Jackets, Vols respond positively in the face of adversity
It was amazing to see what the Starkville Yellow Jackets and Starkville Academy Volunteers pulled off in football last Friday night.
Both were involved in very important games as the Vols were competing in a first round game of the MAIS Class AAAAA playoffs at Magnolia Heights School and the Jackets were involved in a key Class 6A, Region 2 game at Warren Central.
SHS and Starkville Academy both trailed at halftime. At that point of the game, it did not seem that either was going to be able to win.
When considering the Vols, they fell behind 30-7 in the fourth quarter against the Chiefs and were having a difficult time getting anything going. Starkville Academy stormed back with 28 points in the fourth quarter and ended up winning a 35-30 decision.
The Vols were able to making enough stops on defense down the stretch and CJ Jackson continued his outstanding season at running back with three touchdowns. They were able to recover in a big way and the reward was another playoff game next Friday night.
For the Jackets in Vicksburg, it was a deflating end of the first half when the Vikings blocked a field goal and returned it for a touchdown to go up 17-6 at halftime. The home team had all of the momentum at the break.
Starkville came back in the second half and outscored Warren Central 447. The Jackets ended up with a 50-24 victory that essentially locked up the region championship.
There was no quit in either SHS and Starkville Academy and that was inspiring.
The Monday Morning Quarterback space at the top left of this page is dedicated to the members of our staff who are able to see games in person and they give their opinions on the games they saw.
Even though our newspaper was not able to make the trips to Senatobia with the Vols or Vicksburg with the Jackets, those comebacks deserved to be acknowledged. It also brings up another valuable point. SHS and Starkville Academy stood strong in the face of adversity.
The Jackets and Vols found themselves in a first half hole because a few errors that were made with either a missed assignment on offense, a missed tackle or two on defense, or something may have gone wrong on special teams.
Mistakes happen. Certainly no one ever wants to see them, but as long as human beings and we live for any length of time, something is going to go wrong.
That’s why I try not to criticize too many coaching decisions or scold any player for having a bad day. As a columnist, it’s my job to give my opinion on why or why not something isn’t working. Most of the time the people that are the subject of those columns have already beaten themselves up over it before it’s even brought out in print or online.
The fact remains that slip ups happen for anybody from time to time. I’ve made my share of mistakes, especially lately, that I wish
I could take back. That’s not possible and what’s done is done.
When faced with that situation, the main thing is how we respond.
We can all learn from what we saw from SHS and Starkville Academy on Friday night. The Jackets and Vols refused to let the poor starts in their games keep them down.
Today is a new day. Let’s take advantage of it.
Danny P. Smith is the sports editor and columnist for The Starkville Daily News. The opinions in this column are his and do not necessarily reflect the views of the SDN or its staff.