How Landon Varnes, shrewd approach lead Brandon football to 7A Region 3 title

FLOWOOD — Brandon quarterback Landon Varnes faced pressure from both sides of the Northwest Rankin football defensive line. Scrambling right and then quickly left before throwing off his back foot, he found receiver Jay McQueen for a 52-yard touchdown.

The score came in the middle of the second quarter Thursday night and widened the Bulldogs' lead to 13-3.

Brandon kept its defensive pressure high and its offense steady in a 27-10 win over the Cougars at Northwest Rankin Stadium.

"Just kind of goes to show me and Jay's connection," Varnes said. "He started off on this far (right) side of the field and ends up catching the ball near the front (left) pylon. The play just never broke down, and he trusted me; I trusted him. He got to his spot, and he made a really good play on the ball, and it gave us huge momentum."

Brandon (8-2, 5-0 7A Region 3) would score 17 more points and allow Northwest Rankin (5-5, 1-4) only a touchdown in the next two quarters.

Brandon secured the No. 1 seed in MHSAA 7A Region 3 and will face Harrison Central (6-4) on Nov. 10.

Two field goals in the red zone by the Bulldogs' Connor Mullins and a 36-yard field goal by Northwest Rankin's Daniel Sherman had the score at 6-3 before Varnes' touchdown pass. He sealed the win with a 10-yard touchdown and finished with 201 passing yards on 15 completions with two touchdowns.

"He's just a great competitor," Brandon coach Sam Williams said. "He plays super hard for his team. And one thing about him is he's gonna play to the bitter end. No matter whether we're up, down or tied, it doesn't matter."

After Brandon's early 0-2 start, the Bulldogs have yet to look back, winning eight consecutive games and the Region 3 title.

"That's been the mentality all year," Varnes said. "We just try to every week game by game. We saw what happened earlier: when you try and look ahead, you might drop one or two. But there's no time to drop one now."

Williams and Varnes have developed a tight bond from the four years they've been together, including two straight 6A championship games. Williams sees Varnes leading his team like he always has into the 7A playoffs this year.

WEEK 11 MHSAA SCORES: Mississippi high school football scores for 2023 MHSAA Week 11

"That's what you want as a head coach quarterback, you know," Williams said. "I call the plays, and he sees things (on the field) before you see them, and more times than not, he does. ... He's done a great job. I'm really proud of his maturity and his growth."

During the postgame huddle, Williams preached to his team about blocking out the surrounding noise of any state championship appearance and focusing on the task at hand.

"We got to two state championships by taking things a game at a time by showing up every day and beating the opponent that we had to beat that week," Williams said. "So we just got to keep that mentality. We keep that approach, and good things will happen to us."

Michael Chavez covers high school sports, among others, for the Clarion-Ledger. Email him at mchavez@gannett.com or reach out to him on X, formerly Twitter @MikeSChavez.

This article originally appeared on Mississippi Clarion Ledger: Landon Varnes leads Brandon football past Northwest Rankin for region title