STARKVILLE — Torin Hamilton knew what Sam Cox could add to the Starkville Academy boys soccer team.
With a nickname like “Boom-stick,” it’s easy to understand why Cox’s leg was a valuable asset to the school’s football team and why Hamilton wanted Cox to re-join him and classmate Dalton Dempsey on the soccer field.
But simply asking Cox to come out for the team wasn’t going to be enough. Hamilton discovered he had to agree to go fishing with Cox to ensure his longtime teammate would join in on what he promised would be a run at a state title.
“He didn’t have anything better to do, so he might as well come and win a ring with us,” Hamilton said. “We got him to where we told him where we could go, but we didn’t pull it out.”
Starkville Academy nearly accomplished that goal, losing to Central Hinds 5-0 in the Mississippi Association of Independent Schools (MAIS) Division III championship game.
Despite the loss, Hamilton, Cox, and Dempsey enjoyed a final season together after playing the sport since they were 10 years old. At 3 p.m. Thursday, the longtime friends and teammate will get another chance to take the field together when they play in the MAIS Senior All-Star Soccer game.
“It’s a great honor,” Hamilton said. “I feel like all three of us know what we have to do and just represent our school good. We’ve all had our share of yellow cards and stuff, so we’ll try to be the calmest we have ever been and have fun with it.”
In addition to having three soccer players recognized, Starkville Academy had four basketball players — Codie Futral and Reid Stevens and Sydney Passons and Bonner Hughes — named to play in that sport’s Senior All-Star games. The All-Star basketball games will run from 10 and 11:30 a.m. Friday (girls and boys, Class A/AA) to 1 and 2:30 p.m. Friday (Class AAA/AAAA) at Jackson Prep. At 4 p.m. Thursday at Madison-Ridgeland Academy, there will be a 3-Point Shoot-out and a Slam Dunk Contest.
Cox, Dempsey, and Hamilton were part of a senior class that included Logan Dowell, Tyler Tranum, Porter Miles, and Dillon Carrell and led the team to an 11-6-1 record in coach Matt Sykes’ first leading the program.
Cox admitted he really didn’t have anything else better to do. He said he finally relented after listening to friends and coaches tell him he should play soccer.
“I didn’t think I was going to be any good,” Cox said. “I did not think I was going to make it to an All-Star game, so it is surprising.”
Cox said coach Matt Sykes bought him breakfast from McDonald’s — a bacon, egg, and cheese biscuit — and he received rides home from teammates as a reward for playing soccer. He said his ability to provide another big body in the middle — someone he said who might have been intimidating — helped him pay his teammates back for their efforts to make him feel comfortable.
Hamilton took it a step further by writing “Boom-stick” on tape Cox wrapped around his black and tan cleats. Cox said he has taken the tape off his cleat, which is hanging up in his room at home.
Dempsey said it was awesome to discover the longtime teammates would get one final opportunity to play together.
“We were a tight-knit bunch of guys,” Dempsey said. “We all kind of relied on each other. We knew we had a special team, so we knew we could do something special. It was a fun team to be a part of.”
Said Hamilton, “I feel like we had a really good team, but I also feel like we helped build another program that should be good for a couple of more years because there is a lot of talent standing behind us.”
In the fall, Sykes guided the school’s girls soccer team to a 2-1 victory against Hartfield Academy 2-1 for the program’s first championship.
Futral led the Volunteers with 19 points per game. He also averaged 7.5 rebounds, 4.9 assists, and 4.7 steals per game. Stevens averaged 13 points, seven rebounds, and four assists.
Passons, who was a member of the school’s girls soccer team with Hughes that won a state championship, averaged 17 points, six rebounds, and three assists.
The Starkville Academy boys basketball team won the Class AAA, District 2 championship. It beat Indianola Academy (61-57) and Heritage Academy (43-31) before losing to Hartfield Academy (56-54) in the championship game of the North AAA Region tournament. Starkville Academy lost to Brookhaven Academy 50-49 in the opening round of the Class AAA tournament.
The Starkville Academy girls beat Central Hinds and lost to Kirk Academy in the North AAA Region tournament.
Follow Dispatch sports editor Adam Minichino on Twitter @ctsportseditor
Adam Minichino is the former Sports Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
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