MACON — Get ready Starkville, a train is coming to town.
As much as the Noxubee County High School football team has relied on its offensive line to steamroll opponents this season, the Tigers’ “Demon Defense” is providing the fuel for the team’s latest run to a state championship.
Shunessy Sherrod rushed for 138 yards and two touchdowns, and quarterback Timorrius Conner threw for 170 yards and another score, but Noxubee County’s defense stole the spotlight, registering seven sacks in a 21-0 victory against Greenwood in the Mississippi High School Activities Association Class 4A North State title game.
The win helped Noxubee County (13-2) secure a spot in the Class 4A state title game against St. Stanislaus, which beat Purvis 48-14, at 3 p.m. Saturday at Mississippi State’s Davis Wade Stadium.
“Our defensive coordinator George Richardson, and the other defensive coaches, Ed Square and Heyward Ashford, they have been doing a great job all year,” Noxubee County High School coach Tyrone Shorter said. “They put these kids in position to make plays. We were kind of worried about their quarterback, (senior Booker T. Chambers) and we did a great job containing him tonight. My hat goes off to the defense. They have gotten better and better as the year went on. They are up there with the defenses we have had in the past. I don’t know if they are the best, but this group played some good football tonight.”
The result marked the first time Greenwood (11-3) had been shut out since a 7-0 loss to Lafayette in the second round of the Class 4A North State playoffs on Nov. 15, 2013. Lafayette then defeated Noxubee County 9-0 and beat Cleveland 42-19 before losing to Forrest County Agricultural 21-6 in the state title game.
Noxubee County has used that loss to Lafayette as motivation all season. Shorter said the Tigers’ mistakes in that game cost them a shot at a third state championship, which the squad will try to rectify next weekend.
The Tigers took a step closer to that crown with their fourth shutout of the season, and second of the playoffs. Noxubee County gained the shutout by allowing 137 yards and containing the 5-foot-7, 155-pound Chambers. After Chambers broke off back-to-back runs of 15 and 16 yards in the third quarter, one Noxubee County player on his squad’s sideline said to a teammate, “He’s too little.” But the Tigers sacked Chambers seven times for -65 yards and kept him bottled up for most of the night.
Noxubee County defensive coordinator George Richardson said he found fault in the Bulldogs’ pass blocking scheme and dialed up new blitzes and stunts for his linemen to take advantage.
“They didn’t always slide protect, and when they went big on big, the running back doesn’t really help out on pass protection, so he is more of another receiver, so you kind of look at them as being empty instead of just two by two,” Richardson said. “Their tackles gave us big splits in their pass blocking, which gave us the inside gap through the B gaps, so we attacked them there. Also, they would lock in on who was lined up over their heads, so they’re blocking down and weren’t picking up any of the blitzing linebackers.”
Greenwood never was able to use the screen pass as a weapon. Aside from the runs in the third quarter, Noxubee County didn’t allowed Chamber to create magic with his feet. Richardson said that was a key because the Tigers wanted to force him to stay in the pocket and make plays with his arm. When Chambers had time to throw, Noxubee County cornerbacks Wesley Bush and Mahlon Robinson and safeties Daveon Ball, Jataquist Sherrod, and Darrell Brandon were there to make plays. The Tigers had four pass breakups and an interception by Brandon. The Tigers also forced Chambers to fumble on their 18-yard line on first down in the third quarter. The turnover ended one of the Bulldogs’ best chances to score.
“Like coach told us, if we cut the head off the snake it is dead,” Noxubee County senior linebacker Kevorkian Brewer said. “We had to contain their quarterback and keep him inside. He isn’t really a quarterback. He is a running back. We had to contain him. Once we stopped him it was over.”
Brewer lined up as a rush defensive end and had two sacks, while junior defensive lineman Jeffery Simmons had three sacks.
“We used our speed on the edge to get around them,” Brewer said. “It is a great feeling (when the defense gets going). It just sends chills though your body. It just feels good.”
Simmons’ brother Dylan Bradley was a key member of Noxubee County’s 2012 defense that played an integral role in the team’s unbeaten season. Like Bradley, Simmons is capable of dominating a game single-handedly. When he lines up on one end, teams typical run the other way, so Shorter and Richardson have countered by putting Simmons in the middle. Regardless of where Simmons lines up, his presence can affect how offenses try to stop him, which creates opportunities for other players.
“We just like to compete,” Simmons said. “When we know we are playing against a running quarterback, it pumps us up inside to go get him. I think we did a good job of that tonight.”
Simmons agreed with Brewer that speed is a key to the defense. He said the players pride themselves on their ability to pursue plays and to get multiple defenders in on stops. Much like sharks or piranhas, the end result often is a feeding frenzy for the football.
“All we said is we want our seniors on defense to leave the right way,” Simmons said. “The underclassmen wanted them to go out with a shutout.”
Noxubee County capitalized on field position in the first quarter to score twice. The first touchdown came after Conner hit Ball with a 19-yard pass to the 1-yard line. Ball used his hands to catch the ball, but he appeared to lose control as he went to the ground, but it was ruled a catch. Shunessy Sherrod powered home on the next play.
Ball had another catch on the second scoring drive. He again used his hands to make a catch on a third-and-6 play that went for 13 yards. Four plays later, Tamarcus Silvers snared a 10-yard pass from Conner for a touchdown. Shunessy Sherrod’s conversion made it 14-0 after one quarter.
Noxubee County had its chances to extend the lead, but it hurt itself with a variety of penalties. In all, the Tigers were whistled for 18 penalties. Shorter said the Tigers will have to clean up those mistakes if they want to win a state title. On this night, though, the defense had the offense’s back and did more than enough to help the Tigers set up one more train ride. Center Bobby May might be the one who sounds the whistle, but the defense will be sure to bring the fuel to get the Tigers to Starkville and back with another championship trophy.
“People don’t realize it because on our defense it looks like we have a lot of seniors,” Richardson said. “But a lot of these guys weren’t main starters last year. This team defense hasn’t reached its ceiling yet. They’re getting better every game. They are not as experienced as the 2012 group (which helped the team win a state title), but they’re playing at such a high level that they are making up for mistakes.
“Once they get a taste, like you said, of some blood in the water, they stay on it. That is what we keep preaching them to do: Finish, finish, finish.”
Noxubee County’s 2012 championship squad had five shutouts, including four in a row in the regular season, en route to a program-first 16-0 finish. The Tigers allowed 122 points in 2012 and only 92 in 2008 (14-0 finish with seven shutouts) when they won their first title. The 2014 Tigers have allowed 205 points, only 100 points in their current 10-game winning streak.
Cleveland scored the first touchdowns against Noxubee County’s first-team defense in a 42-14 loss. Richardson believes those are the last scores that unit has allowed since the Class 4A, Region 4 opener against Kosciusko.
“I can say this is the best game because it was the game that counted,” Richardson said. “They stepped up when it really counted.”
Richardson, who was defensive coordinator with the Tigers in 2012 but left the school in 2013, said communication has been a key ingredient to the defense’s maturation. He said he threw a lot of concepts at the players early in the season and it took time for them to get comfortable and to find their voices. Now, though, he said the Tigers are communicating and executing like some of the program’s best defenses.
“There was a little uncertainty on their part,” Richardson said. “Now they’re eatin’. That is what we call it. We have to eat. We are still hungry. Now they are more along the lines of, ‘What else do you have, coach?’ They’re more comfortable now with what we’re doing.”
Follow Dispatch sports editor Adam Minichino on Twitter @ctsportseditor
Adam Minichino is the former Sports Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
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