Hot Southaven comes to Starkville

Since starting the season 1-2, Southaven has become one of the hottest teams in Class 6A this year.

The Chargers enter the second round of the playoffs the lone survivor in Region 1 after Region 2 eliminated the three other teams and they did so last week against Clinton the same way they’ve done it all year – defensively. Southaven has, arguably, the best defense in the state this season giving up just nine points per game.

In 12 games, the Chargers have two shutouts and they’ve held all but one team below 20 points. Even the three losses couldn’t be blamed on the defense as it gave up 10 points to Columbus, 12 against Lafayette

and

14 against

South Panola.

The unit is led by big defensive lineman Aaron Bryant, who stands 6-4, 300 pounds and is committed to Texas. He and his teammates have controlled the line of scrimmage all season long.

“Their defense as a whole is the strength of their team,” Starkville coach Chris Jones said of Southaven. “The better players are on that side of the ball and they do a good job of making plays there. We’ve got to make sure that we execute at a high level offensively and don’t make any mistakes.”

On the flip side, the offense has had trouble scoring points sometimes.

Southaven knocked off Clinton last week 14-10 and have had five games in which it has scored 16 points or less, but the Chargers have also possessed the ability to run the football and have different players that are capable of doing it.

Another team similar gave the Jackets some trouble a couple of weeks ago when Grenada ran the football and held on to it for the better part of the second half before falling just short. It’s something that Jones and his staff have talked about all week leading up to the game and making sure they defend the run.

“They’re all over the place on offense,” Jones said. “They have a whole bunch of different guys that have lined up at quarterback and show different things there. I’ve seen five or six guys that they’ve played at QB and they can run the ball down hill. They’ve got a big back that’s a bruiser that we’ll have to plan for as well.”

The two teams are battling for a trip to the North State championship on Friday night at Starkville’s Yellow Jacket Stadium. A win will give Starkville a home North State championship game.