OXFORD — Less than 24 hours after their collegiate counterparts did battle one hour and 45 minutes south Thursday, Starkville and Oxford’s Little Egg Bowl Part II delivered the dramatics in the MHSAA Class 6A north state championship Friday night.

After the Yellow Jackets downed the Chargers 45-17 in the teams’ regular-season meeting, it was the Chargers, led by do-it-all tight end JJ Pegues and quarterback John Meagher, who outdueled junior quarterback Luke Altmyer and the Starkville offense in a 25-16 victory.

“We just kept shooting ourselves in the foot in the first half, and they got the momentum, and you can’t beat yourself,” coach Chris Jones said. “When you’re playing a good team like that you’ve got to make every possession and play count.”

After falling behind 18-0 courtesy of a bobbled snap that was recovered in the end zone, a 20-yard scamper from Meagher and a 42-yard Jack Tannehill field goal, junior quarterback Luke Altmyer and the Starkville offense came alive in the late stages of the second quarter.

The first of Altmyer’s two passing scores of the night came on a scramble to his right where he delivered a strike to senior receiver Josh Aka — his 11th receiving score of the season.

Following an Oxford three-and-out, senior linebacker Tyrese Hopkins blocked the ensuing punt out of the Chargers’ end zone with just 1:14 remaining in the half.

Altmyer then capped off the furious first half comeback when he connected with senior receiver Rufus Harvey for an 18-yard pitch and catch to pull the Jackets within two points before the break.

“We went (into the locker room) excited,” he said. “We felt like we were about to put up a lot of points on them coming out. We came out very confident, they made their adjustments. They played well.”

Sticking with epic insanity Ole Miss and Mississippi State offered in the Thursday night edition of the Egg Bowl, Oxford furthered the narrative as the Chargers recovered a surprise onside kick to open the second half.

Senior cornerback Khiry Gee quickly shifted the momentum back toward the Yellow Jackets once more when he stepped in front of a Meagher pass for Starkville’s third interception in two weeks.

With a renewed belief, Altmyer and his plethora of playmakers drove down into the Oxford red zone trailing by nine with under four minutes remaining.

Two plays after converting a fourth-and-9 on a 19-yard completion to senior receiver Rufus Harvey, Altmyer rolled to his right before forcing a ball back across the middle. Leaping in front of the wobbly toss, Scott Norphlet snatched the pass to put the final nail in Starkville’s proverbial coffin.

“I made a mistake throwing across my body — I thought I had enough arm strength to get it across my body,” Altmyer said. “Guy right behind him slipped under it and got it.”

“At the end of the day he was just trying to make a play,” Jones added. “He’s a playmaker, so he was just doing what he does. It’s a teaching point. From here on out I think he’ll learn from it.”

While the chorus of cowbells that enveloped Davis Wade Stadium one night prior were replaced with the banging of bleachers on the home side of Bobby Holcomb Field, Altmyer wandered down the bench.

As tears began streaming down his teammates’ eyes as they passed by him, center Mason Moorhead — son of MSU head coach Joe Moorhead — offered him a comforting pat of the shoulder pads as the youthful gunslinger wandered off the sidelines in defeat.

For Altmyer, next fall will again bring promise of a 6A state title, despite the graduation of his top four receivers. But Friday night amidst the craziness of a loss to a cross-division rival that ended Starkville’s season, the junior quarterback was candid.

“It is what it is,” he said.

Ben Portnoy reports on Mississippi State sports for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter at @bportnoy15.