By Dan Murrell Jr.
Special to the Dispatch
STARKVILLE — Even with a 10-2 record and a District 2, Division II title, Starkville Academy football coach Jeff Terrill said he still needed time to realize where his team was sitting.
“I don’t think anybody could imagine this,” he said. “I can’t begin to put it in words. I think it’s one of the biggest turnarounds I’ve ever seen and been a part of.”
Terrill better find the words because the Volunteers are headed to Clinton to play for the state championship thanks to a 28-0 victory against Clarksdale Lee Academy on Friday night in the first round of the Mississippi Association of Independent Schools Class AAA, Division II playoffs
The Volunteers advanced even without starting quarterback junior Drew Pellum and after facing questions about their offense.
Fortunately, the defense had all the answers.
Starkville Academy blew the game wide open before the standing-room only crowd had a chance to sit down. After the Colts (5-6) mustered only one first down on the opening series, the Volunteers had a chance to gain good field position on a punt return. However, a Colts defender was flagged for interference after sophomore Kirby Cox called for a fair catch, and Terrill opted to push Clarksdale Lee back near its end zone and kick it again.
The decision paid off as the ball sailed over the punter’s head. Junior Zach Slaughter and sophomore Bailey Newell pounced on the kicker as he tried to recover the ball, dropping him for a huge loss that put Starkville Academy in business on the Colts’ 5-yard line. Two plays later, senior Ryan Mann scored on a run up the middle to help the Volunteers take a 7-0 lead with 9 minutes, 24 seconds left in the first quarter.
After the kickoff, mistakes cost Clarksdale Lee again, as a quick pitch to Chandler Powell hit the ground and was recovered by the Starkville Academy defense on the 18.
Senior defensive back Ryan McKell, who stepped in for the injured Pellum, took the snap and followed offensive lineman Cole Phelps into the end zone for the 18-yard score with 8:34 remaining in the quarter to make it 14-0.
The Volunteers defense came up big again on the next series, when junior Taylor Hunt jumped in front of a receiver and came down with an interception to put Starkville Academy on Lee’s 44. Starkville Academy settled down and began chewing up the clock with its running game, as the teams traded field position for the next quarter and a half.
Starkville Academy ran the ball for more than seven minutes as the second quarter drew to a close, ending with a 2-yard run by Mann for a 21-0 halftime lead.
In the second half, Clarksdale Lee Academy got more of the same — until Terrill called for one of only three passes all night. Facing a fourth-and-3 at the Clarksdale Lee 35-y, too long for a field goal and too short to punt. Starkville caught Lee thinking run as senior James Mapp slipped behind the defense and caught a 35-yard strike, for an apparent touchdown just before the end of the third quarter. However, an illegal block in the back downfield during the run took the points back off the scoreboard.
Two plays later, Mapp was trying to grind out more yards but lost his handle on the ball, which was picked up by a Lee player and taken down the sidelines- but he too was stripped and Starkville recovered the ball on the visitor’s 43-yard line.
As the fourth quarter began, Starkville Academy did what they did best- wear down the defense and chew up the clock with runs from Mann, Mapp and junior Colby Runnels. In the end, Mapp got his touchdown anyway, on a 14-yard strike from McKell with 7:01 remaining.
Starkville Academy won the game and a seat in Clinton. Terrill couldn’t say enough about his seniors, who fought back from a 3-win season only a year ago, and McKell who stepped into a tough spot with only a week to prepare.
“Ryan McKell stepped in at quarterback in this adverse situation,” he said. “He just handled himself tremendously well.”
“I had practiced a lot during two-a-days, and played on offense,” McKell said. “I kind of knew the plays, what they were designed to do. But everybody stepped up, the linemen, Ryan Mann, with Drew being hurt. We hung in there as a team and pulled it out.”
Terrill did not yet know he would be facing Washington School from Greenville, who defeated East Rankin Academy 20-14, but he speculated what type of matchup to expect.
“You know in a championship game it’s going to be an outstanding football team,” he said. “I guarantee you in a game like that, there are going to be two great teams that are going to play their best game- and that’s the way it should be.”
Starkville Academy will meet Washington School at 2 p.m. on Nov. 11, at Robinson-Hale Stadium on the campus of Mississippi College in Clinton for the Division II State Championship.
The Dispatch Editorial Board is made up of publisher Peter Imes, columnist Slim Smith, managing editor Zack Plair and senior newsroom staff.
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