It was not the way a championship football game, and the season, should end.
Suffering their first loss of the season, the Indianola Academy Colonels dropped a hard fought 21-14 overtime loss to Starkville Academy last Saturday afternoon in the AAA State Championship game hosted by Jackson Academy.
“The kids played their hearts out in this game and during the year”, said IA Head Coach Tommy Nester. “The kids laid it on the line all season and had a very good year.”
Last Saturday’s match-up was a fiercely fought game by two very good teams whose 48 minutes of regulation play nearly mirrored one another and eventually left both of them with a 13-1 season record.
Through the course of the game, both the Colonels and the Volunteers suffered a costly special team’s gaffe, both turned in stifling defensive play, and both recorded only one sustained scoring drive apiece in regulation play.
All of this left the game to be decided in overtime play, a period of time which was impacted by a pair of close plays which resulted in the Volunteers scoring and IA being stopped on the goal line.
In that pivotal overtime period, the Volunteers scored on their second play on what was ruled a 10-yard pass completion for a touchdown.
IA would experience more tough luck moments later when the Colonels had the ball fourth-and-one and the game on the line. A fumbled snap, along with a pile of Vols and Colonels, resulted in the play being ruled down shy of the goal line.
And with that, the IA Colonels saw their goal of a second consecutive state championship fall short, as well as bringing to an end their 27-game winning streak.
Despite the loss, this championship game yielded a stellar performance by the IA defense as the Volunteers’ 101 yards of total offense, which included a paltry 20 rushing yards, would have barely covered the length of a football field.
In their own effort, the Colonels more than doubled the SA offensive number by amassing 225 yards against their opponent.
The game began strongly for IA as the Volunteers slipped down at their own one yard line on the game’s opening kickoff. Disaster quickly struck again for the Volunteers on their very first offensive possession of the game as junior linebacker Stefon Smith recovered a Starkville Academy fumble on that same one yard line; which the Colonels quickly turned into a one yard TD run by Sebastian Harris.William Barrier then split the uprights with his PAT kick and 12 seconds into the football game, IA owned a 7-0 lead.
However, defensive play began to rule the game as this narrow IA lead would stand throughout the remainder of the first quarter of play.
It would be almost midway through the second period when the Colonels suffered their own special team miscue.
Following a high snap over punter Josh Hill’s head, the junior’s attempt to punt the ball away was blocked and the loose ball carried into the end zone for a game-tying score.
The Colonels responded on their very next possession, however, with a 63-yard scoring drive.
Representing the longest drive of the game by either team, the 10 play march down the field came to a scoring conclusion almost five minutes later.
The score was earned when junior quarterback Will Davis hit junior Wesley Lester with a pass completion, which the fullback carried through two would-be tacklers to finish off the 23 yard touchdown play.
Barrier’s PAT kick, coupled with another three and out punt by the Volunteers, enabled the Colonels to take a 14-7 lead into the dressing room at halftime.
This narrow IA lead stood until almost midway into the third quarter when the Volunteers generated a 12-play, 55-yard scoring drive; a march aided by 30 yards of penalties assessed against the Colonels.
The eventual four yard scoring run, along with a PAT kick, knotted the score at 14 apiece and eventually led to the unfortunate sequence of events in overtime play.
Offensively in this game the Colonels earned 148 rushing yards on 38 carries against the Volunteer defense, which sold out to contain the IA rushing attack.
Harris’ 68 yards on 23 carries paced the Colonels’ ground game while T.K. Bolden’s and Lester’s two carries apiece netted 61 and 30 yards respectively.
Through the air, Davis completed nine of 18 passes for 77 yards and a touchdown. Along with Lester’s two catches totaling 30 yards, Bolden gathered in three passes for 20 yards of offense.
Defensively, the Colonels only allowed those scant 20 yards of rushing on 34 carries to the Starkville Academy offense.
Through the air, the Volunteers completed eight of 17 pass attempts for another 81 yards.
Leading this impressive resistance for the Colonels was linebacker Jack Dodd with four solo tackles and eight assists.
Also making his presence known from the defensive end position was Lester, who tallied two solo tackles, eight assists, and a quarterback sack.
Adding a fumble recovery to his four solos and three assists was Stefon Smith while Josh Hill added a sack to his six assists earned in the contest.
Rounding out the defensive leaders for IA was John Abbott Smith with his one solo tackle and seven assists.
Editor’s Note: The Enterprise-Tocsin will be putting out a special section on Nov. 30 honoring the Indianola Academy Colonels’ season. Because of the short Thanksgiving week and the 16-page edition, we will have full analysis of the IA-Starkville game, along with more pictures from that game and the rest of the season.
