Jackets ground Falcons

Playing the northernmost angle of the Golden Triangle didn't go so well for Starkville a week ago.

The Yellowjackets found much more success against the eastern corner on Friday night.

A week after falling to West Point, Starkville came roaring back with a dominant 44-7 win over Columbus at Yellowjacket Stadium. It was just the effort Jackets head coach Chris Jones was hoping for.

“Last week, we didn't play well,” Jones said. “I was proud to see how my guys bounced back and to me, that's the mark of a good team.”

Starkville (3-1) left little to chance as they routed the winless Falcons (0-3). It was a lopsided contest from beginning to end.

Quarterback Malik Brown was a big reason for that. The junior signal caller completed 13 of his 18 passes for 170 yards and three touchdowns. He also ran 13 times for 73 yards and two scores.

Brown said he was motivated to have a productive night after having a week to think about last Friday's 28-3 loss to West Point.

“This was really big,” Brown said. “We had to bounce back from last week when we struggled to put points on the board.”

Brown got Starkville off and running early. The Jackets took a 20-0 lead after one quarter. Brown had scoring runs of 15 and 20 yards in the period. He also hit Cameron Gardner for a 40-yard touchdown pass.

In the opening moments of the second quarter, Brown hurt Columbus through the air again as he had a 31-yard scoring strike to Rufus Harvey to make it 27-0 in favor of the Jackets.

“I knew the game was over then,” Brown said. “After I put two in rushing, then two more passing, I knew it was game over.”

Starkville indeed cruised from there. The Jackets added a 29-yard field goal from Garin Boniol to take a 30-0 lead into halftime.

Following the intermission, Columbus scored its lone points late in the third quarter when Devarkas Ramsey got into the end

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