STARKVILLE — Adverse situations.
That’s the only thing the Starkville High School football team has seen in the first two weeks of the season. Nothing has come easy for the Yellow Jackets, who have had to overcome deficits in their first two games.
Last week, Starkville fell behind Noxubee County 20-7 before tying the game and being forced to overtime. Noxubee County earned a 26-20 victory in double overtime when Starkville senior wide receiver A.J. Brown couldn’t secure a pass that would have tied the game in the second overtime.
“We practiced real hard this week,” Brown said. “We put that loss out the way. (We) don’t worry about what happened in the past because that doesn’t matter. We were 0-1, but that’s over and done with. We can’t do anything about that. The team that works hardest is going to win.”
As much as Starkville tried to put the opener
behind it, Starkville found itself in another adverse situation Friday night against Oxford before a national television audience (ESPNU) and in front of its home fans. After falling behind 7-0, Starkville showed its mental toughness and rallied for a 20-7 victory at Yellow Jacket Stadium. The win is the Yellow Jackets’ second-straight in the “Little Egg Bowl” rivalry, which is a play on the “Battle for the Golden Egg” between Mississippi State and Ole Miss.
“We improved a lot from last week to this week, and you should,” Starkville first-year head coach Ricky Woods said. “I think they’re going to play together. They know it’s going to take a whole team. The kids like each other, and that means you’re going to be a good team.”
Starkville (1-1) started slowly, as Zac Jenkins intercepted the first pass by senior quarterback Montario Montgomery on the second play from scrimmage. Jenkins returned the interception to the Starkville 10-yard line. Three plays later, the Chargers scored to take a 7-0 lead with less than two minutes gone.
For the second time in as many games, Starkville had to defend a short field early in the evening without any success. Starkville defensive coordinator Brooks Oakley doesn’t make excuses when his defense allows points in those situations, but he was pleased with how his players regrouped and relinquished only 243 yards for the game.
“Our kids are really tough,” Oakley said. “They’ve been through adversity before and they battled through it last year. We’ve got a tough group of kids.”
After looking good on offense in the first quarter, the Yellow Jackets’ persistence paid off in the second quarter, as Montgomery capped an eight-play, 59-yard drive with a 5-yard touchdown on fourth-and-2 to tie the game at 7.
“This team is so focused,” Montgomery said. “When we have mistakes, we encourage each other. We’re just like, ‘Come on, go to the next play.’ We’re a good team. We’re a bounce-back team.”
Montgomery threw three interceptions last week, but he bounced back against the Chargers (1-1), going 21 of 34 for 238 yards and a touchdown. He also rushed for 89 yards on seven carries and the game-tying touchdown.
Senior running back Avery Brown, who was banged up last week, still rushed for 90 yards on 21 carries against the Tigers. On the game-tying drive against the Chargers, Brown rushed the ball six times for 30 yards.
“Adversity’s just going to happen,” said Brown, who had a game-high 110 yards on 30 carries. “You have to overcome it. The team was on my back. They put their trust in me.”
With the game tied at 7 at halftime, Starkville took the lead for good when Montgomery found Avery Brown for a 22-yard touchdown with 5 minutes, 25 seconds remaining in the third quarter.
Starkville, which had 437 yards of total offense, put the game out of reach in the fourth quarter, as Avery Brown scored on a 5-yard run.
Starkville will try to build on the momentum next week when it travels to West Point for a 7 p.m. kickoff.
“We didn’t quit last week,” Woods said. “We didn’t quit (Friday night). We’re going to be hard to beat if we just play four quarters.”
Follow Dispatch sports writer Ben Wait on Twitter @bcwait
Ben Wait reports on Mississippi State University sports for The Dispatch.
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