MACON — The road to Oxford will include a detour.
Conventional wisdom believed the Noxubee County High School football team was going to have to go through Kosciusko to get a chance to play for another state title.
But Greenwood High is making the most out of being considered an afterthought. The Region 3 champions scored with 1 minute, 21 seconds remaining and then converted the two-point conversion on a fake kick to pull out a 23-22 victory against Kosciusko last week. The win helped Greenwood (12-1) earn the right to play host to reigning Class 4A champion Noxubee County (10-4) at 7 p.m. Friday in the Class 4A North State title game at Bulldog Stadium.
“They are a great football team,” Noxubee County coach Tyrone Shorter said. “They have a lot of talent and a lot of speed just like us. … At the end of the day, we have faced a lot of great defenses, so it is really no different. We just have to go and play.”
Noxubee County beat Greenwood 21-0 in the North State title game last season before defeating St. Stanislaus 48-27 to win its third state championship.
The Tigers will face a team that denied Region 4 a chance to have the North State title game all to itself. Kosciusko scored the go-ahead touchdown with 2 minutes, 37 seconds left in regulation, but Greenwood rallied without starting quarterback Damarius Ray, who left the game in the third quarter due to what Greenwood Commonwealth sportswriter Calvin Stevens called a concussion.
Thanks to what Star Herald sports editor Stan Beall called “two pop-fly wobbly passes” on consecutive plays that covered more than 60 yards, backup quarterback Tranleson Tribblett led Bulldogs into the red zone. A 2-yard run by Tribblett set the stage for the final scoring sequence. Senior defensive end Marquiss Spencer lined up for the kick, but Stevens wrote he took the snap, which was snapped high intentionally, raced to his left and lofted a pass over the head of several defenders to JohnDerrick Smith for the conversion.
Senior Jermarcus Weatherall had catches for 43 and 22 yards on the game-winning drive. According to statistics on Maxpreps.com, Weatherall leads the Bulldogs with 27 catches for 718 yards (26.6 yards per catch) and 10 touchdowns. Senior Javion Jones has 21 catches and three touchdowns.
Junior running back Rico Owens leads the team with 1,098 yards (10.7 yards per carry) and seven touchdowns.
Shorter said the status of Ray won’t affect his team’s game plan because he feels Tranleson is capable of leading the team, as he showed late in the fourth quarter. He also feels the Bulldogs’ defense is similar to the Tigers’ defense in terms of speed and aggressiveness.
The teams also are similar in that they have dominating defensive ends. Noxubee County has senior Jeffery Simmons, who has 12 sacks and 14-and-a-half tackles for loss, while Greenwood has Marquiss Spencer, who has 20 sacks. Sophomore linebacker Carl Jones also has 14 sacks.
Shorter believes his offense is going to be ready in part because it has been battle tested thanks to a non-region schedule that includes games against Starkville, Columbus, Aledo High (Texas), Meridian, West Point, and Kemper County. Starkville, Aledo, Meridian, and West Point are still alive in the playoffs.
“I feel good about our chances going into Greenwood,” Shorter said. “We know it is going to be a tough environment to play in. I hear they have a Dog Pound and a section that sits in the visitors’ side, so it is going to be a challenge.
“They are a good football team. They keep finding a way into the North State championship. It is going to be a challenge, but we are ready for the challenge.”
Shorter said Noxubee County will try to keep a similar routine after traveling last week to Houston. He feels playing on the road last week will help prepare the team for this week. Like most schools in the area, Noxubee County High was on vacation this week due to the Thanksgiving holiday, so the Tigers practiced in the morning early in the week. Shorter said he has seen the right mix of intensity and focus. He hopes the Tigers will have that same attitude the rest of the week and on the ride to Greenwood. If the Tigers do, they will move one win closer to becoming the school’s first football team to win back-to-back championships.
“These kids realize we are so close after everything we have went through this season, with injuries and all the adversity, the kids have jelled and are working toward that goal we set at the beginning of the year,” Shorter said. “I feel good about this game. We would have it no other way because we have been in the fire all season. This team is going to be ready to play.”
Follow Dispatch sports editor Adam Minichino on Twitter @ctsportseditor
Adam Minichino is the former Sports Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
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