Every week, Cliff Furr is Talking Ball, Y’all with a new weekly column that’s presented by our partners at Toyota of Brookhaven.

There are thousands of them.

They can close their eyes and look within their memories and stir up scenes from November 19, 2004.

Over 20 years later, they still talk about how big the crowd was that night.

That’s why there are so many willing to testify about the greatness of Brookhaven High vs. Wayne County in 2004, because it felt like the whole town was there.

They started streaming into the stands at King Field three hours before kickoff. There was a line of visitors from Waynesboro on the other side of the field, waiting to get in too.

Temporary bleachers were brought in and placed behind the endzone on the south side of the stadium. Mesh fencing was erected to create a barrier between the players and fans.

The stands were packed. The standing room was shoulder to shoulder.

It’s estimated that over 8,000 souls were there to see a game that featured a play that’ll live forever in the lore of Brookhaven High football.

Jimmy made the throw. Bud made the catch. The Panthers prevailed as sometimes only teams of destiny do.

One could be excused if they thought they were watching an SEC football game on that night. The Wayne County War Eagles were a powerful group, looking like a little Auburn squad.

WC came in 12-0 and they were the defending state champions. They boasted a talented roster that included future Ole Miss and NFL lineman Jerrell Powe.

The Panthers, wearing red jersey and their tradition helmets with Ole Brook on the side, could have been mistaken for a high school version of Ole Miss and they boasted two future SEC players in quarterback Jimmy Johns (Alabama) and defensive lineman Jesse Bowman (Mississippi State).

BHS came into the game with an 11-1 record but fell behind 21-7 in the fourth quarter.

A 31-yard touchdown run by Johns pulled BHS to withing 21-14, which set up “The Catch” or as legendary sportswriter Tom Goetz called it in the Saturday paper, “The Remarkable Reception.”

Down to its final possession with under two minutes left in the game, the Panthers faced a 4th-and-long at the Wayne County 36-yard line.

Falling backwards and turning the catch the ball with nothing but his hands, the 6-foot-5 Chatman secured the catch at the 3-yard line.

BHS then scored on a screen pass to Darius Perkins and after a Will Thibodaux extra point kick, the score was tied 21-21 with 1:07 left.

Momentum was a BHS Panther after that.

The Ole Brook coaching staff felt like Wayne County could be worn down as the War Eagles had won so many games in dominating fashion and had not had a full, four-quarter battle since beating West Jones a month prior in the regular season.

WC reached the quarterfinal round by beating Lawrence County 34-0 and Laurel High 28-0.

The game plan was to make it a sideline to sideline fight, something the Panthers did by running toss sweep to Ronnie McNulty over and over.

When overtime started, they ran toss iso, with Garrion Crockett in as the fullback.

McNulty told Goetz after the game that the hole he ran through from the 10-yard line was the biggest he’d ever seen. The PAT kick was no good, setting up a nerve racking four-down set from Wayne County.

Johns had been inserted as a linebacker and was one of the Panther defenders who came up to tackle the WC quarterback Drexler Johnson on the 8-yard line to end the game.

The Panthers went on to beat West Jones 28-14 the following week and then defeated Clarksdale 29-23 in the 4A state championship game.

With Brookhaven High (9-2) hosting Wayne County (4-7) on Friday in the 2025 MHSAA 5A quarterfinals, I asked Bud if a week passes without someone mentioning that game, that catch, or that season.

“It comes up all the time,” said Chatman.

I spot Bud at almost all the BHS games these days as a spectator. He thinks the 2025 Panthers can go all the way if they remain focused and he’ll be at King Field to watch them play Wayne on Friday.

Focus, that’s what I see when I look at the picture of Bud making the catch.

I love the folks in the background of the pic – all focused on that play. I spy ole John Bridges, a BHS superfan, in the background.

This week I posted a picture of that play, which has framed copies on the walls of several homes in Brookhaven, on the Y’all Sports Facebook page and let folks chime in with their memories of that night and game.

It was awesome to see all the responses.

People who weren’t Brookhaven High fans or students, but who’d come from around the area to watch the game, knowing it would be a classic.

The memories of “In the Air Tonight” by Phil Collins being blasted out on the PA system as announcer Stan Patrick dropped his class lines like, “Hold everything Panther fans, there’s a flag on the field.”

There were even Wayne fans giving their memories of the night.

My personal favorite was from my guy Trevis Johns, the younger brother of Jimmy.

Trevis wrote, “I was in alternative school, so I wasn’t even supposed to be there,”

As someone who later taught Trevis aka Skeebo the Great in high school, that all checks out.

It just shows you the power of high school athletics.

Do we talk 20 years later about the best sermon we heard in church?

Do we talk 20 years later about the best dinner we ever ate?

Do we talk 20 years later about a Board of Aldermen meeting?

We don’t, but in a small town in Southwest Mississippi, we’re still talking about the Panthers, the War Eagles, the crowd, the game, and the catch and it feels like we’ll be talking about it for a longer time still.