STARKVILLE — Starkville High School football coach Jamie Mitchell predicted turnovers would be a major storyline Friday night in the Mississippi High School Activities Association Class 6A North State Championship game against South Panola.
Unfortunately for the Yellow Jackets, Mitchell proved correct.
Top-ranked Starkville committed the game’s only three turnovers. No. 2 South Panola took advantage of the good fortune to score 36 second-half points for a shocking 36-26 victory at Yellow Jacket Stadium.
“We had turnovers and we were not good in the special teams,” Mitchell said. “It is sad because if you go out and play your best and lose, you can still sleep at night. This is the type of loss that will hurt for a long time. We did not play our best.”
The Yellow Jackets missed an extra point, allowed a punt return touchdown, and failed to recover a short onside attempt when down three in the fourth quarter.
South Panola (14-0) will face Oak Grove (14-1) Friday for the Class 6A state championship at Davis Wade Stadium in Starkville. For Starkville, the season ends at 13-1.
South Panola, which erased a 13-0 halftime deficit, finished with 448 yards of total offense.
Starkville then fell down 14-13 but rallied to take the lead on 12-yard touchdown from Brady Davis to A.J. Brown.
Davis was 20 of 30 for 290 yards with three touchdowns. South Panola held Starkville to 56 yards rushing.
“We didn’t execute our assignments,” Starkville senior linebacker Alonzo Flowers said. “This hurts because we are a lot better than we showed there in the second half.”
n Noxubee County 21, Greenwood 0: At Macon, the Tigers (13-2) recorded their fourth shutout of the season with a dominating defensive effort that included seven sacks.
Noxubee County will play for its third state title at 3 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 6, at Mississippi State’s Davis Wade Stadium in Starkville when it takes on South State champion St. Stanislaus, which beat Purvis 48-14 on Friday night.
Junior defensive end Jeffery Simmons had three of Noxubee County’s sacks, while Quendarion Barnett had a sack and an interception.
Junior running back Shunessy Sherrod rushed for 138 yards and two touchdowns, while junior quarterback Timorrius Conner was 12 of 24 for 170 yards.
For more on these games, see Sunday’s edition of The Dispatch, or log on to www.cdispatch.com on Sunday morning and read our reports from the games.
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