The Itawamba AHS Indians went into last Friday night's game with one primary mission: Secure a home-field playoff spot. That didn't prove to be an easy task, as they faced a 7-1 Pontotoc squad coming off their first loss of the season last week to the Shannon Red Raiders.

Pontotoc was also determined to acquire that home-field playoff advantage and gave everything they had to the favored Indians.

Things looked to be off to a good start for IAHS early. Even though they punted to the Warriors after six plays on their opening possession, Bronson Smith's punt was perfectly kicked to pin Pontotoc at their own 1. On the Warriors first offensive play, the Indian defense gashed the offensive line and brought the Pontotoc ball carrier down in the endzone for a safety to take a 2-0 lead.

After receiving the following kickoff, the Indians were in business at their own 38 and attempted a trick play to get a quick score. Ashton Shumpert lined up at quarterback in the "Wild Indian" formation with Deshawn McGaughy joining him in the backfield at running back, and Maikhail Miller lined up as a slot receiver to the left.

Shumpert took the snap and appeared to run an option with McGaughy to the left, but Miller came around and took the pitch going in the opposite direction. Tight end Dillon Mitchell streaked toward the goal post with no defenders within 20 yards of him, but Miller planted to throw but slipped down on the wet turf for a 10-yard loss.

After the game, Miller said "I took that pitch, then looked up and saw Dillon wide open. I planted on my back foot to make a strong throw because he was so far down the field, but my cleat didn't dig in. I just slipped and fell."

The loss on that play set the Indians back and they couldn't recover, punting after two more plays.

The Indian defense forced another immediate punt, after Trae Bobo drilled Pontotoc quarterback Canden Dallas for a loss of a yard on second down, then Matt Harris and Nick Stegall got heavy pressure on him to force an incomplete pass on third down.

IAHS took over with good field position at the Warrior 33 and immediately went to work. Facing third and 8 from the Pontotoc 31, Shumpert took a swing pass from Miller and scampered 12 yards on a nice run for a first down at the Warrior 19.

A penalty set the Indians back with a 1st and 20, and they picked up 7 yards with a screen pass to McGaughy. Miller suffered a rare sack for a loss of 3 yards, and the Indians looked at a third and 16. Miller then connected with Mitchell on the Pontotoc sideline for a gain of 14 to set up fourth and 2 at the Pontotoc 21.

McGaughy took the next handoff and bulled his way to the Warrior 8 to set up first and goal, that ultimately set up his 5-yard touchdown run two plays later. Glynn Brown connected on his extra point attempt to bring the score to 9-0 at the end of the first quarter.

IAHS forced a quick punt early in the second quarter, then returned the favor after only four offensive plays.

The Warrior offense then switched their look, going to a wishbone offense and settled in to run the ball right at the heart of the Indian defense.

Pontotoc began from their own 15, and picked up 3 yards here and 4 yards there, en route to an 18-play drive that ended with a 6-yard touchdown run by Warrior running back Randall Crayton. More importantly, that long drive chewed up over nine minutes of the clock and kept the ball out of the hands of the Indian offense.

IAHS let the clock run out and went into the locker room at halftime clinging to a 9-7 lead.

The third quarter was filled with sloppy play from the IAHS offense, as they lost two fumbles to Pontotoc. The defense was also gashed for another sustained Warrior drive that covered 70 yards in 11 plays, that resulted in another Pontotoc touchdown.

Down 13-9, the Indians trailed heading into the fourth quarter for the first time this season. The offense drove to near midfield, before a pass by Miller was intercepted and returned to the Indian 27.

Pontotoc looked poised to take a two-possession lead, but the IAHS defense hardened. After the Warriors picked up 3 yards on first down, Colin Chatham made a nice open-field tackle to drop the Pontotoc running back for a 2-yard loss. Harris broke through the offensive line and came up with a big quarterback sack for a 5-yard loss to give the Warriors a fourth and 14 situation from the IAHS 31.

Dallas faked a handoff and sailed a pass into the corner of the endzone, but McGaughy went up and swatted the ball away to force the turnover on downs.

IAHS moved the ball near midfield once again but was forced to punt with just over 5:00 remaining in the game.

Pontotoc kept the ball on the ground and tried to milk more clock while moving the ball, but were only able to pick up five yards on their first two rushes. Bobo then came up big with a big stop to drop the Warrior ball carrier for a loss of 2, and force a fourth and 7 punting situation.

The Indians took over at midfield after an unnecessary roughness call against Pontotoc and began their most impressive and most important offensive drive of the game.

Much like the Ripley game earlier in the season, McGaughy rose above the rest and almost single-handedly willed his team to a touchdown. On the first play of the drive, McGaughy was drilled by two Warrior defenders after a short gain but kept his legs driving forward and carried them another 12 yards for a first down at the Warrior 35. He then had two 7-yard rushes to move the ball to the Warrior 21, before Bobo lined up at tailback and blasted through the gut of the Pontotoc defense for a hard earned 6 yards.

McGaughy moved the ball to the Warrior 11 on his next carry before Bobo blasted for 9 yards. With a second and 1 from the Pontotoc 2-yard line, Miller called his own number and picked up a yard for a first down inside the Warrior 1-yard line. On the next play, Miller powered his way into the endzone for a touchdown to put the Indians back on top with 1:06 left in the game. Brown's PAT gave the Indians a 16-13 advantage.

Pontotoc muffed the ensuing kickoff, and IAHS recovered at the Warrior 33. With no timeouts remaining, Pontotoc had to watch as Miller took a knee to run out the clock and keep the Indians' perfect record intact.

"It's unbelievable," IAHS coach Jamie Mitchell, said after the game. "They came in here and gave us their best shot, and we were able to pull out a win. We didn't play particularly well on either side of the ball tonight, but to the kids credit, they bowed up and did what they had to do to to get the win."

When asked about McGaughy's impact on the game-winning drive, Mitchell laughed, "I'm glad he's on our side. He coughed it up a couple of times early, but I'll take him over anybody else during crunch time."

The IAHS win sets up the ultimate 'Clash of the Titans' next week at Indian Stadium.

The Shannon Red Raiders put away the New Albany Bulldogs 30-7 last week and will bring their mirroring perfect record into Fulton for the Division 1-4A championship.

It will be the third straight year that the title will hang in the balance when the two teams have met, with IAHS getting a 29-28 win in 2007, and Shannon taking a 42-21 victory last year.

Both teams will come in at 9-0 overall and 4-0 inside division play. Also the Red Raiders are the AP's No. 1 ranked 4A team in the state, while the Indians are ranked No. 2.

The division is starting to shape up, with the winner of the IAHS-Shannon game claiming the 1-4A title, but both teams have already secured a home game in the first round of the MHSAA playoffs.

Pontotoc clinches the third spot in the division and will most likely travel to Louisville in round one. New Albany can take the fourth spot this week with a victory over Tishomingo County, or a North Pontotoc loss to Pontotoc.

Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. as the Indians go for their second division title in three years.