Understandably, Sean Harrison wasn’t in a great mood.
All the Heritage Academy football coach could do was watch as Starkville Academy took an early 12-0 lead, then got a stop on defense to get the ball back in the Oct. 16 game between the two rivals in Columbus.
With the district title on the line, the Patriots were playing nervous and tight, Harrison said. They were finding it hard to bring down star running back CJ Jackson, too.
But the Pats cut the lead to 18-14 at the half, and a young defense shut out the Volunteers in the third and fourth quarters for a critical 27-18 win.
“Once we settled in and realized we could play with them, we started tackling and had some big stops,” Harrison said.
It was a huge point of maturation for a Heritage Academy team that’s growing every week after losing 13 seniors from last season’s unbeaten, state championship-winning squad. And Friday, as the Pats (7-2) host the Vols (6-4) for the second time this season in the MAIS Class 5A quarterfinal round, Heritage Academy will need another such performance if it hopes to advance.
“We’re for sure going to have to put everything into it,” junior wide receiver Mitchell Woodard said. “We can’t leave anything on the field.”
The Patriots certainly haven’t left much to be desired when facing the Vols over the past two years. This season’s nine-point regular-season victory was far closer than last year’s two contests: a 42-7 Heritage Academy win in Starkville last Oct. 18 and a 55-10 Pats victory in the state championship game on Nov. 22.
“It was something that I’ll always remember, and I hope we can do it again this year — beat them just as bad,” Woodard said of the Pats’ title-clinching rout.
Starkville Academy coach Chase Nicholson acknowledged Heritage Academy’s recent success against his team but said his players couldn’t afford to dwell on it come Friday.
“Nobody has won or lost this game yet, since we’re going to play it this week,” Nicholson said. “Last time doesn’t matter, so you can’t think about it, but you can’t forget about it.”
Nicholson hopes his team’s powerful offense and solid defense will prevail against the Patriots, as last month’s game seemed to portend through its first 24 minutes. As he has done all season, Jackson, the star runner, carried the Vols on the ground.
Jackson rolled his ankle during last week’s 26-21 first-round win over Simpson Academy and was held out for the rest of the game, but his coach said he’ll be “ready to go” Friday. Once again, though, Nicholson pointed out that while Jackson is a key part of the Vols’ offense, quarterback Randall Futral, offensive linemen like Karsten Upchurch and a solid wide receiving crew are equally critical.
“CJ’s a huge piece of this big puzzle,” Nicholson said. “Yeah, he’s important, but so is Randall, so is ‘Church, so is (wideout) Charlie Nicholas. It doesn’t matter who they are: They’re all important, and we’ve just got to go out there and put the pieces together and play a great game.”
Harrison knows the Volunteers will hope to get out early like they did in the two teams’ prior matchup, so matching Starkville Academy blow for blow in the first quarter will be essential.
“They’re a good team, and they’ve shown almost every game they can come out and jump on you pretty quick,” Harrison said. “We’ve got to go survive the opening tidal wave that they seem to put on everybody and just go play the game.”
The Patriots will do so with an offense that has rounded into form since a Week 1 loss at current MAIS No. 3 Jackson Prep. In Flowood, Heritage Academy’s run game was stuffed time and time again, but improvement from running backs Braden Davidson, Jaylan Stewart and Luke Fisher has gone hand in hand with upgraded play from the Pats’ offensive line.
“Our linemen have stepped up big time, and I’m able to see the holes a lot better,” said Davidson, a junior.
Davidson said facing a Vols team the Pats have seen — and beaten — three times since the start of last season will put pressure on Starkville Academy to turn the tables and will ultimately favor Heritage Academy.
“It gives us an advantage,” he said. “We know what they’re going to do, so it helps us, especially defensively.”
Woodard said if the Pats can win if they shut down the Vols’ run game but expects Nicholson and company to come out with a new look Friday.
“They’re definitely going to try a bunch of new stuff on us since we shut them down pretty good in the second half last time, but I think we’ll be prepared, and we’ll come away with the win,” Woodard said.
Given the familiarity the two teams have developed with each other, Harrison said there might not be much he can dial up that could offer the Vols a surprise by now, and vice versa.
“I’m not going to call anything probably that they weren’t expecting, and they’re not going to call anything that probably we weren’t expecting,” he said. “They’re a good staff. We’re a good staff. It’s always a lot of fun.”
Friday will mark the second straight year that either the Pats or Vols will have to end the other’s season, and with both teams poised for continued success in the years to come, Harrison said it won’t be the last.
“For a while, it’s going to be inevitable that we’re going to meet in the playoffs,” he said.
Theo DeRosa reports on Mississippi State sports for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter at @Theo_DeRosa.
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