MACON — There was no hesitation in Tyrone Shorter’s voice.
Twenty minutes earlier, Shorter’s Noxubee County High School football team had put the finishing touches on a 35-28 victory against Louisville in the Mississippi High School Activities Association (MHSAA) Class 4A North State title game at Tiger Stadium to secure a spot in the state championship game. The veteran coach was still a little damp from multiple Gatorade attacks from his players, but it didn’t affect him on a chilly Friday night. Eight weeks earlier, many people in Noxubee County doubted the Tigers could get back on track following a 2-4 start that included disappointing losses to traditional rivals Starkville and West Point.
But Shorter knew better.
As an assistant coach to M.C. Miller and then as a head coach, Shorter had traveled a similar road. He and the Tigers had experienced injuries, inconsistent play, team chemistry issues — all of the maladies that teams encounter throughout a long season. Nearly every time, Shorter saw the Tigers regroup and play some of their best football in November and December. Following a 38-26 loss to West Monroe (La.) on Sept. 22, Shorter felt his team was close to coming together.
“We were fighting about offense and defense against each other or seniors and juniors against each other,” Shorter said. “I told the guys we couldn’t do that. When we decided to go to one quarterback, I think that squashed a lot of that stuff, but I told them we had too good of a football team for them to fight against each other. Like I told them, we have too good of a football team to be fighting against each other.
“It doesn’t matter who scores or who does this or this. We had to come together. When we went to Louisiana, I saw a different team. That is when I knew this team was going to be tough to beat. We played well. We have been rolling ever since we came back.”
No. 1 seed Noxubee County (10-4) will put its eight-game winning streak on the line at 3 p.m. Saturday when it takes on No. 1 seed East Central for the MHSAA Class 4A State title at Ole Miss’ Vaught-Hemingway Stadium in Oxford. East Central (13-0) defeated No. 1 seed Poplarville 52-45 on Friday night to win the South State title.
Noxubee County will play for its fifth state title, and third in the last four seasons. East Central, which is in Moss Point (about 30 minutes east of Biloxi), will play for its first state championship.
Following losses to Starkville, Meridian, West Point, and West Monroe (La.), Noxubee County edged Louisville 35-30 in a Class 4A, Region 4 game on Oct. 6 in Macon. The victory snapped the Tigers’ three-game losing streak. It also set the Tigers on a path to win their sixth-straight region title with another undefeated run that helped them extend their Region 4 winning streak to 30 games.
“The four teams we lost to played tonight,” Shorter said. “A lot of people looked at four losses and counted this team out. I was like, ‘Wow, where does strength of schedule come in?’ We played some of the toughest football around, and as long as I am here I am going to continue to play tough, tough teams because it will put us in position to win games like this.
“I thought once we got back from Louisiana and the way we were playing and the way the offense took off, I knew it was going to be hard to beat us. Our defense took off, and we got better in special teams, so I knew it was going to be hard to beat us, and I knew it was going to come back down to us and Louisville.”
Shorter has praised senior Armoni Clark for his play at quarterback. He said the decision to make Clark the team’s quarterback and to move junior Maliek Stallings, who had been splitting time at the position, to wide receiver and cornerback helped the offense click and stabilized the secondary. Shorter said Stallings also gave the Tigers another weapon in the passing game to go with senior Rashad Eades and junior Kyziah Pruitt.
Noxubee County’s offense has found more balance in the playoffs with the emergence of the offensive line and junior running Ja’Qualyn Smith. Noxubee County rushed for 266 yards against Amory and 487 against Corinth.
“The ups and downs made us stronger,” Clark said. “A lot of people counted us out, but we knew what we had in this field house. We knew if we trusted each other we were going to get the job done.”
Junior defensive back JaQuaris Jamison, who had a key interception against Louisville, credited seniors L.C. Clemmons and Terry Joiner for helping the team reach the state title game. He said Clemmons and Joiner were the biggest voices and role models in the locker room, on the practice field, and in the field house to help the squad work through its issues.
“We had to bond together because we were so separated,” Jamison said. “Then we started to jell together. We came out here and did what we have to do.”
Jamison said the Tigers came to understand they are a “brotherhood” and that they had to stay together and play as one to overcome the adversity and go all of the way. He admitted it wasn’t easy, but he said it is “a blessing because we have come a long way after all of the losses and turned into a winning team.”
Junior defensive tackle Tamorris Luster said prayer also played a role in Noxubee County’s transformation. Fittingly, the team came up with a slogan that has fueled its drive back to the state title game after a disappointing loss to Pontotoc in the third round of the playoffs last season.
“We started out with a losing record and we were fighting each other,” Luster said. “We had to come back and work together as a team. We came together and said, ‘Teamwork will make the dream work.’ ”
“We just got tired of losing. We had to start working even harder. We had to work harder in the weight room. We had to work harder at practice and start running extra laps so we could get it together.”
Follow Dispatch sports editor Adam Minichino on Twitter @ctsportseditor
Adam Minichino is the former Sports Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
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