STARKVILLE — After a dominant performance in the first half, the Starkville High School football defense found its back against the wall when it mattered.
Noxubee County High couldn’t seem to manage any offense in the first 24 minutes. Whether it was on the ground or in the air, the Tigers were completely stifled by a talented Yellow Jacket defense.
But the Tigers found a passing game with quarterback Maliek Stallings and had a chance to win late.
However, the Jacket defense buckled down and senior defensive back Austin Morris made the game-saving play.
“I just saw the ball and reacted,” Morris said. “I hate I dropped it, but big time players make big time plays in big time games.”
With seconds remaining and clinging to a small lead, Morris broke up a Stallings pass in the end zone to seal the Yellow Jackets’ 24-21 victory Friday night at Yellow Jacket Stadium.
The Tigers (0-1) were facing fourth-and-4 from the Jacket 11 yard line. Instead of kicking a field goal and making overtime seem likely, Tiger coach Tyrone Shorter decided to go for it. Stallings rolled to his right and fired to the end zone. But Morris jumped up and had the ball deflected off his hands.
As it fell to the ground, the SHS sideline went crazy. In turn, the fans behind them celebrated a hard-fought victory. Sophomore defensive lineman Zach Edwards described the feeling as “Heaven.”
Before Morris could make his play, he needed some help from Edwards. On third-and-2 from the 9-yard line, the Tigers were hoping to make a possible fourth down situation easier.
So Stallings handed off to Jakerrius Oliver. It was a read option and as Stallings was ready to give the ball up, he saw Edwards out of the corner of his eye. He tried to maintain possession of the ball but it was too late.
Edwards broke through the offensive line like a freight train and hit Oliver hard and dropped him for a two yard loss.
“I just saw the gap and I took advantage of that,” Edwards said. “I saw him give it off. He wanted to pull it, but he didn’t. I just tackled him.”
Morris praised Edwards’ play and feels like he has a high ceiling. He expects he will be an anchor of the defensive line as a junior and senior.
Senior linebacker and Ole Miss commit Willie Gay has seen what Edwards can accomplish in practice.
“We tell Zach every day at practice how good he can be if he just puts his mind to it,” Gay said. “He can make plays like that every play. He’s so good to be so young.”
Leading 24-19 late, the Jackets were hoping to put the game out of reach. But they went three-and-out and decided to punt. Standing in his own end zone, punter Wesley Albritton took a knee when he received the snap for a safety and the lead was cut to three with 3 minutes, 58 seconds remaining.
“Coach Woods told us, ‘I know a lot of y’all are probably wondering why we took that safety.’ But he told us we had a good defense. He just told us, ‘Defense, put the team on y’all’s back and y’all have to stop them,'” Morris said.
After the free kick, the Tigers took over at their own 38-yard line with 3:53 remaining. On fourth-and-6, Stallings found Javarcus Walker for a huge gain to push into Jacket territory. Stallings then hit wide receiver Kymbotric Mason to get inside the 20-yard line.
“After Kymbotric caught that one-handed pass, we were like, ‘Oh man, we’ve got to step up.’ We had to do what we had to do,” Gay said.
A young Jacket defense stepped up when it mattered and that gives coach Ricky Woods hope.
“They have to grow up quick and that’s what they did,” Woods said. “They hung on, survived and won it. I think everybody played well.”
The Jackets lost 26-20 in double overtime to the Tigers last season for their only loss. SHS went on to win 14-straight games and won the Mississippi High School Activities Association Class 6A state championship. The Tigers went on to win the Class 4A state championship for a second-straight year.
SHS (1-0) took an early 7-0 lead on a Josh Lawrence fumble recovery in the second quarter. Noxubee County evened things at 7 on a Kalmorris Robinson touchdown. The Jackets took a 10-7 lead at halftime as Albritton made a 27-yard field goal with seconds remaining. Jacob Williams recovered a muffed punt to set up the field goal.
The Tigers had 37 yards of total offense to the Jackets’ 41 in the first half.
“We were going to go out here and set the tone first,” Morris said. “When you’re playing football, you don’t ever want to get hit first.”
Both teams traded scores in the third quarter. Backup Jacket quarterback Malik Brown found Tyler Stovall for a 21-yard touchdown, increasing the lead to 17-7. The Tigers cut the lead to 17-13 on an L.C. Clemmons 1-yard touchdown.
The Jackets increased the lead to 24-13 early in the fourth on a K.J. Lawrence 3-yard touchdown run. Stallings found Kyziah Pruitt for a 5-yard score to pull the Tigers within five.
Stallings completed 18 of 36 passes for 203 yards and one touchdown. SHS junior defensive back Natrone Brooks intercepted a Stallings’ pass in the second quarter. Brown, who took over for an injured Jaquez Akins, was 3-for-5 for 37 yards. He also had 44 yards rushing.
It looked like the Tigers were going to get the most of the Jackets for the second-straight year, but Morris wasn’t going to be denied. Neither was the defense.
“We just made a couple of adjustments and we had to get better. A couple of players were in the wrong spot. We made those adjustments,” Morris said.
Follow Dispatch sports writer Ben Wait on Twitter @bcwait
Ben Wait reports on Mississippi State University sports for The Dispatch.
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