STARKVILLE — Jamie Mitchell would like to move on from the final play of last week’s game.
Talk about the final play in Starkville’s 45-42 victory against Madison Central has dominated Internet chat rooms. Madison Central appeared to have scored the winning touchdown on the final play of the game, only to have it negated by a pass interference penalty. Since there was no time remaining on the clock, the officials ruled the game was over.
After talking with representatives from the Mississippi High School Association, that’s all that matters for Mitchell and the Yellow Jackets.
“You can’t start taking away wins and losses from people because then you start opening up precedent for a whole can of worms that nobody wants,” Mitchell said.
But Mitchell said the MHSAA adopted a new rule allowing for a untimed down to be played if the final play of a game ends on an accepted penalty like offensive pass interference, meaning Madison Central should have had at least one more play before the game was officially over. As it stands, Starkville (6-2, 4-0 Class 6A, Region 1) is two victories shy of its third-straight region title. It will try to move past the controversy of that final play at 7 tonight when it plays at Murrah High (4-5, 2-2).
The targeted opponent is junior wide receiver Malik Dear, the state’s top ranked recruiting prospect for the Class of 2015. Dear has 1,127 all-purpose yards and 15 touchdowns this season. He exploded on the scouting scene in the summer after he ran a time of 4.45 seconds in the 40-yard dash at a college camps.
Two weeks ago, Dear took a unofficial visit to Ole Miss and watched the team’s last-second loss to Texas A&M. He hinted the Rebels were in the lead for his services. Dear has been dealing with a nagging knee injury, but he is expected to play tonight.
“There’s no doubt Ole Miss is recruiting me the hardest,” Dear told 247Sports.com after Murrah rallied to beat Clinton 32-31 on Oct. 11. “I think we have to get it together mentally as a team. We have the talent, we just have to finish games. I think I have had an OK season due to injuries.”
Mitchell and defensive coordinator Brooks Oakley are going to have to identify where Dear is on every play in the spread offense. The Mustangs’ offense is similar to the Yellow Jackets’ scheme, but it tends to leave senior quarterback Vonnie Howard in an empty backfield on occasion.
Howard has 174.1 passing yards per game and 17 touchdowns. The 6-foot-4, 205-pounder can change the throwing pocket with his feet. He already has two touchdown passes of more than 70 yards, including a 94-yard scoring strike to D’Andre Averett at Clinton.
“We are facing a team that can score from anywhere on the field, and there’s no pushovers at this level anymore,” Mitchell said. “They have spectacular athletes and they’re at home. This is a scary game for all of those reasons.”
Starkville has what Mitchell calls “a special player” behind center, too. Princeton Jones has transitioned from wide receiver and now owns the quarterback position. He has 11 touchdowns in the past three games and is averaging 202 total yards per game.
“He is the big, big reason we are where we’re at,” Mitchell said. “He makes our offense go, and everybody knows it. What’s impressive about that is everybody else knows it, too, and he’s still not stopped putting up numbers.”
Despite allowing 42 points last week, Mitchell didn’t feel like his defense played poorly. He said he saw a lot of positive things and that the Yellow Jackets had an excellent attitude this week in practice.
Starkville will be without senior linebacker Taylor Johnston, who broke both of his hands the week before the Madison Central game. He played with a brace on his left hand and a cast on the right hand last week, but he had to have another surgery on one of the broken bones.
If Starkville defeats Murrah, it will play next week at Warren Central for a share of the region title and a guaranteed No. 1 seed from Region 2.
“Our kids, maybe more than anybody on our staff, know a loss this week would have the same impact as a loss last week, and as a coach, that’s what you want to see,” Mitchell said. “We’re really playing with the best mind-set I’ve seen our team have this season.”
Follow Matt Stevens on Twitter @matthewcstevens
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