Boaz with 75 yards on 22 carries. Boaz had 141 total yards.

What’s next?: The Spartans (10-1) advanced to the quarterfinals and will return to Marshall County to face Guntersville next week. The Wildcats rallied from a 17-6 deficit to beat John Carroll 20-17 in its second round matchup.

– Ricky Smith

CLASS 4A

Montgomery Catholic 24, T.R. Miller 14

Senior Caleb McCreary ran 18 times for 131 yards and a touchdown to lead the top-ranked Knights past T.R. Miller (8-4) at Catholic Field in a Class 4A second-round playoff game.

Josh Griffin ran for 83 yards on 8 attempts with a touchdown and Jaden Phifer had a 90-yard interception return for a score for Catholic (12-0).

Myles Khatri notched 10 tackles with 2 for a loss, Rickie Williams had 9 stops with 2 pass break-ups and Jo Pierce and KJ Washington finished with 7 tackles each for the Knights, who have given up 53 points – 4.4 per game – this season.

CLASS 2A

Tuscaloosa Academy 38, Southeastern 6

Junior quarterback Preston Lancaster completed 21-of-24 passes for 293 yards and three touchdowns and ran for a pair of TDs as the Knights rolled past Southeastern and into the third round of the Class 2A playoffs.

Tuscaloosa Academy has advanced to the third round in both seasons since the Knights joined the AHSAA.

Mills Powell ran for 94 yards on six attempts and scored twice for No. 8 Tuscaloosa Academy. James Stanard had a TD catch for the Knights (10-2).

Kaleb Colgrove gained 58 yards on six carries, and Nic Evans ran for 57 yards on 9 attempts. Ellis Hamiter and Mills Turnipseed had one interception apiece.

Southeastern (7-4) extended its playoff streak to five seasons and won a first-round game for the third straight year.

Tuscaloosa Academy plays at Pisgah next week in 2A quarterfinals.

CLASS 1A

Maplesville 28, Sweet Water 21

Not many teams have walked out of Sweet Water’s Nolan Atkins Stadium with a playoff win.

But Maplesville did it Friday night.

Maplesville’s Aiden Abbott caught a 35-yard touchdown pass in the fourth quarter – his second TD of the night – to life the Red Devils (8-4) to a 28-21 victory over the Bulldogs (9-2) in the second round of the Class 1A playoffs.

The teams played to a 14-all tie at halftime, as Sweet Water’s Caleb Dixon caught a 17-yard TD pass from Nate Norris and Deshanard Blanchard caught a 23-yard TD pass form Norris. Maplesville answered with 1-yard touchdown run by RaShun McCary and Abbott’s 11-yard touchdown reception.

McCary scored on a 2-yard run in the third quarter for a 20-14 lead, and Sweet Water’s Elliott Lucy later scored on a 1-yard run and David Etheridge’s extra point gave Sweet Water a 21-20 lead.

Maplesville scored the game’s final points on Abbott’s 35-yard TD catch and added the 2-point conversion for the final score.

Maplesville advances to next week’s 1A quarterfinals against Elba, a 47-28 winner over Millry.

This post will be updated