JACKSON — Starkville High School coach Jamie Mitchell doesn’t like to lose.
When Mitchell left Itawamba Agricultural High in 2010 to become the new head football coach at Starkville High, Mitchell put everyone on notice that there weren’t going to be any pats on the back for finishing second. His goal in coming to Oktibbeha County was to teach his players how to win and to help Starkville regain its championship swagger.
Mitchell and his assistant coaches have accomplished that goal in two seasons. Now they want to earn what they feel is the reward for their hard work.
At 7 tonight (Mississippi Public Broadcasting), Mitchell and Starkville (12-2) will take on Picayune (12-2) for the Mississippi High School Activities Association Class 5A state title at Mississippi Veterans Memorial Stadium in Jackson.
Starkville, which lost its final four games last season to finish 5-6 and miss a spot in the Class 6A playoffs, made the most this season of its move to Class 5A and showed it had what it takes to return to the level it reached in 1984, ’94, ’95, and 2001 when it won state championships. The emergence of junior Gabe Myles at quarterback and the play of a defense that gave up 33 points in a loss to Noxubee County in its season opener have pushed Starkville back to the state’s biggest stage.
“I told them last week (defense) had gotten us to this point and if we were going to get to Jackson they were going to get us here, and they did,” Mitchell said. “They just have been great all year. It is just a group of guys that has gotten tougher and more physical as we have gone along. The whole group has been really good.”
Starkville beat Hernando (42-28), two-time defending Class 5A state champion West Point (20-14) and Ridgeland (28-7) to earn a chance to play for its first state crown in a decade.
Picayune defeated McComb (35-6), Pascagoula (20-14) and Pearl River Central (45-10) to secure an opportunity to capture its first championship in 25 years.
Myles, a junior quarterback, said the team has grown a lot since a 33-20 loss to Class 4A Noxubee County on Aug. 19. Starkville rebounded to beat Class 6A Madison Central 16-14 and Tupelo 10-7 before losing to West Point 33-12. That loss left the Yellow Jackets searching for their rhythm, but Myles said the offense continued to improve as the defense shouldered the load. Each week, he said, the offensive gained more and more confidence until the entire team realized the 2011 season could be special.
Myles has taken the lead and has learned from the adversity he faced early in the season. He said one play is all it takes to regain a rhythm that can help turn the momentum. He did that last week as he regrouped from a lackluster first half and helped Starkville pull away and win at Ridgeland for the second time this season.
“If you look at the playoffs along, he was 12 of 14 with five touchdowns against Hernando,” Mitchell said. “The last two he has done it with his feet. He played probably as poorly as he has played the first half last week and then turns right around and has two rushing touchdowns in the second half to get us here. He is a battle-tested guy, and he understands the ball is not always going to bounce his way, but that he has to go to the next play and win the next one.”
“He is still growing, and we got on him pretty good in the first half. At halftime, we had to pick him up and say, ‘Hey, you have gotten us here and it is your job to get us over this hump, and you have 24 minutes to change what happened in the first half. He is still learning how to do those things. I think it was just another step in his maturation process to see him continue to mature and to improve and to understand how to overcome those things.”
Myles said all of the Yellow Jackets have done the little things and have bought into Mitchell’s philosophy to put the program one victory from its fifth state title.
“After the loss to Columbus (34-32 in the regular-season finale in 2010), we had the game,” Myles said. “We kind of let it slip away. This year, we learned how to finish games.”
The defense also has done its part. Called the “cornerstone” of the program by Myles, the defense allowed a score to Ridgeland on its first series last week and then rose up and paved the way to Jackson with a dominating effort.
Senior defensive end Dennis Ware credits Mitchell for helping the players believe they could be the best they can be. He said the players responded to the “love” and “became a team.” Looking back to last season, he knows Mitchell saw it in the team, even if the players didn’t realize they had.
This season, Ware said he knew the defense had to do its part to help the team realize its potential.
“It is amazing how much effort we put into it,” Ware said. “We have a great head coach who knows what he is doing, and we have great athletes who want to be where we are, so we just became one and did what we had to do to be where we are today.”
Adam Minichino is the former Sports Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
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