STARKVILLE — Missed opportunity is why the Starkville High School football team finds itself in this situation — looking up at the leader of Class 6A Region 2 in the Mississippi High School Activities Association (MHSAA), a spot it thought would be theirs. Presented just a handful of opportunities to take command of the spot Northwest Rankin holds, the Yellow Jackets missed and paid for it with a loss.
It didn’t have to wait for few and far between opportunities on Friday. It also didn’t see them go wasted.
Greenville’s offensive struggles, punting woes and lack of ball security granted the Yellow Jackets favorable field position throughout the night; they converted each time in a 79-0 win.
“Coming off a tough loss at Northwest, I can’t complain about a 79-0 win,” quarterback Luke Altmyer said.
Altmyer was often the beneficiary of those short fields. With the Yellow Jackets (6-1, 2-1 region) up by 21, Zach Edwards sacked Greenville’s Josh Martin and forced a fumble recovered by Ryan Johnson eight yards away from the end zone; two plays later, Altmyer connected with Atavius Jones for his second touchdown pass to that point.
Three plays later, Starkville was in the end zone again after another lost fumble and a Dreke Clark touchdown run. A quick three-and-out and a short punt put Starkville on the 45-yard line two minutes later; Altmyer needed all of one play, connecting with Jatavious Lucious on a 45-yard strike.
In the span of five minutes, Starkville scored three touchdowns, enough to inspire a running clock in the second half.
The all-around performance was impressive in every way possible. Altmyer’s five touchdown passes were the most since 2014 when Brady Davis threw five against Warren Central; it was the second-most points scored and the most one-sided shutout in school history. Starkville averaged 10.7 yards per play in racking up 406 yards of offense; Greenville ran for minus-75 yards.
All told, seven Yellow Jackets crossed the goal line. Clark did so twice in running for 99 yards; Lazavier Evans took both of his carries for touchdowns in racking up 52 yards. Malik Brown scored once on the ground and once as a pass catcher, as did KJ Lawrence. Lucious, Jones and Joshua Aka were also on the receiving end of Altmyer touchdown throws.
It may have been just what Starkville needed, with trips to Madison Central and Clinton, plus a home game against Warren Central, before the end of the regular season, to make no mention of what awaits in the playoffs.
Starkville coach Chris Jones knows this game far from removed the memories of the previous week’s loss.
“That we still need to get better, to be honest with you,” Jones said. “Too many unnecessary mistakes as far as penalties. When we play the really good teams, we can’t continue to make the small mistakes as they add up. We have to get better.
“I’m happy we won, but I’m not excited about it.”
Even mere minutes after making history in a lopsided win, Starkville had its sights set on what it has left to prove.
“The tougher games we have away, Madison Central and Clinton, we have to put up some big numbers,” Altmyer said.
Jones added, “We were supposed to do this. We need to work on beating the Northwest Rankins and the Clintons and the Madison Centrals, the teams that are going to be in the playoffs. I don’t want to look down on this win, but I also want to be realistic. There’s still a lot of work for us to do.”
Follow Dispatch sports writer Brett Hudson on Twitter @Brett_Hudson
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