OXFORD — Ricky Woods has developed a reputation of winning championships.
He won two at Ackerman and four at South Panola while coaching in the Mississippi high school ranks. Last season, he won a Tennessee state championship at Peabody in Trenton. So when he took the Starkville High School job last spring, a championship for the Yellow Jackets was very much on the table.
“We didn’t ever talk about it,” Woods said. “Really, you just go out there and play, you try to have fun, you enjoy your school, your community, and your team. That’s the only way I coach.”
Woods knew he was stepping into a good situation when he took over. He was proven right as he won his eighth state championship as the Yellow Jackets beat Petal 27-7 Friday night at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium on the campus of Ole Miss in Oxford for the Mississippi High School Activities Association Class 6A State championship.
Starkville (14-1) finished the season with 14 straight wins after a season-opening loss to Noxubee County. The Yellow Jackets won their second title in four seasons and sixth overall. Starkville has won 27 of its last 29 games and made amends for a heart-breaking defeat in last season’s North State championship game.
Woods, who has made 11 appearances in state championship games, won four-straight at South Panola. When asked where this championship ranks, he said it was the most important because it’s in the present.
He has coached some talented players and has had some talented teams take the field for him and that was no different with Starkville this season. After losing to Noxubee County 26-20 in double overtime in the season opener on the road, the Jackets cruised to a Class 6A, Region 2 title and the North State title before heading to Oxford.
Woods was blessed with a senior-heavy team that was hungry for a championship. The Jackets were hoping for a state championship last season, but lost to South Panola lost a two-touchdowns halftme lead in the North State title game at home. That was a big motivating factor for Starkville.
Jamie Mitchell coached that Starkville squad. Woods inherited a team motivated to do more from day one.
“I didn’t have anything to do with the driving factor,” Woods said.
Senior wide receiver A.J. Brown has been the catalyst of the offense all season long and that was no different in the win over the Panthers (10-5). Brown caught 10 passes for 117 yards and a touchdown to help lead a Yellow Jacket offense that totaled 390 yards (144 passing and 246 rushing).
Brown said he still feels the South Panola loss and didn’t want the feeling of that loss to happen this season.
“It feels great (to redeem ourselves),” Brown said. “We just won a state championship, that’s awesome.”
Brown, who has several Division I scholarship offers including Mississippi State, Ole Miss, and Alabama, finishes his final year with the Jackets with a single-season record 83 catches.
Brown caught a 32-yard touchdown from senior quarterback Montario Montgomery with 2 minutes, 15 seconds remaining in the opening quarter to put the Jackets up 14-0.
Montgomery earned the starting job in spring and was unsure how far he could lead his team. He watched as Brady Davis, who is now at the University of Memphis, fall short of a state championship last season.
But Montgomery did just enough this season and he will have a state championship ring.
“It’s an awesome feeling,” Montgomery said. “It’s a huge weight lifted off our back. So many people doubted us, but we just came out and did what we had to do.
“We didn’t want to end up like last year’s seniors. They came so close, but couldn’t finish. We just wanted to finish.”
Montgomery completed 13 of 19 passes for 144 yards and the lone touchdown.
The defense has been a big reason the Jackets have been dominant this season. Starkville only allowed Petal to pick up 219 yards (168 passing and 51 rushing).
The lone Petal touchdown came when Nigel Wood hauled in a 3-yard pass from Samuel Hopper with 4:08 left in the first half.
Starkville linebackers Abdural Lee and Willie Gay each had an interception, with Gay also having a forced fumble and two tackles for loss including a sack. Lee had six tackles. Terrance Grayer, who had six tackles, forced a fumble. Austin Morris recovered a fumble.
Senior defensive end Lorenzo Dantzler had six tackles (2.5 for loss). With Petal looking to score late in the first half, Dantzler stepped up on fourth-and-6 from the Starkville 30 yard line. He hit Hopper forcing the ball loose and then fell on it to give the Jackets the ball and end the scoring threat for the Panthers. Realistically, the game ended there.
“It’s so unreal,” Dantzler said who showed all sorts of emotion after the final horn sounded. “In ninth grade, I never thought I would have a chance to play for a state championship. It feels so great.”
Jacket senior running back Avery Brown, who was injured in last week’s win over Madison Central, played sparingly and had just two yards on four carries. Sophomore Andreus Swanigan picked up the load and had 161 yards on 24 carries. He scored three touchdowns (eight yards, 32 yards, and one yard).
Montgomery, Swanigan and a standout defensive effort was not enough to bring Starkville its first title since quarterback Gabe Myles, a current Mississippi State wide receiver, helped the Yellow Jackets win the Class 5A title over Pascagoula in 2012.
Woods loses a good senior class with some talented players on both sides of the ball. But Starkville has some talented players coming up and Woods said some of his best coaching days could still lie ahead.
“I hope a lot of them,” Woods said when asked how many state championships he has left in him. “You just have to enjoy what’s here. I don’t want to retire.”
Follow Dispatch sports writer Ben Wait on Twitter @bcwait
Ben Wait reports on Mississippi State University sports for The Dispatch.
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