JACKSON — Austin Dotson ran free.
Free from playoff disappointments past.
Free from the losing side of a bitter rivalry.
Free from a defeated defense, already reduced to 11 white-clad bystanders staring at the No. 6 on Dotson’s back.
To score the touchdown that truly sealed Heritage Academy’s rout of Starkville Academy in Friday’s MAIS Class 5A championship, the senior running back found a hole, got blocks from Jared Long and Wills Wiygul and sprinted unchallenged up the middle. It was just the sixth of eight touchdowns the Patriots scored in the 55-10 romp, but it characterized the entirety of Heritage Academy’s 14-0 dream season: The Patriots out in front, running unopposed.
“I love that they went wire to wire as the best team in the state,” head coach Sean Harrison said. “There wasn’t a slip-up game. There wasn’t an ‘Oh, we’re gonna take this one easy.’ They bought in every week, showed up every week.”
Friday’s blowout put the finishing touches on an incredible turnaround: Dotson was one of the Heritage Academy seniors who went 0-8 on the junior high team their freshman season.
“That was kind of an eye-opener for all of us, knowing that we had the pieces to be a good team, but we just had to buy in and listen to all the coaches,” senior quarterback Carter Putt said.
Heritage Academy did just that. After exiting in the 2017 quarterfinals and the 2018 semifinals, the Pats worked harder than ever over the summer. They got up for early-morning workouts; nobody ever missed them.
“We believed every time we laced up our cleats, put on our pads and stepped out there on the field that we had to finish it with a ring,” Long said.
That belief showed on the field Friday just as much as it did all year.
The Pats quickly stopped the Volunteers’ first drive, then punched the ball in on three pass plays. Long caught a 36-yard toss from Putt in the end zone, then ran in the two-point conversion himself to give Heritage Academy a lead it never gave up.
The Patriots piled up the points Friday numerous ways: two touchdown passes from Putt, four rushing scores including two by senior KJ Smith, a kickoff return touchdown for Banks Hyde and a pick-six for Wesley Miller.
“They’ve got a lot of bullets in different places, and we were able to take some of them away, but they were able to hit us with other bullets,” Starkville Academy coach Chase Nicholson said. “They’ve got a lot of speed. At times, we were right there with them. Other times, they hit something big.”
The Volunteers, who won three straight road playoff games to make Friday’s final, hoped for a better outcome than their 42-7 home defeat against Heritage Academy on Oct. 18, but the Pats showed their superior talent once again.
Still, Nicholson was happy with the long odds the Vols overcame to get to the championship.
“I’m proud of the road that we’re on, because nobody thought we were gonna be here, and here we are today,” he said. “It’s not a fluke. It’s not. We earned every step of the way. We earned everything we got.”
The Vols answered Long’s opening touchdown with a 23-yard field goal from Dylan Miller after the Pats defense solidified in the red zone, keeping Starkville Academy junior running back CJ Jackson away from pay dirt. Instead of an answer that could have tied the game, Starkville Academy trailed 8-3 and only got farther away.
Smith took a snap from the wildcat and walked in from 10 yards out, and Vols quarterback Randall Futral attempted to answer with a 32-yard heave to Matt Miller near midfield. But Wesley Miller seized a tipped pass at the Pats’ 44-yard line and outstripped the Vols down the right sideline for a score.
“Anytime you score on defense, that’s huge,” Long said. “Wesley turned the game around and gave a lot of momentum to our team.”
The Pats scored twice more, and that momentum went unanswered until Starkville Academy backup quarterback Colby Allen ran in a 1-yard score in the middle of the third quarter, cutting the lead to 36-10.
Then Dotson went up the middle for 63 yards on the second play of Heritage Academy’s next drive.
“Austin broke one,” Harrison said. “I’m proud of that. We were getting on him all year because he’d break those and get tackled. That was a huge answer.”
Not long afterward — thanks to a running clock in the fourth quarter after Noel Fisher ran in a 6-yard score late in the third — the Patriots could finally celebrate. As Starkville Academy huddled on one side of the field, the Pats mobbed each other and held up the golden football they had just been awarded.
“It means so much after the past three years of working hard up to this point to finally say we made it with an undefeated season,” Dotson said. “It’s unbelievable. It’s all teamwork, just playing with all my brothers.”
Plenty of time spent together outside of practices and games helped develop the chemistry, Dotson said.
Putt, freshman quarterback Mack Howard and the Pats’ running backs and wide receivers got together every Sunday after church to run routes and throw the ball around. The team often goes out to eat on Sundays — Longhorn Steakhouse, Zachary’s or whatever they’re feeling up to.
“It makes our bond closer,” Putt said. “We’re like best friends.”
Friday, those best friends got payback on a rival for the second time this year. In 2017, Starkville Academy printed “17-14,” the score of its regular-season win over the Patriots, on its state championship rings. Heritage Academy never forgot.
“Ever since that happened, I think it really refocused them,” Harrison said.
All year, the Pats had no trouble homing in on their goals and achieving them. Friday, on what Long called “a heck of a stage,” they did so for the final time.
“They went and did what they were supposed to do,” Harrison said. “I’m so proud of them.”
Theo DeRosa reports on Mississippi State sports for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter at @Theo_DeRosa.
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