STARKVILLE — Jamie Mitchell has one goal in mind for his Starkville High School team tonight. It has nothing to do with playoff positioning.
Mitchell’s desire is to become a better football team after one of the more disappointing showings of the season last week in a 12-9 loss at Warren Central.
Starkville had fumbled quarterback exchanges, turnovers, and missed assignments on defense. It also allowed a game-winning drive that could cost it a chance to play host to a first-round playoff game.
“We played poorly,” Mitchell said of the loss that may cost the Yellow Jackets (7-3, 5-1 Class 6A, Region 2) a third-straight region title. “We didn’t do anything you have to do on the road to win in Class 6A.”
Therefore, Mitchell has left the playoff chatter to his players and his staff as they embark on a Senior Night game against Clinton (3-7, 2-4) because he realizes the Yellow Jackets have internal problems that need to be fixed.
“We can’t wait to get to the Class 6A playoffs because when we at our best, we feel like we can make another run in the North Half no matter who is in our way,” Mitchell said. “The problem is we’re not at our best every week, and that’s because we have fundamental lapses that just can’t happen.”
Mitchell spent the three-plus hour bus ride home from Vicksburg to think about Starkville’s problems. He then discarded some of his concerns due to the emotional uplifting of his players for Monday’s practice session.
“I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, I’ve got some of the most resilient and strong-willed kids in the state, and they’ve shown that by having some of the most high effort practices this week,” Mitchell said. “We look like a team excited for Senior Night and excited for the start of the playoffs. I was worried they’d be down about losing a region game.”
The good news for Starkville is it likely won’t see Clinton’s most dynamic athlete tonight, as freshman wide receiver/quarterback Cam Akers should be out with a ankle injury he suffered three weeks ago. Before the injury, the ninth-grader had racked up 1,435 total yards and 11 touchdowns. Since he has been out, the Arrows haven’t managed more than seven points in a game.
“They have impressive losses this season,” Mitchell said. “They haven’t given up a touchdown in six quarters, and they have several losses to top-10 ranked opponents in this state.”
With a victory, Starkville will be the region’s No. 2 seed in the Class 6A playoffs due to point differential if it finishes in a three-way tie with Madison Central and Warren Central. A loss would force Starkville to travel to the No. 2 seed in Region 1 in the first round. Starkville can win a region championship if Columbus upsets Warren Central tonight and forces a two-way tie with Madison Central.
“We’ll be rooting for Columbus all night, but we realize we have bigger issues with our football team than to be following games across the state that affect us in any way,” Mitchell said.
Follow Matt Stevens on Twitter @matthewcstevens.
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