Mitchell plays like seasoned veteran for Yellow Jackets
He doesn’t have much experience in the playoffs, but Jordan Mitchell is playing like a seasoned veteran as the Starkville Yellow Jackets are making a charge towards a state championship.
Starkville coach Chris Jones saw that pretty quickly in the first round against Hernando when Mitchell broke off three runs of 40 or more yards and rushed seven times for 207 yards and three scores.
With Southaven closing the gap in the fourth quarter and making it a one score game last Friday, Jones went with his best player on third and 2 and watched as he raced off tackle for a 42-yard run to end the threat.
“I already knew that they were going to keep playing hard and ball,” Mitchell said of the Chargers. “You can’t play mad because that’s when you make mistakes. Their defense played amazing, but we handled it well and played a good game.”
Mitchell was the best player on the field in each of the last two games and he followed up that 200-yard performance by going for 120 yards on 15 carries and two touchdowns last week. The senior athlete made plays on the defensive side of the football as well with two tackles, one sack and a forced fumble. He ran a 77-yard punt return back as well in the second half for good measure.
His work late in the fourth quarter is what sealed the win, however. After getting the 42-27 lead from his run with under 2 minutes left, Mitchell had to make one more run on third and 2 to run out the clock.
Jones saw that Mitchell wasn’t going to be denied and told him to take the direct snap. The only thing that he told the running back was to
get the first down and he did.
“Jordan is a man,” Jones said. “I don’t even know how to put it. We didn’t even practice that last play, I just had my mind made up that if we were going to go out, it was going to be with the ball in our best player’s hands. He made a play. It’s all about players making plays and he made some plays.”
Mitchell is 52 yards shy of being another 1,000-yard rusher in the record books for the Jackets as he is averaging 7 yards per rush and is seeing his yards per game climb to 86.2. He’s also caught the second most passes on the team this year with 23 catches, 161 yards and a score.
On defense,
he’s
been a big play guy when SHS needed him. He doesn’t play every play of the game, but he makes his presence known with 7.5 of his 12 tackles being tackles for loss. His 6.5 sacks are second on the team.
His work has helped his team get back to the Class 6A North State championship game and the Jackets have got a chance to play for a state title again if they can pull it out on Friday night against Madison
Central. Mitchell will be leaving it all on the field, win or lose and he’ll do whatever it takes to help his team get to Hattiesburg.
“It feels good,” Mitchell said. “I’ve never played for a state championship so I’m ready to play. I’m just keeping my teammates motivated and playing hard by uplifting them. The rest will take care of itself.”