MADISON — Madison Central High School’s football team did everything it could to avoid pressure, even before pressure came. It started what it hoped would be its game-winning drive with pressure-dodging maneuvers just to tweak them when Starkville High School finally brought pressure later in the drive. More times than not, their answer was good enough.
On the game’s most important play, there was no answer for Zach Edwards.
On his way to what was the game-clinching sack, Starkville’s standout outside linebacker shoved a Madison Central tight end back with the ease that he opens doors. It effectively ended Madison Central’s hopes of a game-winning drive, solidifying Starkville’s 21-17 win in a pivotal Mississippi High School Activities Association (MHSAA) Class 6A, Region 2 game.
“I had to go get it. Had to,” Edwards said.
It was the mantra the Starkville (7-1, 3-1 region) defense adopted midway through its final stand.
Madison Central (6-2, 3-1 region) got the ball back after a 51-yard Garin Boniol punt 98 yards away from a game-winning touchdown with 1 minute, 45 seconds to cover it. It anticipated pressure, given Starkville adjusted at halftime to stop the run, and its playcalling reflected such: a rollout that ultimately fell incomplete and a short pass before a quarterback draw, taking Jimmy Holiday’s rushing total to 88 at the time.
Two more completions of seven and five yards were enough to flip the switch in Starkville defensive coordinator Kevie Thompson’s head.
“In the heat of the battle, we have to bring pressure because that’s the identity of our guys. I had to bring pressure,” he said. “They kept dinking and dunking on us and I just said, ‘Forget that, we’re going to play hard on the outside and bring pressure.”
Yes, in the face of pressure, Holiday scrambled twice for 16 and 27 yards, getting the Jaguars in the red zone, but the pressure did its job: Holiday missed on the final four pass attempts of the drive.
On no play was that more evident than Edwards’ sack, his first of the night but his third time dragging down a Jaguar behind the line. He sized up Madison Central’s lanky tight end and easily threw him back with the force generated by 217 pounds. Edwards saw it as a simple matchup play and was proven correct; the tight end was still on the ground when Edwards was bringing Holiday to the ground.
“Every day in practice,” Starkville head coach Chris Jones said of that move. “That’s what Zach does: he’s a playmaker, he’s a gamer, he makes plays. It’s good to have the Zachs of the world.”
It was one of many times the Starkville defense rose to a challenge.
It was met with one early, after it allowed a touchdown on Madison Central’s first possession, a pick-6 four plays later put the Jaguars ahead and a second interception three plays after that put them in the red zone. Holiday went to the corner of the end zone gunning for a two-score lead just for Zitavious Williams to pick it off in the end zone; it jumpstarted a 12-play scoring drive that tied the game.
For all the fervor generated by the final stop, the most important may have come in the first half. Madison Central used the final 5 minutes, 27 seconds of the second quarter to drive 60 yards — most of it on a 27-yard completion and a 20-yard run — for what appeared to be a touchdown; one official signaled as such on the 20-yard run. It was ultimately brought back to the 3-yard line, where Madison Central ran twice, threw it away once and kicked a field goal.
It was Madison Central’s 17th point, the last they scored. If Starkville allowed a touchdown there, the game may have gone to overtime at the 21 points Starkville scored to win it.
“A goal line stand when we needed one. We gave up a big play to get down there, but that doesn’t define you. It’s all about bouncing back.
“To me, what defines you is finishing.”
In the face of it all, Starkville did just that. The Yellow Jackets finished against an attack they did not expect: Thompson spent the week preparing for one tight end and two tight end looks, just for the Jaguars to show four wide receiver formations from the start. They finished when big plays allowed suggested they wouldn’t. They finished when the moment demanded so.
For Thompson, the night finished with a Gatorade cooler dumped over his head.
Follow Dispatch sports writer Brett Hudson on Twitter @Brett_Hudson
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