STARKVILLE — Chase Nicholson is eager to see how his players respond.
Coming off the sting of a loss to its archrival, the Starkville Academy football team will try to regroup at 7 p.m. Friday when it travels to Madden to take on Leake Academy in a Mississippi Association of Independent Schools (MAIS) Class AAA, District 2 game.
Starkville Academy (8-1, 2-1 district) enters the matchup as the highest seed — No. 6 — after the potential five district winners for the Class AAA playoffs, which will begin next week. A victory against Leake Academy (7-2, 2-1) would secure that status and guarantee a first-round playoff game next week in Starkville.
After that, a rematch against Heritage Academy (7-2, 3-0) could come depending on how the rest of the seeds falls following the final week of the regular season.
Regardless of where teams will be positioned, Nicholson said the team’s 21-7 loss to Heritage Academy last week in Starkville is something that will test the leaders to see if they can regroup and lift the rest of their teammates up.
“It’s a real moment to see how bad they really want what they say they want,” Nicholson said. “Are they not only going to come back to work and work harder, but are they going to put it behind you? It may be a good thing.”
Nicholson said the week started off on a good note after an off day Sunday. He liked the mood of the team Monday during a conditioning and film day. Nicholson said the first week day was a chance to re-live the loss to Heritage Academy and put it behind them. On Tuesday, Nicholson said the team had a good practice that started in dry conditions and ended in the rain.
“Everybody has the same kind of emotions from room to room (Monday watching film),” Nicholson said. “Yeah, we could have done better, we should have done better, (and) we would like to see what happens if we give them some true punches.”
Nicholson said the loss might be a blessing because it ended a 19-game winning streak dating back to a setback to Indianola Academy in the regular season in 2017. Starkville Academy avenged that defeat with a 21-14 victory in overtime in the Class AAA State title game. Since then, the Volunteers have relied on a stout defense to fuel another march to a championship. That defense played well against Heritage Academy, but the Patriots were just a little better on that side of the football and were able to shut down Taylor Arnold, Garrett Lewis, and C.J. Jackson in the running game. The Volunteers scored their only touchdown in the fourth quarter after Nicholson opted to move Arnold from running back to quarterback. The change enabled Arnold to take direct snaps out of a Wildcat formation.
Nicholson said he plans to use Arnold in that role more to create opportunities for himself and for other players. He feels he got away from using two quarterbacks like the Volunteers did last season when Noah Methvin and Ben Owens shared responsibilities.
“I should have put Tay at the Q more because he has been a big part of the offense at quarterback through most games,” Nicholson said. “It was one of those things where maybe I didn’t trust myself or I didn’t do a very good job of coaching. I don’t know. But it is something I have looked at and said, ‘It works. We have to do it more.’ ”
Nicholson said he wants to continue to “mix” the talents Lewis and Arnold bring to the position. He said he isn’t going to continue to look back at what he didn’t do because he plans to put what he learned to good use. Judging from how successful the Volunteers were using two quarterbacks last season, Nicholson feels he let having two quarterbacks not be a part of the team’s identity this season. He said he didn’t do it intentionally, but the opportunity to reflect has provided a great opportunity to get better. He hopes his players used the week to look back, to identify areas of improvement, and to move on.
“I will never stop learning, and I think it is a good thing for the team,” Nicholson said. “That’s what it is all about at the end of the day, what is best for the team is to be able to do things like that.”
Follow Dispatch sports editor Adam Minichino on Twitter @ctsportseditor
Adam Minichino is the former Sports Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 32 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.