Sa vs. Mag Heights: Week 1O

Vols Drop Home Finale

Starkville Academy traveled to Senatobia and defeated Magnolia Heights in a tightly-contested game a year ago to clinch the MAIS District 1-5A championship.

The Chiefs returned the favor here Friday night at J.E. Logan Field.

Magnolia Heights scored nine points in the final one minute, four seconds, including a 17-yard field goal from left-footed placekicker Cash Jackson with :03 seconds left, to rally for a topsy-turvy 23-21 victory in the regular season finale for both teams.

The Chiefs, led by uber-talented quarterback Cole Prosek (344 passing yards, 3 touchdowns), won their eighth straight to improve to 9-2 overall and finish unblemished (4-0) in district play. By virtue of winning the district and power points accumulated, they earned the No. 2 overall seed and a first-round bye in the upcoming 5A playoffs along with home field advantage.

SA, coming off a narrow road win over rival Heritage Academy last week, dropped to 4-6 and 2-2 with the two-point setback on Senior Night. The Vols earned the 12th and final spot in the playoffs and must travel to No 5 seed Copiah Academy on Friday. The winner is slated to play at No. 4 seed Oak Forest Academy the following week.

That’s a tough row to hoe even for a team playing arguably its best football of the season. That’s one reason longtime SA coach Chase Nicholson decided to roll the dice with his team clinging to a 21-20 lead with 1:04 remaining. The Vols had the ball first-and-10 at the Magnolia Heights 47-yard line. Under normal circumstances, he of course would have gotten into victory formation and let the time run off the clock. Game over. However, these weren’t normal circumstances.

While in part fighting for their playoff lives – the Vols entered the game one spot out of the playoffs by mere percentage points – they simultaneously also had a shot at winning the district title as crazy as that may sound. Speaking of crazy, here’s where things get crazy. An eight-point win over Magnolia Heights would’ve done just that, or a Heritage win over Bayou for that matter. Knowing that Bayou was up double digits in that game at the time, Nicholson went for broke.

As fate would have it, SA’s pass on first down was intercepted, giving Magnolia Heights the ball at the Vols’ 28-yard line with :59 seconds left and a chance to win. Five plays later, Jackson delivered the knockout blow, sending the Chiefs home a jubilant winner and leaving the gutted Vols to ponder what if. A 42-yard pass from Prosek to Hayden Jones was the pivotal play on the game-winning drive.

It was the lone turnover of the game for the Vols.

“That was my call . . . that was the call that I made,” Nicholson said. “Because of the situation, because we were trying to get the third seed and first round bye and all that good stuff we had to do something that was a little unorthodox. The worst possible thing happened, followed by more worst possible things happening.”

One good thing happened, at least. As it turns out, SA – which entered the game on the outside looking in as it related to qualifying for one of 12 playoff spots – did secure the 12th and final spot. Heritage ended up losing to Bayou, resulting in the No. 11 seed and a trip to Simpson Academy for its playoff opener. Had SA simply ran out the clock and held on for the win over Magnolia Heights, the Vols would’ve been the 11 seed and the Patriots the 12 seed. Not a lot of difference really.

“Anytime you’re in the playoffs you have a chance to go win the ring,” Nicholson said. “We’re in there, we’re playing our best ball . . . our record, who cares? We’re going to keep fighting and try to put a ring on our finger.”

Much like last year’s regular season finale between these two teams, this game was close throughout. There were five lead changes, the last of which came in the waning seconds. And, again, the final margin was just two points.

Nathan Miller kicked the first of his two field goals (30, 38 yards) late in the first quarter to stake SA to a 3-0 lead. Magnolia Heights answered with the first of Prosek’s two touchdown passes to Brayden Burford (71, 8 yards) to move ahead 7-3 midway through the second quarter. The Vols then answered back with a 9-yard touchdown run from Miller Shy late in the second quarter to take a 10-7 lead into halftime.

The Chiefs carried a 14-13 lead into the fourth quarter and the score remained that way until Luke Johnson’s 17-yard touchdown run capped a 12-play, 80-yard drive with just under five minutes left. Quarterback Luke McKenzie’s two-point conversion run made it 21-14. Magnolia Heights countered with an 11-play, 70-yard scoring drive of its own to cut the lead to one. Prosek connected with Trace Hartzog on a 28-yard touchdown pass. The Chiefs elected to go for two, but Prosek’s pass in the end zone was broken up by a pair of SA defenders.

Shy then recovered the ensuing onside kick.

Prosek, who committed to Ole Miss in baseball as an 8th-grader, made one big play after another throughout the game. He was picked off twice, but completed 23 of 35 passes for 344 yards and three touchdowns. He also rushed for 41 yards, 20 of those coming on back-to-back 10 yard gains on the Chiefs’ final drive.

“I’m glad he’s on our side,” Magnolia Heights coach Russ Whiteside said.

Johnson finished with 150 yards on 22 carries, while Graham Hancock had 109 yards on 16 carries as SA compiled 279 yards on the ground. Johnson, a 1,000-yard rusher a year ago as a junior, now has 944 yards and eight touchdowns this season. Penalties (14-120 yards) were once again a bugaboo for the Vols.

“I thought our guys played really, really hard to put themselves in position to win a championship,” Nicholson said. “That’s one thing about this team, they’ve never quit all year. They’ve kept fighting, no matter the odds or the situation. That’s who these kids are. And the seniors have done a great job representing that.”

Copiah, one of the most athletic teams in 5A, went 7-3 during the regular season. The Colonels finished 2-2 in District 2-5A. Their run-heavy offense, led by running backs Trey Ellis and Jamarius Grayer, is averaging 26.4 points per game. Defensively, they are allowing only 15 points per game.

SA and Copiah share three common opponents: Bayou, Leake and Lamar. The Vols lost to all three while the Colonels won two of three, defeating Bayou and Leake and losing by one point to Lamar. This marks the first time since September 9, 2012 that SA and Copiah have met.