MACON — Trey Petty and Braylon Burnside are no longer playing for Starkville High, but you could excuse Noxubee County for thinking the former star quarterback and wide receiver had somehow acquired an extra year of eligibility early in the second half of Friday night’s season opener.
Trailing by two touchdowns at the half, the Tigers were on the verge of cutting the deficit to one score when Starkville’s Tyson Knox came out of nowhere to intercept a pass from Mississippi State commit Kamario Taylor at the 1-yard line. On the second play of the ensuing Yellow Jackets possession, quarterback Jaylen Ruffin unleashed a long pass down the right sideline for Jaheim Deanes, who shook free of his defender and took it all the way for a 97-yard touchdown.
The explosive play was one of three touchdown passes Ruffin threw in his first start behind center as the Yellow Jackets defeated the Tigers, 43-22.
“We’re different. We’re trying to figure out who we are, trying to find our identity,” Starkville head coach Chris Jones said. “For a lot of guys, this was their first time being in this situation, but for this situation, we fought. We played a really good team. They’ve got athletes, they’ve got size up front, they’ve got one of the better quarterbacks around.”
The teams traded punts to start the game, but the Yellow Jackets (1-0) had a big edge in the field position battle, and they took advantage on their second drive of the night, opening the scoring when Ruffian found a wide-open Torian Knox for a 17-yard score. Following a three-and-out, Knox capped a 73-yard drive with a 6-yard touchdown run to extend the visitors’ lead to 16-0 following a second successful two-point conversion.
But Taylor was not going to stay quiet for long. Noxubee County (0-1) stalled inside the Starkville 10-yard line on its next drive but quickly got the ball back in plus territory, and on third-and-short, Taylor weaved his way through the defense for a 32-yard touchdown to put the Tigers on the board.
“We’re not trying to get a moral victory. We want to win no matter who we’re playing against,” Taylor said. “The sky is the limit. As of right now, the chemistry isn’t there, but you see the progress. Every time we step on the field, we’re getting better and better.”
The Jackets needed just one play to answer Noxubee’s first score. Abrayln Jenkins found a cutback lane after taking a handoff and went 70 yards to pay dirt, the first of two touchdowns for the junior running back. The Tigers responded on their next drive to make it a one-score game, but Starkville’s offense was cooking, and Ruffin’s 16-yard touchdown pass to Davarrious Hairston gave the Jackets a 29-14 lead at the break.
Even after the interception and the long touchdown pass, Noxubee did not go down quietly, taking up nearly six minutes on its next possession and punching it in on a Taylor quarterback sneak. The Tigers got the ball back just over a minute later, but a costly fumble just outside the red zone led to the Jackets’ final touchdown drive of the night, which ended on a 17-yard run by Jenkins.
Taylor’s second interception of the game, which he threw straight to linebacker Erion Lanier Jr., effectively wrapped things up.
“We bent but didn’t break,” Jones said. “We knew coming into this game, we tried to eliminate the big plays. We knew (Taylor) was going to get his plays, but we tried to do a good job keeping everybody in front of us, and for the most part, we did that. I’m proud of my guys. We found a way to get some meaningful stops.”
Starkville 43, Noxubee County 22
Starkville 16 13 7 7 — 43
Noxubee County 0 14 8 0 — 22
First quarter
S — Torian Knox 17 pass from Jaylen Ruffin (Ruffin run), clock 6:37
S — Torian Knox 6 run (Tyson Knox run), clock 0:12
Second quarter
NC — Kamario Taylor 32 run (kick failed), clock 6:24
S — Abrayln Jenkins 70 run (kick failed), clock 6:04
NC — Ladarion Mosely 1 run (Taylor run), clock 2:40
S — Davarrious Hairston 16 pass from Ruffin (Jacori Gallegos kick), clock 0:01
Third quarter
S — Jaheim Deanes 97 pass from Ruffin (Gallegos kick), clock 9:37
NC — Taylor 1 run (Kendrick White pass from Taylor), clock 3:44
Fourth quarter
S — Jenkins 17 run (Gallegos kick), clock 6:23
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