MACON — Tyrone Shorter couldn’t help smile Friday night.
Three days later, even after watching at least one replay of the Starkville High School football team’s 24-21 victory against his Noxubee County High Tigers, the veteran coach still had a smile on his face.
That’s because Shorter learned a lot about his young football team in the season opener against one of the state’s best Class 6A teams. With both teams suffering key graduation losses from state title runs in 2015, there were questions on both sides of the ball. Take away a few mistakes on special teams and some self-inflicted wounds and Shorter knows the result easily could have been flipped. That’s why he couldn’t help smile as he replayed the key moments from the game, even if they made him cringe as he did it.
“We could have won, and I knew our team battled, which is why I was smiling after the game,” Shorter said. “I didn’t fuss at the kids. I told them to hold their heads up. I knew they were hurting because they expect to win. I just told them I am proud of them and to hold their heads up and let’s just go to work next week. This one is over with. I just challenged them not to make the same mistakes that they made in this one next week. Jumping offside and giving them a first down three times, that hurt us. Muffing punts. That hurt us. Bobbling a snap on a punt and letting them block a punt and scooping and scoring. That hurts. As long as we don’t have those mistakes this week, we’ll be fine.”
Noxubee County won’t have time to rest this week because it will travel to Lowndes County to face Columbus, another Class 6A State title contender, at 7 p.m. Friday. Shorter knows the Tigers will have to contend with the backfield duo of Kylin Hill, a Mississippi State commitment, and Kendre Conner as well as the emerging dual threat of C.J. Gholar at quarterback.
But Shorter can afford to smile because he saw his reigning Class 4A State championship program take a positive step forward without 2015 senior leaders like Jeffery Simmons, Timorrius Conner, Qendarrion Barnett, Ladaveon Smith, and Deveon Ball, among others. In their place, Shorter saw sophomore quarterback Maliek Stallings offer flashes of his potential in the second half. He saw an experienced offensive line do a solid job of pass protection. He also saw a typically stingy defense play up the program’s reputation.
All in all, it was a productive evening despite the loss.
“Against a great football team, I thought our kids played really, really hard,” Shorter said. “They showed me a lot of fight. They didn’t quit. That is what I am most proud of.”
The turnovers were the frustrating part. While crediting Starkville’s game plan and its defense, Shorter thought his team’s struggles in the first half set the tone for what could have been rather than a second-straight victory in the rivalry.
“We muffed a punt. We gave up a scoop and score on a punt,” Shorter said. “We gave up a big return on kickoff that gave them good field position and they went on to score. We have to get better in special teams.”
Shorter said the Tigers tried to rest players on special teams, but he feels the coaching staff will have to make changes to help that unit improve.
Despite the mistakes, Noxubee County had a chance to win or tie the game late. Shorter said he opted not to attempt a field goal that could have tied the game for three reasons. He said the Tigers, who have a straight-on kicker, were at a disadvantage because they had the football on the left hash. He also said his team had nothing to lose because it was on the road and on paper it wasn’t supposed to win. He also saw signs his players were cramping and he wasn’t sure how they would respond if the game went to overtime.
Shorter broke into a smile several times as he related the details of the game. It was almost as if he couldn’t help it and that he was acting like a proud father who was bragging about his children. In a way he was because for all of the talk about Noxubee County’s three state titles in the last four years this year’s group still has a lot of new pieces in new places, so questions remained if it was up to the challenge of a three-peat.
As evidenced by last season, when the Tigers overcame a four-game losing streak and ended the season on a 10-game winning streak and their second-consecutive state championship, disappointment can turn into achievement very quickly. That’s why there were plenty of smiles left three days after the opener. Judging from Shorter’s comments, you have the feeling the 2016 Tigers are primed to give their coach plenty more this season.
“I knew we were going to play hard, but we started a lot of young kids,” Shorter said. “I really didn’t know how they were going to respond when that pressure got on them, but our kids played really, really well. We just didn’t make enough plays.
“That’s why I was smiling after the game because we have another championship team. If we stay healthy and continue to stay hungry and grind, I think we have another championship team.”
Follow Dispatch sports editor Adam Minichino on Twitter @ctsportseditor
Adam Minichino is the former Sports Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
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