STARKVILLE — Friday was a difficult day for Starkville High School football coach Jamie Mitchell.
But the night got a little better with a home-opening victory against a powerhouse Class 6A program.
After visiting all day with his mother, who is suffering with cancer in a Memphis, Tenn., hospital, Mitchell drove back to Starkville to lead the Yellow Jackets to a 16-14 victory.
“It”s been so emotional and rough for me today, but I”ve got one happy momma right now that”s for sure,” Mitchell said with tears in his eyes after the game.
In a reversal of last week”s disappointing 33-212 loss at Noxubee County, Starkville lost its early lead but rebounded in the second half as its defense posted a second-half shutout.
“It was such an embarrassing performance last week that I couldn”t tell you how upset we were, but that defense played their tails off tonight,” Mitchell said.
The Jaguars (0-2) spotted the opposition a pair of touchdowns for the second consecutive week. The scores came on the Yellow Jackets” first two possessions. Junior quarterback Gabe Myles found the end zone on two touchdown runs to complete the drives.
“That”s two straight weeks now we”ve started slow and we”ve got to do something about that quickly,” Madison Central coach Bobby Hall said.
After forcing a Madison Central punt on its first drive, Myles plunged in from 1 yard out to cap a 14-play, 69-yard drive.
“He”s a winner, and he extended some plays for us with his legs in critical situations tonight,” Mitchell said.
The 6-foot-1 Myles (164 total yards) made it 13-0 after he faked a pitch and ran around two defensive linemen for a 13-yard touchdown.
“I didn”t make as many plays as I would”ve liked tonight, but coach is always telling me the quarterback keeps the chemistry going in the offense,” Myles said. “Maybe I did a little bit tonight, or at least enough so we could win.”
Madison Central”s veer offense quieted the crowd in the second quarter as it rushed for 246 yards. Junior tailback Brandon Moore led the attack with 124 yards on 15 carries.
Madison Central had 14 straight points after the Jaguars held Starkville to 15 yards in the second quarter. A pair of misconnected punts by Michael Newman gave the visitors excellent field position.
“We had an opportunity to make it 21-0 right there in the first quarter and we fumbled,” Mitchell said. “That turnover changed the momentum of this game and handed them the lead.”
Moore, a 5-foot-7 speed back, had six carries for more than 10 yards. Last week, he has 117 yards in a loss to Olive Branch.
Madison Central”s Doug Ball scored his first touchdown of the season on a reverse run. The sophomore made two defenders miss 10 yards behind the scrimmage. Ball, a 150-pound athlete, then turned the corner on the right side and sprinted in for a 52-yard touchdown.
Back-to-back first-down runs by Moore put the football on the goal line leaving just a simple quarterback sneak by Drew Rowell to give the Jaguars a 14-13 halftime lead.
After Mitchell was very critical of the defensive effort last week in Macon, the defense didn”t allow Madison Central into its red zone in the final 24 minutes. Starkville held the triple option running attack to 78 rushing yards in the second half.
The Jaguars” only scoring opportunity of the second half was on a 41-yard field goal by Chase Blossman that sailed wide left.
“I thought Starkville really deserved to win the football game because they did a really solid job of not letting us get any rhythm with our offense,” Hall said.
Starkville got the advantage out of the locker room on a 24-yard field goal by sophomore Charlie Henderson that made it 16-14.
Madison Central will try to find its first victory of the 2011 season
next week when it plays host to Petal with the top-ranked recruit Anthony Alford at quarterback. Starkville will return home to face a Tupelo team that will be without tailback Ashton Shumpert.
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