OXFORD — Andreus Swanigan has watched Avery Brown lead the Starkville rushing attack all season long.
Brown has carried the load and eclipsed the 1,000 yard mark in the regular season. That didn’t leave many opportunities for Swanigan to carry the ball. But Brown suffered an injury last week against Madison Central and his status was uncertain moving forward.
“When Pee Wee (Brown) got hurt last week, we already knew Dre (Swanigan) was going to step in and play a big role in our offense,” junior linebacker Willie Gay said.
Swanigan didn’t start, but got the bulk of the carries and was a big reason the Jackets won. Behind Swanigan’s three touchdowns, the Yellow Jackets beat Petal 27-7 Friday night at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium on the campus of Ole Miss in Oxford for the Mississippi High School Activities Association Class 6A State championship.
Brown got two carries on the first possession, but was clearly slowed by an injured knee suffered in last week’s 28-20 North State championship win over Madison Central.
First-year coach Ricky Woods turned to Swanigan. No. 5 responded.
“He’s a really good football player,” Woods said. “He’s had some ball control problems, but he didn’t fumble any (Friday). He did a great job and we knew he was a good player. I hated Avery couldn’t go. We tried, but he just couldn’t do it. Dre picked up the slack.”
Swanigan rushed for a career-high 161 yards on 24 carries to help the Jackets (14-1) rush for a total of 246 yards. He gave Starkville an early 7-0 lead on an 8-yard touchdown with 2 minutes, 56 seconds remaining in the first quarter.
He scored an 18-yard touchdown early in the second quarter to stretch the Jacket lead to 14-0. His final touchdown was the only touchdown in the second half by either team. He capped off an 11-play, 76-yard drive with a 1-yard touchdown.
For the season, Swanigan finishes with 510 rushing yards and eight touchdowns. Brown finished with 1,562 yards and 17 touchdowns.
Swanigan said he didn’t feel any pressure asking to be the workhorse back in his team’s biggest game of the season.
“I knew it was coming so I prepared all week to be ready for this,” Swanigan said. “I had to come out here and play my best, play my heart out. Coach knew I could do it.”
Brown, a senior, rushed for two yards on four carries in his final game for the Jackets. Quarterback Montario Montgomery rushed for 64 yards, while K.J. Lawrence and Abdural Lee rushed for 15 and four yards, respectively.
Ironically, Brown also saw his opportunity to shine a year ago when his workload increased thanks to injuries to Matt Fuller and Jacquez Horsley. Thanks to his hard running during the middle of the season, Starkville was able to win its first 13 games before falling to South Panola in the North State championship game.
Preston Baker ran for 867 yards and 10 touchdowns while leading Starkville to the Class 5A title in 2012. Brown, who is a cousin to Baker, kept the Starkville running back game in an elite category this season.
Now the future looks bright as well. Montgomery and most of Swanigan’s teammates weren’t surprised that Swanigan rose to the moment and showed he is ready to carry the torch moving forward.
“He’s a great player,” Montgomery said. “He has a lot of confidence. When you looked in his eyes, you could tell he was ready to go.”
Swanigan has experienced a state championship as a sophomore and his hungry for more. But as a personal achievement, he has something to fall back on when next season begins.
“My confidence is up,” Swanigan said. “I think we can come back out here and repeat this.”
Follow Dispatch sports writer Ben Wait on Twitter @bcwait
Scott was sports editor for The Dispatch.
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