STARKVILLE — Starkville got just the stop it needed against Tupelo to make a final, last-ditch effort in Friday night’s game.
With Tupelo driving all the way down inside the Yellow Jackets’ 10-yard line within the final four minutes or so of the fourth quarter, the Golden Wave’s 24-17 lead looked insurmountable.
Two personal fouls, however, backed Tupelo to the 30-yard line, where Starkville held tough. Gideon Deaton missed the ensuing 45-yard field goal attempt, giving the Yellow Jackets the ball at their own 28 with under two minutes to play.
Unfortunately for the Yellow Jackets, midfield was as far as they got as the Golden Wave forced a strip-sack of Jaylon Ruffin, recovering the ball and sealing a 24-17 victory.
“Right now, life is teaching us a lesson about character and staying the course and just finding out who we are as men,” Starkville head coach Chris Jones said. “At the end of the day, I’m going to keep fighting. I’m going to keep coaching and the kids are going to do the same.
“We just have to get through it.”
Coming into Friday’s game, Tupelo (7-0) had given up just 23 points as a defense this season, and no more than 10 points in a single game, but Starkville (4-3) came out of the gates firing, scoring 10 in the opening quarter alone.
It was a different situation for Starkville under center as starting quarterback Trey Petty was suspended for the entirety of the game due to being ejected in last week’s game against Clinton.
That meant Ruffin, the sophomore backup, would be under center the entire game and he showcased his arm very early on.
However, a strong Tupelo pass-rush put immense pressure on him and made it tough to operate in the pocket.
“I prepared well,” Ruffin said. “It’s just, I didn’t do well in the pocket. I believe we could have won, but sometimes, I just didn’t make the right decision and it cost us.”
The passing game for Starkville might have not been as on point as it was in previous games, although Ruffin was finding open receivers and slinging the football, but the running game found its footing as the game wore on.
The Golden Wave played exceptionally well at the line and held the Yellow Jackets down in the rushing department, but Curtis Willis had himself a game.
Willis scored both of Starkville’s touchdowns, two long rushing scores of 49 and 58 yards, as well as racking up six total rushes of 10 yards or more.
In total, he had 23 carries for 207 yards and those two aforementioned rushing touchdowns, averaging nine yards a carry on the night.
“Those touchdowns were mostly outside runs,” Willis said. “There was always an opening coming out. I just hit the hole and I just took off.”
The latter of his two rushing touchdowns came to begin the fourth quarter as Starkville tied the game at 17-17, but just over a minute later, Tupelo responded by way of running back Qua Middlebrooks.
He had been penetrating Starkville’s front seven well, finding holes and breaking down the Yellow Jacket defense well throughout the game.
However, in this instance, he found space on the outside after getting a short screen pass dumped off to him by Golden Wave quarterback Jeremiah Harrell, avoiding tackles as he ran down the sideline for the game-winning score, a 59-yard receiving touchdown.
Now 0-3 in district play, Starkville has to regroup quickly next week as they take on Murrah next Thursday, a team that has yet to win a game during the 2022 season. It could very well be the bounce-back victory that the Yellow Jackets need moving forward.
“Every time we needed a play, we shot ourselves in the foot,” Jones said. “That’s on us as coaches. We have to find a way to fix it and not make the same mistakes.”
“We played well at times, but we didn’t play well enough. We just have to get better.”
Tupelo 24, Starkville 17
Tupelo (7-0) 7 7 3 — 24
Starkville (4-3) 10 0 0 7 — 17
First quarter
T — JQ Witherspoon 6 pass from Jeremiah Harrell (Gideon Deaton kick), clock 10:10
S — Curtis Willis 49 run (Brayden Green kick), clock 7:38
S — Green 23 FG, clock 2:06
Second quarter
T — Qua Middlebrooks 2 run (Deaton kick), clock 7:57
Third quarter
T — Deaton 35 FG, clock 5:20
Fourth quarter
S — Willis 58 run (Green kick), clock 10:26
T — Middlebrooks 59 pass from Harrell (Deaton kick), clock 9:20
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