STARKVILLE — As prolific as Starkville’s offense was early on against Clinton on Friday night, the Yellow Jackets’ defense could not come up with a stop. So Starkville turned the tide by getting itself two offensive possessions in a row.

Leading by one midway through the second quarter after a Jay Stevenson rushing touchdown, the Yellow Jackets kicked off and the Arrows’ returner could not make a clean catch, with Kaeiylan Williams recovering at the Clinton 31-yard line. Two plays later, Starkville quarterback Trey Petty rolled to his right and found Jaiden Turnipseed in the back of the end zone for a 22-yard score to increase the Starkville lead to eight.

From there, it was total domination by the hosts. The Yellow Jackets’ defense settled in and the Arrows did not score again. The offense, meanwhile, remained sizzling, and Starkville pulled away for a 60-21 victory in which the fourth quarter was played with a running clock.

“Sometimes you’re struggling and you need a break,” Yellow Jackets head coach Chris Jones said. “You have to be around the ball to make a play and we had some kids around the ball. We got the break that we needed, and we took advantage of it and we never looked back. I’m proud of my defense for weathering the storm. They made a few adjustments and the kids bought in.”

Clinton’s three touchdowns all came on explosive plays. The Arrows struck first on the game’s opening series when Brady Torrence took a pitch to the right and outraced the Starkville defense for a 50-yard touchdown. But the Yellow Jackets (6-2) came right back using its dynamic running back duo of Stevenson and Courtland Cooper. Stevenson found the end zone first on a 6-yard run and a successful two-point conversion gave Starkville the lead.

The visitors responded quickly as Clinton quarterback Josef Walker connected with Jaydann Hollins on a deep ball for a 53-yard score, but again the Yellow Jackets’ running backs had an answer, this time with Cooper pushing the pile into the end zone for a 13-yard touchdown on the first play of the second quarter.

“I’m the thunder and he’s the lightning,” Stevenson said. “We’re both different running backs. He’s got the speed and I’ve got the power, and we just work off of that.”

Walker and the Arrows (1-6) had one more big play in them. On a fourth-and-2 from the Starkville 28, Walker went deep over the middle and found Veshone Malone to give Clinton the lead right back. Petty, though, swung the momentum back in Starkville’s favor with a 63-yard run to set up Stevenson’s second touchdown on the next play. The fumbled kick return and the ensuing quick touchdown seemed to take the wind out of the Arrows’ sails.

Starkville finally came up with a stop when Christopher Hall blew up a screen pass for a loss on third-and-9. On the second play of the Yellow Jackets’ next drive, Petty hit his favorite target, Mississippi State commit Braylon Burnside, deep down the right sideline, and Burnside sprinted past the secondary for a 73-yard touchdown reception to make it a 37-21 lead at halftime.

“We got some bigger bodies in there,” Jones said. “All week we’ve been talking about stopping the run and putting bigger guys at the point of attack and just putting our best 11 on the field, whether it’s offense, defense or special teams. We’ve got some guys playing both ways and trying to do whatever it takes to get wins.”

The onslaught continued in the third quarter as Stevenson added his third touchdown of the night, Cooper recorded his second and sophomore A’braylen Jenkins also scored. Clinton managed just one first down after those three early touchdown drives.

Starkville is on a bye next week and has just two regular-season games remaining — a home date with Madison Central on Oct. 27 and a road trip to powerhouse Tupelo on Nov. 2.

“We’ve got a tough road ahead,” Jones said. “We have to play good football against those teams, so we’re trying to make sure we’re peaking at the right time. We’re doing a good job, but we have to do better.”

Starkville 60, Clinton 21

Clinton (1-6)  14   7   0   0 – 21

Starkville (6-2)  8   29   23   0 – 60

First quarter

C — Brady Torrence 50 run (Hayden Wolfe kick), clock 7:54

S — Jay Stevenson 6 run (pass to Shiloh Johnson good), clock 4:18

C — Jaydann Hollins 53 pass from Josef Walker (Wolfe kick), clock 2:46

Second quarter

S — Courtland Cooper 13 run (Trey Petty pass to Philip Swann), clock 11:51

C — Veshone Malone 28 pass from Walker (Wolfe kick), clock 7:54

S — Stevenson 3 run (run failed), clock 6:50

S — Jaiden Turnipseed 28 pass from Petty (Ja Cori Gallegos kick), clock 6:05

S — Braylon Burnside 73 pass from Petty (Petty run), clock 4:12

Third quarter

S — Stevenson 1 run (A’braylen Jenkins run), clock 9:57

S — Cooper 3 run (Jenkins run), clock 7:04

S — Jenkins 40 run (Gallegos kick), clock 2:00