MACON — Teddy Young felt the doubt before he ever coached his first game at the helm of the Noxubee County football team.
Former head coach Tyrone Shorter, who led the Tigers to four MHSAA Class 4A state titles in six years, left to coach at Louisville. Shorter’s final season produced a 7-6 record and a second-round playoff exit. And after the 2018 season, Noxubee County graduated a senior class of 20 players, and several others transferred schools. Decreased enrollment dropped the Tigers to Class 3A.
“When I first got the job, a lot of people didn’t believe in this team,” Young said.
They’re believing now.
Noxubee County’s defense, among the best in Class 3A if not the best outright, has carried it within a win of the state championship game after a middling 6-5 regular season. The Tigers stomped on Coahoma Agricultural 53-0 and shut out Senatobia 21-0 on the road in the first two rounds of the playoffs.
And last Friday in Macon, Noxubee County outlasted Houston 14-12 in a grueling, muddy triple-overtime game. The Hilltoppers punched in a touchdown in the third extra period, but the Tigers stuffed the two-point conversion and scored eight points of their own for the win.
“It just showed the kids’ willpower, that they don’t want to go home,” Young said. “Going through all that: the weather, three overtimes, the kids never quit. Even in the third overtime, they scored first. The kids never dropped their heads, and we came out with a victory.”
The win set up Friday’s road rematch with district foe Choctaw County (11-3), which beat Noxubee County 28-18 on Oct. 24 in Ackerman.
The Tigers committed five turnovers in the loss, which crowned the Chargers district champions. Take away that element, and Noxubee County knows Friday’s game can play out differently.
“I feel like we got cheated last time,” junior defensive lineman Travorus Hatcher said.
The Tigers’ defense was certainly disadvantaged: Misreads, miscommunications and poor ball security handed Choctaw County 14 points outright — a fumble return for a touchdown and a pick-six — and gave the Chargers stellar field position three other times. Young knows the talent of junior quarterback Tylan Carter and sophomore running back Dicenzo Miller makes the Chargers a tough matchup on offense, especially if they don’t have to go very far.
“We cannot give them a short field,” Young said. “We need to come and work. We need to make them drive 70, 80 yards to score.”
That all goes back to avoiding the turnovers that killed Noxubee County in the first game and still weigh on the Tigers’ minds.
“The kids have been beating themselves up since we played them last time, especially the offensive guys,” Young said. “It’s big because we get a chance to redeem ourselves for that game.”
Senior quarterback Marlon Windham, who threw the pick-six in the first meeting, knows he’ll be counted on for Noxubee County once again. Windham scored all 14 points for the Tigers against Houston, rushing for two touchdowns and following Hatcher into the end zone on the deciding two-point conversion. He knows more of the same will be needed on Friday.
“If we can run the ball and keep from turning it over, we should come out with the win,” Windham said.
Follow that game plan, and Noxubee County will be back where the Tigers always seem to be: playing for a state championship.
“A lot of people doubt these kids, but we’ve been grinding since day one, and we’re one step closer to our goal,” Young said.
Theo DeRosa reports on Mississippi State sports for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter at @Theo_DeRosa.
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