It was a Monday morning in September, and Starkville Academy football players were frustrated and angry after a 30-0 loss to Heritage Academy the previous Friday night.

“That loss to Heritage was a punch in the gut for a lot of different reasons,” Volunteers coach Chase Nicholson said. “We know we didn’t play very well. You turn on the film, and you know we didn’t play very well. Offensively, that’s where we all looked at ourselves and said, guys, we’ve got to be better.”

And the Volunteers, who meet the Patriots again Friday in the MAIS Class 5A quarterfinals in Columbus, did something about it.

“Our captains called a meeting at 8 o’clock that morning with me and laid out a few things that they had thought about, what they were concerned about and where they wanted to go moving forward,” Nicholson said.

The Vols’ senior captains are Colby Allen, Randall Futral, Charlie Cox, Porter Skelton and Cole Owens, and Nicholson said they, along with juniors Drew Williams and Charlie Nicholas and sophomore Camp Overstreet — who were selected by their teammates — provided the leadership expected of team captains.

“That was those captains taking the initiative,” Nicholson said. “You just saw a different mentality at practice that Monday. Immediately.

“Because of the captains, because of the character of this team, they took it and ran with it. Obviously, there was a fire lit amongst all of them. It wasn’t just a small group; they all went to work on Monday. I remember it vividly. It felt like we had the best Monday practice we’ve ever had in my seven years.”

That spirit lasted far beyond one day of practice. Since the loss to Heritage, Starkville Academy (7-4) has won five of six games, scoring 34 points per game over their last five regular-season games. Before the Heritage game, the Vols were averaging 18 points.

“They’re still incredibly fundamentally sound,” Heritage coach Sean Harrison said. “They’ve kind of opened their offense up a little bit more, using a lot more formations than they were the first time, so a little bit more to prepare for this time.”

But the Patriots have prepared well for the Volunteers in recent years. While the series historically is close — Heritage leads 29-26 — the Vols have lost the past six games, including playoff games the past two years. Last season, the Patriots eliminated the Vols 21-19 in the second round.

Despite the fact his current players have never lost to Starkville Academy, Harrison isn’t worried about a sense of complacency permeating his team. As much as the Vols were fired up to get another crack at the Patriots, the Patriots are always ready to take on the Vols.

“I always call it the best week of the year, because it’s the one week you don’t have to worry about effort, focus, intensity or attention to detail in practice,” he said.

The Patriots are 9-1, losing only to Leake Academy, the top seed in 5A, although Harrison said they did not play well two weeks ago when they closed the regular season with a 35-21 win over Pillow Academy (6-5).

“Last Friday, we go to Pillow and turn it over five times, and I think we had seven on the year going in,” Harrison said. “Last game of the year, senior night, all that jazz played into that.

“We know we’ve got a long way to go to play our best football.”

That comment should scare any potential postseason opponents, considering that without playing their “best football” they have outscored their opponents 376-166. But Harrison, whose team won its fourth consecutive district championship this year and won the MAIS Class 5A title two years ago, always has had a high standard.

“The scoreboard’s irrelevant; it’s when we turn on the film that each play it’s, ‘How well did we execute?’” he said. “And we’re still a long way off from being perfect, and that’s what we work for. They know there’s a lot to be done between now and Friday.”

When these teams met Sept. 24, Harrison said he was badly “outcoached” and junior receiver Trey Naugher called the offense “horrible.” Again, Heritage won 30-0.

Neither team is exactly the same as it was six weeks ago.

“We made a few changes here and there, threatened a couple of positions with backups who had really come on strong, which of course elevated the starters, which is what competitions at positions do,” Nicholson said.

“We didn’t change everything. “We tweaked some things to get us going in the right direction.”

“I think the biggest thing is we’ve gotten kids back,” Harrison said. “We had two kids hurt in that game in the first quarter, so getting them back is huge. And obviously, six more weeks of experience, especially for our young guys, is always big.”

Each coach said his team is as healthy as it’s been all year, with Heritage having the advantage of earning a first-round bye while Starkville Academy was beating Lamar 17-7 to get to this round.

“We had a great week last week on the bye week,” Harrison said. “I think everybody got kind of re-energized and ready for the second season.”

The winner of this game will play the winner of Friday night’s quarterfinal between third-seeded Oak Forest Academy and sixth-seeded Simpson Academy. If second-seeded Heritage wins, that game will be in Columbus. If seventh-seeded Starkville wins, the Oak Forest-Simpson winner will host the Vols.

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