By Thomas Sellers Jr.
SOUTHAVEN, Miss. — Why choses a cliché to describe the outcome of the Northpoint Trojans vs. Millington Trojans.
The two choices are “things quickly snowballed,” or “you kept shooting yourself in the foot.” By the end of Friday night’s game at Trojan Stadium on the campus of Northpoint Christian School, Millington Trojan Head Coach Chris Michael was OK with using both for the 49-20 defeat his team suffered to the Trojans from the Magnolia State.
“We talked about it all throughout the week that this game was going to be completely different,” he said. “We talked about how this game was going to be totally different from any other game we’ve played all season. How it was going to be spread all the way out, open spaces. We had to stay on those responsibilities, tackle well and make plays in open spaces.
“It was totally different from what we’ve been facing which is run and heavy run between the tackles,” Michael continued. “I thought from the standpoint of doing all the things we’ve been working on all week long, getting in position, we had some alignment issues early with our outside linebackers. We finally got them to where they needed to be. And coach (Chester) Ford’s game plan was right. The kids were in position to make plays on all the screen passes, all their deep balls. We had two interceptions on three of their first deep balls. We missed a deep ball. We missed-time a jump and they came down with it. It’s frustrating.”
Things started off well for the Trojans from the Volunteer State with a pair of interceptions from senior DeAnton Yarbrough. In between Yarbrough’s picks was a Josh Fisher 9-yard touchdown run for the first Northpoint score of the night in the first quarter.
Fisher is one of the top runners in the Shelby-Metro area and the Millington defense limited him to under 100 yards rushing by the end of the game.
The second quarter began with Northpoint ahead 7-0. Millington (2-4) cut the deficit to a point with 9 minutes and 59 seconds remaining in the first half when quarterback McCoy Pugh capped off a two-minute drive with an 8-yard touchdown run.
The Northpoint lead was 7-6 and the home Trojans closed out the first half on a 35-0 run to take a 42-6 into the locker room. The first Northpoint (2-3) touchdown in the outburst was a Jack Patterson to Jackson Thomason 36-yard touchdown pass to make the score 14-6.
Thomason made a big play on defense with an interception on the next Millington possession. The combination of Patterson to Thomason hooked up again this time from 32-yards out to make the tally 21-6.
With the visiting Trojans trying to stop the bleeding, Northpoint provided a knockout punch when James Smith took a pick-six back to the end zone to make the score 28-6.
Moments later another Thomason interception set up a Fisher 1-yard TD run making the scoreboard read 35-6.
Another big play and missed Millington tackles led to the last Northpoint touchdown of the first half. Christian Gilliland took a short pass from Patterson and broke a tackle near the line of scrimmage. Gilliland navigated his way down the field 66 yards to the end zone.
Northpoint’s 42-6 lead grew to 49-6 in the third quarter when Thomason scored his third touchdown on a 20-yard run.
“They catch the ball and they don’t do anything flashy,” Michael said. “It looks flashy. Deep balls and quick screens, they stretch you out and make you come up to make tackles in space.”
The final two touchdowns of the night came from Millington with a Cameron Puryear 5-yard touchdown run and Kalik Green 3-yard TD rush.
The Trojans of Millington will return to Mooney Boswell Field next Friday for Homecoming 2021 and a Region game against the Ripley Tigers.
“You can’t dwell on it or harp on it,” Michael said. “It’s like a play. You’re going to win some plays and you’re going to lose some plays. The worst thing you can do is take that play with you on the next play. It has to be gone. This was ugly in the first half.
“Turnovers on the offense and missed tackles on the defense, both things are correctable,” he concluded. “You swallow it, take your butt whooping and you move on. Nothing you can do about it. You have to move forward and we have to try to get ready to play a tough Ripley team.”
