Football Recap: Gavin Phillipson and De'shawn Dillon Secure Win for Northwest Rankin

Cougars

Team Score (Highest)

09/26/25 @ Brookhaven	28
09/19/25 vs Madison Central	24
09/12/25 @ Wayne County	24
08/29/25 vs Germantown	24
09/05/25 @ Clinton	11

Winning is always nice, but doing so behind a season-high score is even better (just ask Northwest Rankin). They came out on top against the Brookhaven Panthers by a score of 28-20 on Friday. The win continues a trend for the Cougars in their matchups with the Panthers: they've now won five in a row.

A big part of Northwest Rankin's victory came down to the chemistry between Gavin Phillipson and his top target De'Shawn Dillon. Phillipson threw for 249 yards and four touchdowns while completing 76.2% of his passes while Dillon picked up 196 receiving yards and a pair of scores. Dillon's longest reception was for an incredible 79 yards. Jermany Hayden handled things on the ground, rushing for 106 yards.

Brookhaven lost despite a true team effort on offense. The best among them was Jaden Allen, who rushed for 33 yards and one TD, and also threw for 197 yards on only 13 passes.

Northwest Rankin now has a winning record of 3-2. As for Brookhaven, this is the second loss in a row for them and also nudges their season record down to 3-2.

Coming up, Northwest Rankin will welcome Brandon at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. The game will give the Cougars their first taste of in-conference action this season. As for Brookhaven, they will have a little extra prep time after the loss as they won't be playing again for a while. They'll take on Laurel at 7:00 p.m. on the 10th. The Panthers will be up against the Golden Tornadoes' rather soft defense (which has allowed 32.6 points per contest), so fans could be in store for a big offensive performance.