MACON — Noxubee County High School football coach Tyrone Shorter believes his team can be really good this season.
Nothing that happened Friday night in a season-opening 17-0 home loss to Starkville High shook that belief.
“We will get there,” Shorter said. “I don’t have a doubt in my mind about that. We have some excellent kids and we do things the right way. The kids will come back out Monday and work a little harder than they did this past week. We will get this thing going.”
Last season, Noxubee County won all 16 games it played en route to the Mississippi High School Activities Association’s Class 4A state championship. A quick glance at the roster tells you this bunch of Tigers looks nothing like that bunch of Tigers.
“(The season) is going to be hard,” Noxubee County senior Eric Hunt said. “We wouldn’t want it any other way. I thought in this game we had some guys take some plays off. You can’t take plays off and win championships. Now we have to come back and really get after it. Nobody is going to take it easy on us. This is a new team, so we got to make a new identity for ourselves.
With a sophomore-dominated roster, the Tigers hung tough with the state’s Class 5A champion from a year ago. A veteran club with a host of returnees, Starkville was on mission after having lost four straight season openers to Noxubee County.
“We know we are in the middle of a grind,” Shorter said. “This is why we play the schedule we play. You have to be ready each Friday night. I am not sure what winning big does for a team. It can lead to a false sense of security and all of that, so when we play the teams we play (in non-region), we know we will be ready for the end of the year.”
Noxubee County will play host to Class 6A playoff participant Columbus next week and follow that with one of Class 3A’s favorites, Louisville, the following week. Aberdeen and West Point follow.
Sophomore Tamorris Conner has slid into the quarterback position. Hunt and Devonte Scott are solid pieces out of the backfield. Though young, the offensive line is once again huge by Class 4A and Noxubee County standards. Still, the Tigers will look to rely on a smothering defense that has been a trademark of Shorter’s teams.
Against Starkville, Noxubee County lost two fumbles. Each led to points — a touchdown on a 6-yard drive and a field goal on a 44-yard drive. The Yellow Jackets’ other score came after a short punt set up a 30-yard touchdown march against a fatigued defense late in the game.
“Three plays beat us,” Shorter said. “We had some guys who were seeing the big-time game for the first time. I think we will grow a tremendous amount from this experience.”
Down 7-0, Noxubee County marched 74 yards to the Starkville 1-yard line. From there, the Yellow Jackets stuffed the option play, forced an incomplete pass, and got a turnover on downs.
“Not scoring there killed us,” Hunt said. “The confidence level of the offense dropped a little bit after that. We were trying to make a big play happen when the little plays were working just fine.”
Against a veteran defense, Noxubee County had another threat in the final half. Again the Tigers marched the ball with near precision before a turnover on downs at the Starkville 8. Noxubee County had two throws into the end zone, as a pass interference call kept the drive alive for one play.
The little things added up as a slight overthrow or missed block meant the end to a couple of quality drives. Despite being shut out for the first time since the 2010 North State title game against Lafayette County, Shorter saw enough positives to come back to work Monday with even more determination.
“We ask a lot out of our players,” Shorter said. “They are in this program for a reason. We would not ask anything of them they can’t do, so now it’s go back to work and practice your tail off. Then you bring in Columbus next Friday night and we will see how many things we can do even better.”
Scott was sports editor for The Dispatch.
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