WEST POINT — Football coaches love to use the phrase “best versus best.”
It perfectly describes tonight’s matchup between the Starkville and West Point high school football teams in West Point.
Starkville brings what it feels like is a solid run defense against arguably the state’s best senior tailback: Aeris Williams.
Since he has been at Starkville, coach Jamie Mitchell’s defenses have been able to contain running backs like former Tupelo High School standout and current Mississippi State University freshman Ashton Shumpert and win those matchups. The problem for Starkville defensive coordinator Brooks Oakley is West Point’s philosophy doesn’t allow you take away any of their standout’s talent in the running game.
“They are going to make you defend him and you know it going in,” Mitchell said. “Chris Chambless just doesn’t give you a choice. It’s either slow down Williams at some point or lose.”
In a 55-33 loss at South Panola High last week, West Point (0-1) ran for 282 yards against one of the state’s best fronts. Williams, who has given a verbal commitment to MSU, had 31 carries for 181 yards and four touchdowns. In all, he had 212 total yards.
“There’s a point in which I knew I had to continue to take the football and get positive yards,” Williams said. “In the fourth quarter (at South Panola), I really thought we could’ve scored again to tie and then won that game by running it right at them.”
Starkville’s and West Point’s styles of play haven’t changed much, which means Mitchell and Chambless have come to know each other very well in the 20 years they’ve been in the business in Mississippi.
“This is one of those games I could walk across the field and tell Chris what we’re going to run and it wouldn’t matter,’ Mitchell said. “It’s going to come down to about two plays in this football game, and whoever makes the most of those opportunities will win.”
Oakley and the Yellow Jackets’ defense loaded the line of scrimmage to stop the run last year against the Green Wave, but West Point rushed for 335 yards in a 47-22 victory that matched the most points a Starkville team has given up under Mitchell. West Point had scoring drives of 11, 16, and 14 plays in the first half thanks to the inside running of Williams and the Green Wave’s ability to blow the Yellow Jackets off the line of scrimmage on nearly every play. Williams rushed for a game-high 164 yards on 25 carries and had four touchdowns. One hundred nine of those yards came in the first half.
“Coach Oakley could’ve left this program last year for head coaching opportunities, and he’s somebody I trust completely with the defense,” Mitchell said. “It’s a heck of a challenge for him and his group, but I trust he’s one of the smartest coaches around.”
In addition to West Point’s ability to run the ball right at opponents, it also can feature Williams or junior backup quarterback Dason Thomas in the Wildcat formation, where someone lines up in a shotgun formation and takes a direct snap from center. Last week, Thomas was able to get to the corner against South Panola before leaving the game with a shoulder injury. Chambless said Thomas will play tonight.
“We haven’t found a way yet in practice to stop (the Wildcat) on defense, so I really like what I see out of it,” Chambless said. “We feel we can hand the ball to three or four different weapons and we’re not a one-man football team. Aeris just happens to be a really effective one man.”
Starkville (1-1) is coming off a 35-24 loss to Oxford in which it blew a 10-point halftime lead. Senior Princeton Jones had three interceptions and a fumble, including two turnovers inside Oxford’s 25-yard line that doomed an otherwise solid first half.
“The great thing about this week in practice is kids are a lot more resilient than coaches because I’m still unhappy over that game,” Mitchell said. “The other thing is it’s the week before the West Point game, so our kids didn’t have time to feel bad over that one.”
Follow Matt Stevens on Twitter @matthewcstevens.
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