WEST POINT — Quincy Starks loves the crashing of the waves.
Like clockwork, the cycle of the tides is as regular as the play calling for the West Point High School football team. If you had a stopwatch, you likely would be able to pinpoint how long it takes for the constant surge of waves to break through a barrier on the beach. When the waves finally win out, the water rushes forward as if making up for lost time so it can find another wall to bury.
Starks doesn’t need a storm surge to break down walls. With the help of a steadfast offensive line, Starks and his West Point teammates enjoy being part of a Green Wave attack that can wear down just about anything in its path.
On Friday, West Point used its patented ground game with an experienced hand, biding its time and using the constant in-your-face punishment to gain the advantage. When it finally had the upper hand, Starks was there to break free. The senior running back scored two touchdowns in the second half, including the go-ahead score on a 46-yard run up the middle to help send West Point to a 33-19 victory against Noxubee County at McCallister Field.
“I wasn’t touched,” Starks said. “The offensive line just did a great job blocking. I saw a hole and I just hit it. The team needed me tonight, and I just stepped up and filled the shoes.”
Kadarius Forside also had a 4-yard touchdown run that was part of 19 unanswered points West Point (3-2) scored in the second half. The final 24 minutes were a reversal of fortunes in the first half, when West Point rushed for 9 yards on 15 carries. The Green Wave tweaked their blocking at halftime and responded by rushing for 188 yards on 26 carries in the second half.
Starks (17 carries, 82 yards) said the Green Wave learned from their mistakes in the first half and adjusted their blocking. He said he capitalized on traps up front and blocks down by his offensive line to break through a gaping hole and to make a bee line for the end zone.
“We just came back in the second half and just bull-dozed them over and ran the ball like we were supposed to and like we are coached up to do,” Starks said. “It is just a clutch moment. When it is there, you just have to take it.”
The effort was West Point tried and true. Buoyed by the work up front by Devin Morton, Scott Lashley, Chris Humphries, Josh Birchfield, Miller Keys, Josh Coggins, Donald Wesley, and Thomas Williams, the Green Wave seized control in the second half by dominating the point of attack. Their defense played a key role, too, in forcing Noxubee County (3-2) to three three and out in the second half.
“That’s our forte,” West Point coach Chris Chambless said. “Stop us on first and second and third down, but we are going to do our best to wear you down.”
Chambless also said the coaches do a good job making adjustments. He said the Green Wave tweaked their blocking at halftime to better handle the Tigers’ active front. He said it took time for the linemen to settle in. Once they did, the Green Wave were able to control the line of scrimmage to move the chains.
“That is just the commitment and the mind-set we have, and our guys buy into it,” Chambless said. “I don’t know what they would do if one day we cam out here and we tried to change. They wouldn’t come back the next day.”
Noxubee County coach Tyrone Shorter could only shake his head after the game because he knew West Point wasn’t going to deviate from its traditional approach. He credited his defense for playing well, particularly a goal-line stand on the first series of the second half following a 78-yard kickoff return by Lavarius Gunn. But the Tigers’ inability to move the ball in the second half forced their defense to spend way too much time on the field.
“We were right where we wanted to be at halftime and we just fell apart in the second half,” Shorter said. “I thought if we had a couple of drives that got going we would have been OK, but we didn’t. We didn’t do anything offensively to help us tonight. You have to credit West Point. They have a good defense. They blitzed our quarterback. I thought they confused our offensive line a lot and they couldn’t pick up the blitz. I thought their secondary did a good job, too. They played us one-on-one and we couldn’t win the one-on-one battles.”
West Point won those battles all over the field, especially in the second half. In the first half, the Green Wave’s ability to pressure quarterback Timorrius Conner forced the Tigers to keep one and two running backs in to block for pass protection. Unable to run the ball (Noxubee County had -33 yards rushing on 19 carries), the Tigers became one-dimensional. Even though Conner (14 of 35, 143 yards) had some success when he used quick drops and short throws to his outside receivers, West Point eventually took that away by moving its cornerbacks up and pressing its coverage.
“We did a lot of scramble drills because we knew if he felt pressure he was going to try to get away and become a gun slinger,” Chambless said. “We worked on covering in the secondary longer than what we normally have to do when the receivers break off and try to get open. We also tried not to give the quarterback a lane to run through when we were coming after him. We did a great job in the rush lanes. We lost contain a couple of times, but our speed was able to get there and give up minimal yardage. We were able to find a few holes to get our stunts through.”
Shorter expected the Green Wave to attack Conner, too. But he hoped his receivers would be able to make West Point pay. The Tigers used multiple formations, many with three receivers spread wide to one side. Regardless of whether they had two- or three-receiver alignments or one-on-one coverage, Noxubee County couldn’t gain separation to get inside or Conner couldn’t have enough time. When Conner had time, he wasn’t accurate.
“We were one-dimensional tonight,” Shorter said. “If we have over 20 yards rushing I would be surprised. They really did a good job stopping our run game, and it made us one-dimensional. It hurt us a lot. If we can run the ball and pass, we are a good offense. Tonight, we were just one-dimensional.”
You couldn’t say the same thing for West Point because its running game started to roll in the second half. With quarterback Dason Thomas as a speedy option on misdirection plays and Starks as the go-to back, the Green Wave also relied on linebacker Kadarius Forside on offense in the second half. The 5-foot-11, 205-pound Forside provided the fullback-like power on the clinching drive, taking direct snaps on five consecutive carries to help West Point churn from the 41 into the end zone. He capped his work with a 4-yard touchdown with 3 minutes, 47 seconds remaining that helped seal the deal.
“When they put me in there, they put me in to make big plays,” Forside said. “When I get it, I try my best to do what I have to do to get yards and score a touchdown.”
Forside didn’t know how to explain how West Point turned the tide at the point of attack. While he didn’t have an answer on offense, he was part of a defense that harassed Conner all evening and finished with four sacks. He said the defense and offense take turns every week pushing the other to get better. He said the physical play sets the tone for the mind-set the Green Wave will try to establish on both sides of the ball.
Earlier in the week, Chambless praised Forside’s play on defense, saying successful teams needed players like Forside because he had a little big of dog in him and was willing to get down and dirty to make plays.
On this night, Forside has a chance to let some of that “dog” come out on offense. It proved to be a perfect part of the plan because Forside was able to power through a worn down defense and pave a path to victory — one that has become all too familiar for opponents of the Green Wave.
“I guess we weren’t running with the dog that we had in us, so we had to pump it up in the second half and come out here and do what we had to do and make plays,” Forside said. “You have to be a dog to do what you have got to do on this team. Everybody has to play hard and do what they have to do.
“We are going to bark loud. It is a rivalry game, so it is going to feel good tonight.”
Follow Dispatch sports editor Adam Minichino on Twitter @ctsportseditor
Adam Minichino is the former Sports Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 43 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.