Oak Hill Academy’s 20-14 win over Marshall Academy was as big as they get during the regular season: The winner would claim a district championship.
But that’s just part of the story. A loss would have left the Raiders at 4-6 and out of the postseason in MAIS Class 4A.
“It means everything,” said junior John Ross Craven, who scored what turned out to be an important insurance touchdown late Friday night. “This is a game that if we didn’t win, we were out. This is the district championship, and we won it. So now we get a bye to go into the next round. We’re just overjoyed.”
It was a big moment, especially when put in historical perspective. Oak Hill’s last district title came in 1990.
“This is huge,” said senior quarterback Cameron Dill, who threw for 180 yards and a touchdown and rushed for 87 yards and a score. “We hadn’t won a district championship in 31 years. We haven’t had a home playoff game in I don’t know how long, so this is great. It’s big for the school.”
The Raiders will get that home playoff game. They are the No. 4 seed in 4A and have this week off before they face the winner of Friday night’s game between Tri-County Academy (9-1, 3-1 4A-3) and Columbia Academy (3-8, 2-1 4A-4) on Nov. 5 in West Point.
The dimensions of the accomplishment were not lost on Oak Hill’s younger players.
“We’ve worked hard,” sophomore Camden Payne said. “It’s just amazing that we’re out here doing what we’re doing. It’s been 31 years, and we finally broke it.
“I’m so proud to be a Raider.”
Perhaps lost in the postgame celebration on the field over winning the school’s first district title since 1990 was just how big of an accomplishment the win itself was. Marshall Academy had allowed 46 points in seven games before Friday night and was undefeated on the field. Oak Hill went in 4-5, 4-4 on the field, committing 17 turnovers in those four losses. The Raiders twice allowed more than 50 points and twice were held to seven. On paper, it didn’t look so good for Oak Hill.
None of that mattered Friday night, as the Raiders played their most physical game of the year and took care of the ball well against a team that had the size to wear down an opponent.
“They’ve got a good football team,” Raiders coach Bill Rosenthal said of the Patriots. “Their one loss coming in was from COVID, so they were 8-0 in my opinion.
“They’re big and physical, and they do a good job with them. They’re well coached. We just made a few plays in the end that got us over the hump.”
— Tom Rysinski
Speaking of long title droughts
Oak Hill is not the only team to claim a district title for the first time since the 1990s. They didn’t have the drama of a head-to-head, winner-take-all battle to win theirs as Oak Hill did, but West Lowndes also wrapped up a district title Friday night, the first for the Panthers since 1992.
And there was no drama involved.
Ethel came to West Lowndes on Friday night with a chance to win the district. Along with French Camp Academy, the Tigers were 3-1 in Class 1A, Region 3, but West Lowndes, undefeated in the district, already had beaten FCA and would win the title in case of a tie. Ethel had a chance to avoid that fate.
Not much of a chance, as it turned out.
West Lowndes was up 28-0 by halftime and cruised to a 42-2 win. Fred Rice threw touchdown passes of 17, 56 and 38 yards, JaQuavious Tate ran 20 and 40 yards for scores, and the Panthers defense dominated the Tigers as West Lowndes improved to 7-2, 6-0 in the district with only Vardaman (3-4, 2-3 1A-3) left on the schedule.
The Rams have lost back-to-back games to Hamilton and French Camp Academy and will meet Ethel this week before the finale Nov. at West Lowndes, which the Panthers can use as a playoff tuneup. Coach Anthony King has taken five teams to the playoffs during his previous 10 years, with one postseason win. King and the Panthers have loftier ambitions this time around.
— Tom Rysinski
First integrated SHS class honored
At halftime of Friday night’s game against Oxford, Starkville High School honored the Class of 1971, the first class to be fully integrated at the school. It was part of an ongoing celebration of the 50th anniversary of integration at SHS.
The football team from that class’ senior year was a special one and deserves a night of its own. The Yellow Jackets celebrated their first fully integrated football team by storming to an 10-0 record, crushing everyone in the old Little 10 Conference.
That class went 10-0 as juniors, part of a five-year reign of terror that included an overall record of 46-3-2, including 37-1-2 in the conference with five consecutive titles under coach Jim Craig.
In order, the Yellow Jackets rolled past Kosciusko (27-0) and Louisville (33-7) before conference play, where they pounded Oxford (40-6), New Albany (46-0), Pontotoc (49-7), Aberdeen (46-6), Amory (34-7), Bruce (50-0), Houston (49-0) and West Point (41-6).
Craig’s teams went 73-15-3 during his nine years at the helm, ending with a 9-1 record in 1974.
— Tanner Marlar
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