STARKVILLE — The hallway is a who’s who of Starkville Academy football.
Of all the pictures that dot the walls leading to the team’s locker room, Chase Nicholson has a perfect view of the best one. The Starkville Academy coach merely has to sit at his desk and look straight ahead through his doorway to see a bunch of Volunteers charging forward in anticipation of another game.
The color picture is one of many that charts the yearly highlights of a program that has established itself as one of the state’s most consistent in the Mississippi Association of Independent Schools (MAIS) Class AAA ranks.
Newspaper articles, trophies, plaques, and other mementos take you back to when former coach Jeff Terrill came up with the idea to create an environment that celebrates the program’s accomplishments and encourages former players to return and remain key parts of the tradition.
Nicholson and the Volunteers hope to add to their collection of hardware this season. At 4-1 and with two wins against higher classification teams, Starkville Academy has positioned itself to be one of the teams to beat to win the MAIS Class AAA, District 2 title. The first step to realizing that goal will come at 7 p.m. Friday when Starkville Academy plays host to Winston Academy (2-3) in the district opener for both teams.
“It is the goal,” Nicholson said when asked what it would mean to his seniors to win a district championship. “We would never set this goal if we didn’t think it was achievable.”
Starkville Academy is coming off a 21-0 victory against Class AAAA Magnolia Heights in Senatobia. That victory and a 43-21 win against Lamar School in the season opener mean Starkville Academy should be well on its way to securing a playoff position. In the MAIS, smaller classification teams get more points for wins against larger classification teams. Those points go toward a team’s power ranking.
But Nicholson isn’t concerned about parsing the numbers. He is focused on winning a district title and being one of the five Class AAA teams that secures an automatic spot in the playoffs. To do that, Nicholson said the Volunteers will need to continue to play unselfish football. Through five games, the Volunteers have had different players emerge and have had the offense and the defense take charge.
Nicholson said the program’s success the last three seasons has helped this group understand how it needs to prepare to realize its goals. Starkville Academy won 11 games in 2014 and played for a state championship in Terrill’s final season. The Volunteers won 10 and eight games the next two seasons to extend the playoff streak to three-straight seasons. That run has a strong chance to turn into four, but Nicholson said district games at Canton Academy and Heritage Academy and at home against Leake Academy will determine if Starkville Academy can extend its season.
If Starkville Academy can take care of business in those games, it will have more opportunities to add some history to the walls. There is plenty of space, too, in the trophy cases outside of Nicholson’s office, so Nicholson said the Volunteers need to keep delivering more great efforts like they have had in victories against Lamar School, French Camp Academy, East Webster, and Magnolia Heights.
“It is never easy. It never will be, and this week won’t be any different,” Nicholson said. “We have had moments along the way when we thought it would be easy and we had to work harder because we came in with the wrong mentality. You can’t come in with that mentality in a district game and against a good football team.”
Starkville Academy has won the last seven meetings in the series against Winston Academy dating back to a 22-3 loss in 2009. That loss was a part of an 0-11 season. With 40 players on this season’s roster as part of an experienced group, the Volunteers have become accustomed to success. Nicholson said the team also has shown the right attitude, which gives him confidence his players will stay focused and keep having nights that will produce helmet stickers for stellar performances and moments that will turn into lasting images for the walls outside his office.
“We’re trying to build something that is not going to disappear after a year so all of those guys come back,” Nicholson said. “We want Houston Clark and Colt Chrestman to come in here (to his office) and sit down and talk to you. It is so (Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College lineman) Carter Wood gives you a shout out on the Jumbotron on a Thursday night. That is the goal, to make sure we don’t forget the past because it is important where we came from.”
Follow Dispatch sports editor Adam Minichino on Twitter @ctsportseditor
Adam Minichino is the former Sports Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
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