STARKVILLE — Jamie Mitchell can look back at last week as proof his team is ready for playoff football.
The second-year Starkville High School football coach watched his squad commit zero turnovers and four penalties in a 35-14 win at Neshoba Central to secure the Class 5A, Region 2 title.
“We’ve got a lot of young players on this football team where everything has come together but don’t really know the significance of how to play one-and-done competition,” Mitchell said. “I’m not sure that’s a bad thing.”
Mitchell and his staff have preached to their players all week that the postseason is going to be about which team plays mistake-free football each night from here on.
“We’ve told them that a cliché is a cliché for a reason, and if we don’t beat ourselves we’ll win,” Mitchell said. “I’ve been through the playoffs for so many years, and it’s amazing how it always comes down to that.”
Junior quarterback Gabe Myles will lead the Yellow Jackets. Following the victory against Neshoba Central, Myles declared, “Starkville is back” as a program and people need to recognize it as a state championship contender.
“They said we haven’t been a good team in eight years, but we’re region champs and pretty good now,” Myles said.
Starkville (9-2) will open up the Class 5A playoffs at 7 tonight when it plays host to Hernando. The game will be Starkville’s first home playoff game since 2003.
“None of the sophomores or juniors on this team have experienced the
playoffs,” Mitchell said. “Our seniors went up to Madison Central two years ago and got whipped pretty good. The players on this team are all experiencing this together.”
The Tigers (5-6), who have won four of their past five games, will use a run-based Wing-T offense led by junior quarterback Travus McMahon. Hernando was a couple of plays from defeating Region 1 champion Center Hill.
“We’re talking about a team that had the ball go over on downs deep in Central Hill’s territory and had a punt blocked,” Mitchell said. “You look at all those plays that went against them and they still only lost by seven.”
Injuries no longer are a concern for Starkville. Sophomore defensive back and kick returner Ladorious Pittman has recovered from a hamstring injury that has plagued him the past two weeks. Mitchell said Thursday his team is “the healthiest we’ve been since the start of the season.”
The winner of the Starkville-Hernando matchup will face the winner of the Neshoba Central-West Point game in the second round of the Class 5A playoffs.
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