STARKVILLE — The Starkville Academy football team was expected to beat Lamar School on Friday night in the Mississippi Association of Independent Schools Class AAA, Division II semifinals.
The Volunteers defeated the Raiders by 21 points in the season opener in August. Since then, Starkville Academy has lost only one game and has posted four shutouts en route to its best season in nearly a decade.
The only unknown was how dominant the Volunteers could be with a chance to play for a state title on the line.
Starkville Academy proved it could control things on both sides of the ball, as it used a punishing ground game and a stingy defense to post a 42-0 victory.
The win pushes Starkville Academy (11-1) into the Class AAA, Division II title game against Oak Forest (La.), which defeated Magnolia Heights 13-0, at 2 p.m. Saturday at Mississippi College in Clinton. Starkville Academy will try for its seventh state title, and first since 2005, when Jack French led the team to a 10-2 final record. Another victory also would help the Volunteers equal the single-season record set by the 1974 title team (12-0), which was coached by Ray Wooten, and the 1985 title team (12-1).
A balanced rushing attack helped Starkville Academy amass 354 yards without a running back run for more than 100 yards. The Volunteers didn’t have a play go for negative yards and they didn’t commit a turnover. Defensively, Starkville Academy held Lamar to 115 yards, including 47 on one play in the first quarter, and led 28-0 at halftime. A running clock was used for the second half.
Starkville Academy coach Jeff Terrill passed postgame interview duties to his offensive and defensive coordinators, but offensive coordinator Chase Nicholson echoed what Terrill told his team after the game: It didn’t come this far to lose next week.
“These guys are hopefully used to winning and want to win,” Nicholson said. “We’re not going to go in there saying, ‘Thank you for being here.’ We’re going down there to win, not to just be there and do the dance. We’re going down there to win.”
Starkville Academy last appeared in a state title game in 2011 when it lost to Washington School 20-0.
Nicholson’s offense hummed all night thanks to a strong job up front by the offensive line and a stable of running backs. The Volunteers attempted only five passes, one of which was a 15-yard touchdown from Houston Clark to Logan Locke. Junior Drake Gordman ran for 98 yards and a touchdown. Drew Harrell ran for 90 yards and a touchdown. Noah Heflin ran for 70 yards and touchdown, while Colt Chrestman added two touchdown runs and 52 yards.
The Starkville Academy ground attack hasn’t always been spread that evenly this season, but on any given night any of those backs — and Clark at quarterback — is capable of having a big night.
“Our entire arsenal of backs are good,” Nicholson said. “There are no As or Bs. It’s just a matter of which one gets hot, and we have that luxury. If two guys are having an off night, two more guys can step up. That’s what makes it so great.”
Heflin, a junior, recognized how easy the offensive linemen made his job.
“I was talking to my grandpa after the game, and he was even talking about the holes, talking about how he could have run through them,” Heflin said. “That made our jobs as backs easy.”
On defense, Starkville Academy forced six plays for a loss. Senior defensive end Andrew Richardson notched three tackles for loss and a fumble recovery.
Richardson and the rest of the defensive line kept pressure on quarterback Davis Harrison all night, which hampered the Raiders’ pass-heavy offense. Defensive coordinator Brad Butler is proud of the how his defense has progressed.
“Andrew has had a great year,” Butler said. “He just seems to get better every week. He works his technique, does the little things to make himself better each week. I’m really proud of the way he played.”
Butler was on the opposing sideline as a coach at Heritage Academy the last time Starkville Academy won a state championship in 2005. Nicholson and Terrill were on the losing end of the state title run in 2011.
On Saturday, Starkville Academy’s coaches and players hope to be on the winning sideline. Despite facing a formidable opponent (Oak Forest is 12-1 and lost only to Jackson Prep), look for the team to stick to its winning formula.
“Every week we say we’re gonna do what we do and do it better,” Nicholson said. “I told them I’m looking forward to this week to get better one more time because that’s what we do. We’ve been doing the same thing since day one.”
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