STARKVILLE — Another Friday night in Starkville, another game-of-the-year candidate.

The defending 4A state champs took down the 6A title holders in hostile territory on Friday night, completing a stunning fourth quarter comeback to win 26-22. 

The Jackets (3-1) led 22-9 at the start of the final frame of action, but two fumbles on consecutive drives, a fumbled kickoff return, and a turnover on downs spelled doom for the black and gold as the Wildcats (4-0) seized the game to remain undefeated on the season.

“Mistakes, turnovers, we’ve got to take care of the ball,” Jackets head coach Chris Jones said after the defeat. “You can’t give good teams second chances, and that’s what we did. It’s a process, and it’s still early in the season so we’ve got to learn from it, grow from it, get better from it.”

Starkville’s Trey Petty and Braylon Burnside combined for over 120 yards through the air, accounting for all three Jacket touchdowns on the night, but the Wildcats limited the Jackets on the ground and did an excellent job keeping the ball in the second half. The defense and special teams forced three big turnovers and quarterback Xavier Hunt led the Wildcats to scores on all but one of their second-half possessions to seal the victory. 

“We have a bend-but-don’t-break type of defense,” Wildcats head coach Tyrone Shorter said after the win. “Our staff does a great job, and we knew we wouldn’t stop Petty and Burnside, those are great players, but we needed to limit their explosive plays, and I thought our defense did a great job of that in the second half.” 

The Louisville defense made things difficult for Petty all night, but the senior continually stepped up to make plays. He converted three fourth down attempts, two on scoring drives, and picked up three first downs with his legs on the final drive before falling short with seconds remaining thanks to lights-out coverage by the Wildcats’ secondary.

“We have a championship mentality,” Shorter said of his team. “I was telling my guys we’ve got to come out and continue with the game plan. They didn’t stop us, we stopped ourselves when we kept shooting ourselves in the foot and giving up big plays.”

The loss will sting for the Jackets, who dropped their first game since October 7, 2022, but sometimes that’s what a team needs to pick things back up again. 

“Sometimes you need some humble pie,” Jones said. “We’ve been riding on a high since last December, but last year doesn’t matter. Everybody wants to beat the champs and give us their best shot. Sometimes humble pie is the best thing for you, but we’ll get better and fix it. That’s life, that’s football, and it’s all about how you bounce back.”

Starkville 22, Louisville 26

Starkville (3-1) 0  14  8  0  —  22

Louisville (4-0)  3  0  6  17  —  26

First quarter 

L — Ceidrick Hunt 30 field goal, clock 1:23

Second quarter

S — Trey Petty 1 run (JaCori Gallegos kick), clock 9:25

S — Braylon Burnside 28 pass from Petty (Gallegos kick) clock 3:10

Third quarter

L — Kamron Triplett 6 pass from Xavier Hunt (run no good), clock 6:10

S — Burnside 19 pass from Petty (Petty run), clock 1:12

Fourth quarter

L — Hunt 1 run (Hunt kick), clock 10:29

L — Xzarion Haynes 27 pass from Hunt (Hunt kick), clock 4:52

L — Hunt 32 field goal, clock 2:26