The 12-2 Charleston High School Tigers will face the 13-1 Heidelberg High School Oilers in the Class 2A state championship game Saturday, Dec. 7.
The game will be played at M.M. Roberts Stadium, on the campus of the University of Southern Mississippi in Hattiesburg. Kickoff will be at noon.
As the north half champion, Charleston will be designated the home team.
If Heidelberg sounds familiar, it's because the Oilers faced off against the Tigers in the 2023 state title tilt at Ole Miss. Charleston won that meeting 26-22 for the program's second state championship.
The Tigers will be competing in their third straight state championship game, a feat matched one other time (2014-2016) in program history.
Heidelberg advances to state after clinching the 2A South State championship with a 26-12 win over Raleigh Friday night.
Charleston moves on to the 2024 state title game on the strength of a 22-14 home victory Friday night over the Northside Gators to clinch their third consecutive 2A North State crown.
While Heidelberg was busy beating Raleigh in a rematch of last year’s 2A South State championship, Charleston was methodically dispatching Northside.
The Gators took the opening kickoff and drove to the CHS 24 before turning the ball over on downs at the 29.
On Charleston’s first offensive snap, Flowers found a crease and exploded for a 71-yard touchdown run, then carried for the two-point conversion to put the Tigers up 8-0 with 8:30 in the first quarter.
Taking advantage of a short Northside punt late in the first quarter, Charleston mounted a 12-play, 43-yard drive to paydirt. Flowers covered the final 3 yards of Tiger Stadium turf for the score. A Flowers conversion carry gave the home team a 16-0 advantage with 11:03 in the second quarter.
The Gators, who were unable to get much going on the ground, tested the CHS defensive secondary by launching multiple deep balls. One such pass at 10:11 in the second quarter resulted in a 71-yard touchdown. The two-point try failed. CHS led 16-6.
The Tigers responded with a nine-play, 70-yard drive that was capped by a seemingly perfectly executed 42-yard TD pass from Olive to Quentin Carter. The conversion failed, but the Tigers led 22-6 with 6:20 in the first half.
Northside scored once more before intermission on a 54-yard touchdown pass. The Gators ran for the two-pointer.
Charleston received the second-half kickoff and orchestrated a 13-play drive that chewed up more than 8 minutes of game clock and reached the Gators’ 5-yard line before eventually turning the ball over on downs at the 9.
In the fourth quarter, Northside threatened when an eight-play drive reached the Charleston 14, but the Gators would also turn the ball over on downs, back at the 26.
The Tigers ran out the final 5:40 of the game with a 12-play drive that reached the Northside 11 before a couple of plays in victory formation.
Olive completed 6-of-18 passes for 59 yards.
Carter had two receptions for 46 yards, Brandon Henderson one for 12 yards and Quay Kimble one for 1 yard.
Flowers was the workhorse for Charleston, logging 32 carries for 206 yards.
This story has been updated to include more Northside game detail.
