STARKVILLE — Nobody was going to catch Rodrigues Clark.
The Starkville High School football running back broke off a 50-yard run for a touchdown midway through the fourth quarter to propel No. 3 Starkville to a 28-6 victory against No. 4 West Point in a Mississippi High School Activities Association (MHSAA) game Friday night at Yellow Jacket Stadium.
“I saw it (the hole) and I told my lineman to block and give me like three seconds in the backfield,” Clark said. “As soon as I saw the opening and the green grass, I took off.”
Trailing 14-0, the Green Wave (1-1) pulled within eight points on 7-yard touchdown by quarterback Clayton Knight with 3 minutes, 14 seconds remaining in the third quarter. The extra point was blocked by senior linebacker Willie Gay, who is committed to Ole Miss.
After giving up two touchdowns in the first half, the West Point defense held Starkville in check in the third quarter and half of the fourth quarter.
Clark’s touchdown shifted the momentum back to the Yellow Jackets (3-0).
“It was big,” Starkville quarterback Malik Brown said. “When I faked it, they came with me. They thought I had the ball. Dreke (Clark) kept it and he was gone.”
Clark had 14 carries for 87 yards and two touchdowns. He scored a 1-yard touchdown late in the fourth quarter and then added the two-point conversion to put the game out of reach.
The Yellow Jackets scored on the second play from scrimmage when Brown hit Tavian Clark for a 72-yard touchdown. The Jackets struck again with 6:08 remaining in the opening quarter when Brown found Cameron Gardner for a 13-yard touchdown. Brown threw it behind Gardner, but he reached back and pulled it in as he crossed the goal line.
Brown was 6 of 8 for 100 yards. Starkville finished with 229 yards of total offense.
“This is by far the best we’ve played,” Starkville coach Ricky Woods said. “This is what Starkville football is supposed to look like. We got better.”
Knight was 4 of 11 for 45 yards. Junior running back Chris Calvert had 57 yards rushing. Junior quarterback Marcus Murphy, who is committed to Mississippi State, had 47 yards rushing. West Point had 189 total yards.
“We worked on the wildcat all week leading up to the game and we thought it looked good,” Murphy said. “We thought there would be some success there.”
Starkville is off next week, while West Point travels to Columbus.
n Columbus 49, New Hope 21: At Columbus, Behind a powerful rushing attack, the Falcons (2-1) shook off a loss to Noxubee County last week to win big against their Lowndes County rival.
In the first half, the Falcons scored on five of six possessions to lead 35-7 at halftime. Patrick Jackson and C.J. Gholar had two rushing touchdowns, while Kendre Conner also had a rushing score. Gholar hit Jackson and Michael McCloud for passing touchdowns.
New Hope (2-1) received two rushing touchdowns from Tony Deloach, while Thomas Stevens had a passing touchdown to Andre Erby.
Columbus running back Kylin Hill missed the game for what coach Randal Montgomery described as a “minor injury.” Montgomery plans to have the team’s leading rusher back next week for a home game against West Point.
n Noxubee County 41, Forest 12: At Macon, the two-time reigning MHSAA Class 4A champions piled up 250 yards rushing and pulled away from the Class 3A Bearcats in their home opener.
Jakerrius Oliver paced the Tigers (2-1) with 17 carries for 98 yards and two touchdowns. Jaqualyn Smith also had two rushing touchdowns.
Sophomore quarterback Maliek Stallings hooked up with Rashad Eades on touchdown passes of 13 and 57 yards to account for the Tigers’ scoring.
For more on these games and the rest of the action from local teams Friday night, check out Sunday’s print edition of The Dispatch. You also can access our prep football coverage at www.cdispatch.com Sunday morning.
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