STARKVILLE — After four weeks of facing some of the state’s best teams, the Starkville High School football team received a break Friday night when it opened Class 5A, Region 2 play against Lanier.
Eight minutes into the game, Starkville had scored 28 unanswered points en route to a 53-13 victory.
“It’s hard to evaluate after going through that, but the big thing is we’re 1-0 in the region, and we’ll take any win we can get,” said Starkville coach Jamie Mitchell, whose team improved to 3-2 overall.
Starkville’s first two scoring drives came off fumbles by senior quarterback Antonio Morris. Both drives ended with junior fullback Stanley Higgins walking into the end zone on touchdown runs of 9 and 4 yards out.
Higgins, who already has received recruiting letters from
several Division I schools, added a 6-yard touchdown reception for a career-high three scores.
“I really didn’t know coach would give me the football as much as he did early, but I figured I better make the most of it,” Higgins said.
Starkville junior quarterback Gabe Myles finished with 155 passing
yards and two touchdown passes in two and a half quarters.
Once the Yellow Jackets forced a three-and-out, SHS blocked the punt and senior defensive lineman Kelvin Young recovered the football at the 1-yard-line. One play later, Preston Baker went in untouched for his first score of the evening.
On the next play, another fumble on a handoff enabled Starkville sophomore defensive back Ladorious Pittman to scoop up the football and go 29 yards for the score.
“I was really glad to get some of those kids in the game because they work so hard in practice,” Mitchell said. “It was really nice to reward young kids like that with some touches.”
Pittman (103 rushing yards) had the final score with the second-unit on a 75-yard run on which he broke three tackles. The 140-pound athlete became the first Starkville player this season to eclipse the 100-yard rushing mark.
Lanier (0-5, 0-1) scored on a 52-yard fumble recovery as senior defensive back Markeich Williams picked up a lateral from Myles intended for Baker. Williams ran down the sidelines with only Myles to beat before he reached the end zone.
The Starkville players stood around while the ball was still in play thinking they’d heard multiple inadvertent whistles near their sidelines once the ball hit the ground.
Lanier didn’t cross midfield until it recovered an onside kick after its first score.
At the end of the first half, Lanier had only two first downs and 41 rushing yards against a dominant defensive front. The Bulldogs have been outscored 168-58 this season.
The Bulldogs ran only 10 plays on their first four drives. Lanier’s three
turnovers led to 21 points and put an offense that has struggled to score this season in a major hole. Starkville finished with a season-high four turnovers.
“It’s all about (the defense) because if we win they’re always the unit that carries us,” Myles said. “When they give us short fields on turnovers we feel like we have put the ball in the end zone.”
Starkville will look to stay undefeated in Region 2 next week when it plays host to Provine in its Homecoming game.
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