In its first taste of football action this year, Starkville found itself down 7-0 in both of its two-quarter spring games against South Panola and Hillcrest (Ala.) on Friday at Yellow Jacket Stadium, and both times the team came storming back to defeat Tigers 27-7 and tie 14-14 with the Patriots.
It was far from a perfect outing, new head coach Brett Morgan said, pointing to his team operating on only 13 practices together, but the squad showcased a lot of heart and determination to battle back in both games.
“There was a lot of good, a lot of bad. I wasn’t really surprised, it was what I kind of expected. We still have a long way to go. The thing I was happy the most about is we got down in both games and fought back, and that’s what I told the players before we went and played. I knew we weren’t going to be perfect, but I wanted to have perfect effort, perfect fight and we did that.”
In the South Panola game, the Tigers struck first on an 11-yard pass, but after that it was all Starkville.
Returning quarterback Kingston Johnson threw touchdowns passes of 78 and 31 yards to Latrent Agnew and Chaden Walker to grab the lead, and Agnew even got in on the throwing action with an 18-yard scoring pass to Walker. The Jackets put the finishing touches on the game with a 39-yard interception return by Kaden Wilson. In that game, Starkville finished with 175 passing yards, 157 from Johnson, on 5-of-7 attempts.
Against Hillcrest, Starkville bounced back from an early 21-yard touchdown run with a 12-yard touchdown throw from Johnson, his third scoring pass of the day, to tie it up. The Patriots responded with an 88-yard kick return to regain the lead, but then Starkville knotted the game once more on a 3-yard run from Jacory Ruffin. Johnson finished the game with 152 passing yards for a full-day total of 327 yards on 19 throws.
For some, seeing a Morgan-led football lead the way on offense with the passing game might seem strange, but Morgan said that it’s all part of his plan of combining Johnson’s talent with his ground-and-pound staple of a rushing attack, which proved to be effective on Friday. The touchdown throws might have stolen all the highlights, but Starkville still churned out a total of 139 rushing yards on 33 attempts. It’s a combination that is currently a work in progress, but it’s one that Morgan said can do damage when perfected.
“I think he is an incredible football player. He can just do things that not many people can do,” Morgain said of Johnson. “It’s pushed me to be a better coach, not in the head-coach role but in the offensive-coordinator role. He’s really made me grow, and we’re trying to marry what he does really good with what we’ve always done really, really well in our offense, which is run the ball. We’re not a finished product but I think you saw a little bit of what that can do, what that can create with the explosive plays he can create and with our smash-mouth run game when you marry those two. The end goal is to have a highly efficient offense that is able to put pressure on defense in multiple ways.”
Defensively, Morgan had praise for that side of the ball as well, even though the unit did give up a few big plays. The Jackets combined for 69 tackles, including six for a loss of 23 yards.
“I thought the defense played well,” he said. “Just like the offense, we’ve only been together for three weeks of pads, but I was really encouraged by our defensive staff. I think they did a really good job in such a short time of getting a defensive scheme put in. It’s not where we want it yet, very similar to our offense, and I thought we tackled. We lined up well, we tackled well and I thought our defensive line at times was disruptive and really affected the game like we needed them too. Long way to go, but a lot of positive signs.”
Starkville is now headed to the offseason where it plans to hit the weight room hard and build upon some of the success of spring ball.
“We’re gearing up,” Morgan said. “I feel like we’ve won the spring, not the game, per se, but I think we won the spring with where we’re at with how we attacked it and how we got better through it. Now we’ve got to make sure we win the summer, that’s the next step. You can’t win a state championship in May, June and July, but you sure can lose one if you don’t do what you’re supposed to do and win those times. We’re trying to win the summer.”
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 47 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 47 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
