GREENWOOD — Kyziah Pruitt stood with his elbows bent and his hands on his hips.
The Noxubee County High School standout was on the left side of the field in front of his team’s bench. The senior athlete gazed across the field where Carldaryl Johnson had just returned an interception 75 yards for a backbreaking score.
Pruitt didn’t say anything as he turned his head away from the celebration and moved toward the sideline.
Nearly 20 minutes later, Pruitt struck the same pose and shook his head as he walked off the field toward the track behind his team’s bench. Thirty-five seconds remained in his high school career following a final incompletion, but neither Pruitt nor the rest of the Tigers needed to watch them because they were just about finished with a night that saw virtually nothing go right.
Buoyed by two big pass plays — the team’s only completions of the game — Greenwood defeated Noxubee County 20-0 in the second round of the Mississippi High School Activities Association (MHSAA) Class 4A playoffs.
“It wasn’t our night at all,” Pruitt said. “We got in the red zone I think five times, I think, and didn’t score. It is on us. It is totally on us.”
Greenwood (10-2), the Region 3 champion, will take on Corinth, a 48-20 winner against Rosa Fort, at 7 p.m. Friday.
Noxubee County ends its season at 7-6. The Tigers finished the season with their most losses since they went 6-6 in 2000 following a loss to Florence in the first round of the Class 4A playoffs.
The shutout also ended a string of 18-straight games Noxubee County had scored in the playoffs. Lafayette (9-0 on Nov. 22, 2013) was the last team to shut out Noxubee County in the playoffs.
“We couldn’t really get into our offense,” Noxubee County coach Tyrone Shorter said. “We couldn’t cut and do what we wanted to do offensively, but when you get in the red zone five times you have to score.”
Noxubee County battled injuries all season. Pruitt was injured in the season opener against Starkville. He didn’t return until Oct. 5, when Noxubee County opened Region 4 play against Louisville. A last-second field goal enabled the Wildcats to earn a 27-26 victory and end the Tigers’ 30-game region winning streak. As a result, Noxubee County was forced to go on the road for its second-round game.
Home-field advantage played a role, as the Bulldogs handled the field conditions better than the Tigers. Rain throughout the week left the entire field soft and made it challenging for players to cut. Noxubee County players routinely slipped after one or two steps, either dropping back on a pass or trying to make a move. Cutting was virtually impossible without solid ground to offer traction.
Still, the Tigers had their opportunities against an opponent they handled easily 17-0 in August in a jamboree at Starkville High. That game was played on artificial turf.
Noxubee County had four possessions inside the red zone (20-yard line) and two more where it reached the Bulldogs’ 25-yard line. The Tigers had three of their eight fumbles (two lost) on those drives. They also had a player slip and another player drop a pass in the end zone on two of the other drives.
The soft field conditions negated the Tigers’ effectiveness with Pruitt at quarterback and forced them to go with junior Khristopher White for nearly every snap in the second half. White was 9-for-20 with an interception in the second half. The Tigers’ inability to run the football (32 carries for 12 yards) made them one-dimensional.
“Our whole team was off key tonight,” Pruitt said. “Everybody made mistakes tonight here and there.”
White suffered the most from the field conditions, as eight of his 10 rushing attempts were for negative yards. He finished with minus 61 yards rushing.
Shorter said the Tigers tried to prepare for the conditions by practicing with wet footballs and in the raid. Still, he said his team was right there on a night when the offense moved the football but needed one more play.
“I was waiting for something to happen but it never happened,” Shorter said.
Greenwood made the most of its scoring chances. The Bulldogs went back to a pass play over the middle on a 43-yard scoring connection between Deandre Smith and Daylin Metcalf in the first quarter. A 96-yard hookup from Smith to Kobe Chamber was a dagger after a Noxubee County safety came up too quickly and slipped, leaving Chamber with nothing but open space and no one to stop him.
“We knew we could throw it,” said Greenwood coach Clinton Gatewood, whose team lost to Noxubee County in the Class 4A playoffs in 2015 (14-7) and 2014 (21-0). “We practiced on the field all week, so we knew it was kind of messed up and mushy, but we knew we could throw the ball a little bit.”
Unfortunately, Noxubee County could put big plays together. The biggest might have been Keymarcus Jackson’s 57-yard kick return that set the Tigers up at the Bulldogs’ 23. White hit Maliek Stallings with a 14-yard pass on third down to give the Tigers a first-and-goal at the 8-yard line. Following a 1-yard gain and an incompletion, Ja’Qualyn Smith’s fumble on third down — one of two the Tigers lost — set the tone for a night that made you put your hands on your hips and shake your head.
“We didn’t make any plays,” Shorter said. “They made plays. We dropped balls we shouldn’t have dropped.”
For Pruitt, who has committed to play football at Mississippi State next season, it wasn’t the way he wanted his prep career to end.
“I had a pretty good career. I gave it my all,” said Pruitt, who had four catches for 66 yards and nine carries for 28 yards. “It was tough (playing on the field). We both played in the same conditions, but they just outplayed us in these conditions.”
Follow Dispatch sports editor Adam Minichino on Twitter @ctsportseditor
Adam Minichino is the former Sports Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
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