JACKSON — Anthony Little braced for the pass as it headed straight for him.
On a key third-and-8 in the second quarter of Friday’s MHSAA Class 3A championship game, Noxubee County defensive back watched the errant throw by Magee quarterback Chandler Pittman sail past its intended target and directly to him. Little squared to the football as it homed in the white No. 4 on his chest.
The ball bounced out of Little’s waiting hands and fell to the turf below. The Trojans converted on fourth down and scored a few plays later.
Once again, Noxubee County had let a big opportunity slip through its fingers.
Little’s dropped pick wasn’t the only play that cost the Tigers in Friday’s 42-26 loss at Mississippi Veterans Memorial Stadium in Jackson. Ultimately, the same mistakes that hampered Noxubee County all year ended its season one game short of a title for the second straight year: a fumble inside the red zone; a poor option pitch; a holding penalty negating another must-have interception.
“We missed a lot of opportunities,” Noxubee County coach Teddy Young said.
Magee quarterback Chandler Pittman and the Trojans made the Tigers pay all day for their transgressions. Pittman was nearly perfect Friday, moving the Trojans down the field seemingly at will against Noxubee County’s vaunted defense. He finished with 158 yards and three touchdowns through the air and 187 yards and three more scores on the ground.
“He was exactly what I expected — a dynamic athlete, very fast, a leader,” Young said. “He’s everything that we saw on film.”
His counterpart, Tigers quarterback Chrishaad Rupert, balanced good plays with painful mistakes as he finished 24 for 37 passing for 308 yards. Rupert had a pretty 42-yard touchdown pass to Antonio Fowler Jr. in the first quarter and also connected with Demone Cunningham on a score; however, he fumbled inside the 15-yard line at the end of a long run, misfired on a pitch to running back Bobby Shanklin in the third quarter and threw a fourth-quarter pick as the Tigers struggled to come back.
And every single time, Magee cashed in.
After the Trojans recovered Rupert’s fumble at their own 9 with just seconds to go in the first quarter, Magee was set to punt the ball away to start the second. Instead, the Trojans ran Keywhaun Ducksworth up the middle for 45 yards, reaching the Noxubee County 33. Three plays later, Pittman found Franks for a 4-yard score to extend Magee’s lead to 13-6.
“They stole a possession with the fake punt and went down and scored,” Young said. “They took the momentum going into the half.”
Magee claimed a 28-20 lead at halftime, received the ball at its own 29 to start the third quarter and scored another touchdown as Pittman scrambled for ages before finding Kyerston Tucker open in the end zone for a 1-yard touchdown grab.
Trying to climb back from two scores down, Rupert tossed an option pitch behind Shanklin, and the Trojans pounced on it at the Tigers’ 26.
Two plays later, Magee’s Cayden Bridges took an end around 10 yards for a touchdown. The Trojans led 42-20, and it was effectively over.
“They just made plays, and we did not,” Young said. “That’s what it came down to: They made more plays than us today.”
Noxubee County made just enough plays to match Magee for 23 minutes, as Bobby Shanklin took a direct snap to pay dirt from 4 yards out with 4 minutes, 3 seconds left in the first half and tied the contest 20-20 on the two-point conversion.
Then, with less than a minute to go, defensive back Mushune Walker snagged a rare misfire from Pittman in the red zone. The Tigers thought they had the ball back.
Then the flag flew, and the referee announced the penalty: holding against Noxubee County, an automatic first down. Pittman ran the ball in from 3 yards out on the ensuing play and finished the two-point try as well to give Magee a 28-20 lead that would last into the half.
Pittman and the Trojans controlled the game from there, pulling away for a comfortable victory — Magee’s first state championship since 2000.
“It’s something that I’ve always wanted to achieve in my life, for my community,” Pittman said. “It hasn’t been done in 20 years, so I wanted to be the one to change that.”
Across the field, as Young dissected the Tigers’ 2020 campaign, the crowd on the north side of the stadium erupted: Pittman had been named the most valuable player of Friday’s game. Meanwhile, Noxubee County players filed into their locker room to pack their things and board the bus home.
“We’ve had a great season,” Young said. “We just didn’t finish where we wanted to.”
So just seconds after the final whistle, instead of bolting for the showers straight off, the coach kept his team on the field to watch Magee receive the celebratory golden football.
“This is our second year watching somebody hold the trophy up,” Young said. “We’re just going to go back to the drawing board, and we’re going to find a way to get over this hump.”
That might not happen right away — Noxubee County graduates a strong senior class including Shanklin, Walker, Rupert, defensive lineman Travorus Hatcher and linebacker Trillo Brown — but when it does, it will mean all that much more for Young and the Tigers.
“Hopefully this makes them hungry to come back and make sure we bring that ball home,” Young said.
Magee 49, Noxubee County 26
M 7 21 14 7 — 49
NC 6 14 6 0 — 26
First quarter
NC — Antonio Fowler Jr. 42 pass from Chrishaad Rupert (run failed), clock 7:09
M — Kyerston Tucker 14 pass from Chandler Pittman (Gavyn Chafin kick), clock 3:13
Second quarter
M — Xavier Franks 4 pass from Pittman (kick failed), clock 11:20
NC — Demone Cunningham 15 pass from Rupert (kick failed), clock 8:49
M — Pittman 8 run (Chafin kick), clock 6:14
NC — Bobby Shanklin 4 run (Shanklin run), clock 4:03
M — Pittman 3 run (Pittman run), clock 0:44
Third quarter
M — Tucker 1 pass from Pittman (Chafin kick), clock 7:32
M — Cayden Bridges 10 run (Chafin kick), clock 5:42
NC — Rupert 1 run (run failed), clock 2:55
Fourth quarter
M — Jawon Shaw 2 run (Chafin kick), clock 1:58
Theo DeRosa reports on Mississippi State sports for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter at @Theo_DeRosa.
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