Jackets end Wave's perfect season in 6A North final
Nov. 26—TUPELO — The Starkville Revenge Tour continued Friday night.
The Yellowjackets, a No. 4 playoff seed, blew a big early lead but rallied back to beat Tupelo 41-32 in the Class 6A North final. Up next is the state championship game against Brandon on Dec. 3 in Hattiesburg.
Starkville (11-3) lost to Tupelo 24-17 during the regular season. Friday's win came a week after a payback victory against Clinton.
"Everybody counted us out. But that's OK," Starkville coach Chris Jones said. "We never quit, we kept fighting, took it one game at a time. But the work's not done. We've still got one more game."
The Jackets slid into the playoffs on the final day of the regular season and haven't slowed down since. They started fast against Tupelo (13-1), opening up a 20-0 lead, but the Golden Wave fought back and eventually took the lead.
Starkville was trailing 32-28 after a Qua Middlebrooks 2-yard touchdown run with 6:35 left in the game. The response was a seven-play, 80-yard drive capped by Trey Petty's 35-yard scoring pass to Jaylon York to make it 35-32 with 4:16 remaining.
Petty accounted for 327 yards of offense and five touchdowns.
"He's special. When he's on, he's hard to stop. He was on tonight," Jones said.
Entering this game, Tupelo had given up 17 points at home all season.
"I feel like my offense is one of the best offenses in the state," Petty said. "We've got playmakers all across the field."
Starkville was up 20-0 following a 15-yard Jaque Jones touchdown run with 6:47 left in the first half. But Tupelo responded when Jeremiah Harrell hit K.D. Gibson down the middle for a 59-yard TD pass to make it 20-6.
After a Starkville three-and-out, J.Q. Witherspoon took a short throw and went 75 yards. That set up a 2-yard Middlebrooks scoring run with 1:41 left in the half, and it was 20-13 at the break.
Middlebrooks later put the Wave ahead at 25-20 when he dashed in from 33 yards on fourth-and-1 early in the fourth quarter. Tupelo's defense followed with a stop, but then Starkville linebacker Ny'Jadus Holloway made a tip-drill interception at the Wave 13.
That set up Petty's 10-yard TD pass to Braylon Burnside for a 28-25 lead with 8:50 left.
"That was the biggest play of the night," Jones said of Holloway's pick.
Tupelo struggled with its run game for the first three quarters, but its saving grace was its big-strike capability. The Wave finished with 437 total yards and had eight plays of 20 yards or more.
Extra Points
Turning Point: After Tupelo pulled ahead 32-28, Starkville covered 80 yards in 2:19 to retake the lead.
Point Man: Petty completed 17 of 24 passes for 188 yards and two touchdowns. He also rushed for 139 yards and three scores.
Talking Point: "That was a hell of a high school football game. You couldn't really get any better than that. We were on the wrong end of it. I hate it for our guys." — Tupelo coach Ty Hardin
Notes
—Harrell completed 17 of 36 passes for 321 yards, two TDs and two interceptions.
—Gibson and Witherspoon finished with 122 receiving yards apiece.
—Starkville had 250 rushing yards.
