MACON — Darrell Robinson needed a moment of reflection.
He didn’t yell at himself or shake his head in frustration. He just paused on two knees and stared.
To his right, Javoris Glenn lifted himself from the turf after recovering a fumble by Robinson. While Glenn moved toward the Noxubee County huddle, Robinson lingered a moment longer. The time for reflection was over. It was time to go to work.
“I knew I had to make up for it,” Robinson said. “I knew I had made a mistake to hurt my team, so I knew I had to make up for it, and that’s what I did.”
What followed will go down in history.
Robinson regrouped from his second fumble of the evening and rambled 24 yards for a touchdown and then tacked on a 1-yard scoring run to help lift the Noxubee County High School football team to a 41-21 victory against Louisville in the Mississippi High School Activities Association Class 4A North State title game at Tiger Stadium.
The touchdowns in the fourth quarter gave Robinson (42 carries, 256 yards) six for the game and helped him break the state record for touchdowns in a season with 49. Former Weir High standout Dicenzo Miller scored 47 touchdowns in 1997.
“I am so proud of that kid,” Noxubee County coach Tyrone Shorter said. “He set a goal at the beginning of the year, and he has surpassed his goal. To break the record tonight on our field — and I said that during the pregame meal during devotion talking to the team. I said, ‘Why not break it at home? Let’s make history. We can break the record on our field.’
“We gave it to him tonight and he took the challenge. We told him we were going to feed him. He kept running harder and harder and harder as the game went on.”
Robinson also scored on runs of 6, 18, and 45, and had an 85-yard kick return that might have been the game’s biggest play.
After the game, the 5-foot-10, 191-pound senior held the game ball and praised an offensive line and teammates who have helped him blaze a path into the state of Mississippi’s prep football history book.
Robinson admitted he didn’t think at the start of the game that he would get the record. His thinking changed, though, as the game progressed and he grew more confident in his ability to gash the Wildcats (10-5) up the middle or to the edge.
A fumble on a kickoff and the fumble Glenn recovered early in the fourth quarter with Noxubee County leading 26-21 merely served to steel his resolve.
“This is the biggest game of my life,” Robinson said when asked what he was thinking as he kneeled down and stared at the turf. “I know my teammates depend on me and I know we really needed it at the time.”
Robinson went back to work after the defense held Louisville to its 13th three-and-out of the game. Undeterred by his workload to that point, Robinson carried the ball 11 times in a row as the Tigers ate up more than five minutes to secure their trip next week to Jackson. Robinson and the Tigers weren’t flashy on the drive. His longest gains were two 10-yard runs, but he kept charging forward and didn’t stop until he scored on a 1-yard run on second-and-goal with 4 minutes, 12 seconds left in the game.
“We just said we are going to run it down their throats and get it over with,” Robinson said. “It wasn’t anything different. We just kept going between the gaps instead of running out wide on them. We just went straight at them and ran downhill.”
Noxubee County senior center Martez Mitchell told his linemates all they had to do was to get a push and Robinson would do the rest. Except for a stretch at the end of the second quarter that ran into the third quarter when Robinson had four negative rushes in a row, and six overall, the Tigers’ offensive line cleared the way for Robinson to stay on track for a record-setting evening.
“It is a great feeling because if it wasn’t for us, he wouldn’t have that many yards,” Mitchell said. “We both motivate each other at all times.
“We were so motivated to help him break the record. Plus this is a rivalry game. … We have been together since the seventh grade and we all know each other. We have just become one.”
Mitchell said Robinson’s work ethic has helped him have a record-breaking season. Unofficially, Robinson has rushed for 2,675 yards, well above the 2,000-yard goal he set for himself at the beginning of the season.
“Darrell Robinson is just an amazing running back,” Shorter said. “He carried us tonight.”
Shorter said he knew Robinson had the stamina to handle a 42-carry night. He said Robinson worked hard last spring on the school’s track and field team to improve his speed. He said Robinson also increased his strength by working in the weight room. The difference was obvious in the preseason, and with an experienced offensive line, Shorter knew the Tigers were going to rely on a no-fills ground game and a dominating defense to get a chance to earn their second state championship.
At 3 p.m. Saturday, Noxubee County (15-0) will try to make school history to be its first football team to go 16-0 in a season when it takes on Greene County, which beat Quitman 24-21 on Friday night, at Memorial Stadium in Jackson.
Robinson said he is eager to take on that challenge. He also is primed to help the Tigers realize a goal that has been on the minds of every player since a 21-20 loss to Amory in the second round of the Class 4A North State playoffs.
Robinson showed he was ready when he made arguably the biggest play in the game. After Louisville cut the deficit to 20-14 on a Wyatt Roberts’ 36-yard touchdown pass to Dontae Jones, Robinson fielded the kick at the 15 and was off to the races. He moved to his left until he found a seam, broke up field, and cut to his right and sprinted down the Tigers’ sideline.
The only obstacle Robinson had to navigate was teammate Glenn. He used a stiff-arm from behind to push Glenn out of the way and then left him in his wake.
“My teammates said, ‘Come this way, come this way,’ ” Robinson said. “When I went that way I saw a seam and I hit. When I hit it, I just made one cut and I was gone.”
Said Shorter, “It was a very big play. The momentum switched to them and to come back and return that kick — I was very surprised they kicked it to him. I was surprised they kicked it to him all night. We were trying to get him into position to field everything, but they kicked it right to him. He made them pay tonight.”
Louisville coach M.C. Miller put it even better.
“We thought we were going into halftime (with the momentum),” Miller said. “When something like that happens it breaks your back.”
Robinson will try to make Greene County pay Saturday in his final game in a Noxubee County uniform. Until then, Robinson will consider where he will put his record-breaking football. He said he may frame it and keep it in the Noxubee County fieldhouse. If it stays there, it would be right at home with a team picture and a banner from the 2008 state championship squad and another picture and banner for the 2012 team.
“We want to make history,” Robinson said. “We want to put our name up there. We want our pictures on the wall in the fieldhouse. We’re going there to win.”
Adam Minichino is the former Sports Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
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