MACON — Even after a disappointing loss last week in the second annual Fall High School Jamboree, Noxubee County High School football coach Tyrone Shorter was convinced his team could still run the football.
The electrifying duo of Ladarrell Hunt and Darrell Robinson proved their leader correct in a 33-21 victory against Starkville on Friday night in the season opener for both teams.
The pair combined for 252 rushing yards and three touchdowns, but it was Hunt who would turned the second-half momentum.
After the Tigers forced the Yellow Jackets to fumble three yards from their goal line, Hunt took a sweep down the left sideline and outran the defense for a 97-yard score to give Noxubee County its first lead since the first drive of the game.
“All I saw in front of me was beautiful green grass,” Hunt said. “I knew that once I turned the corner all I had to do was make two people miss, and that”s exactly what happened.”
Coming out of the locker room after intermission with a seven-point lead, Starkville”s key skill position players were struggling with leg cramping, which forced the offense to turn to backup quarterback Michael Newman.
After failing to break the plane of the goal line on consecutive plays, Newman took a designed option run but dropped the football on the 3-yard line.
“That”s just a quarterback turning the wrong way on a handoff and then forgetting the football,” Starkville coach Jamie Mitchell said. “All we had to do was stop them and get the ball back with excellent field position and our defense disappointed again.”
An early spark for Starkville came in the form of the elusiveness of junior athlete Preston Baker. The 5-foot-9, 192-pound speedster found the end zone as a kickoff returner, wide receiver, and tailback in the first half. He had 182 all-purpose yards (150 yards on returns, 30 receiving) in the first half.
Noxubee County, a Class 4A playoff participant four years in a row, got on the scoreboard first after taking the opening drive 66 yards on 15 plays, culminating in a 1-yard touchdown run by Antonio Ryland.
“We”re going to be able to run the ball because that”s what we do,” Shorter said. “We are going to put up points, but our defense has to be more fundamentally sound.”
It took only seconds for Starkville to answer, as Baker took the ensuing kickoff and found a small seam to scamper 95 yards for a touchdown to knot the score.
Starkville”s defense, which posted a shutout last weekend in the jamboree at Mississippi State”s Davis Wade Stadium, forced a three-and-out along and allowed Noxubee County 10 yards the rest of the quarter.
However, it was the second-half demise of that side of the ball that frustrated Mitchell and his staff.
“There”s no way I thought they would come in and run it like they did on us tonight,” Mitchell said. “That”s just so disappointing the way that side of the ball played. I didn”t take this job at Starkville High to lose this much.”
With seconds left in the first period it was time for junior quarterback Gabe Myles to produce some magic in the Starkville backfield. On a third and eight play, Myles rolled to his left and before he crossed the line of scrimmage unleashed a jump pass to a wide open Devin Mitchell. Mitchell, a junior tailback, along with a wall of three receivers got behind the defense and walked into the end zone.
Myles, a converted wide receiver in Mitchell”s shotgun option offense, had 141 total yards (121 passing and 20 rushing), including a fourth-down, 30-yard touchdown aerial strike to Baker in the first half.
SHS” defense kept Noxubee County off the scoreboard late in the first half when it intercepted a pass from quarterback Deangelo Ballard. On another drive it forced receiver Terrence Barron to fumble the football after trying to turn upfield after a catch.
“After giving up some big plays in the first half you could say the defense made up for it with some big plays in the second half,” Shorter said.
By the end of the first half, Starkville had 21 points and a seven-point lead without earning a first down.
Without the services of Myles in the final 24 minutes, Starkville failed to put points on the scoreboard and entered the Tigers side of the field only twice.
Once Myles returned to action late in the fourth quarter for a fourth-down play, the junior”s screen pass was tipped and intercepted by Javancy Jones. The junior linebacker needed to break only one tackle to make a 35-yard return for a touchdown to seal the victory.
Noxubee County will travel to Birmingham, Ala., to face Spain Park next week, while Starkville will have its home opener against Madison Central.
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