Starkville tops Clinton for 31-17 region win

By Danny C. Davis

Clinton dropped to 2-5 overall and 1-1 in Region 2-7A after a tough 31-17 loss to #6 Starkville at Arrow Field. The road will get much tougher the next three weeks for the Arrows, who are trying to make the MHSAA playoffs for the first time since 2022.

Next up, the Arrows travel to #5 Oxford, now 6-1 and 2-0 in region play on October 23, followed by a trip to #4 Germantown, 4-3 and 1-1, and end the season at home against #10 Madison Central, now 3-4 and 1-1.

The game against Starkville came down to Clinton having a tough time running the ball, not scoring when in the red zone and not stopping the run.

Clinton and Starkville had almost identical total yards: fifty-three plays for 366 yards for the Arrows and sixty-five plays for 373 yards for the Yellow Jackets.

The Arrows had a tough time stopping Starkville junior QB Jacory Ruffin, who scored three TDs on runs of six yards in the second quarter and runs of 24 and 9 yards in the second half. Ruffin’s last TD came with 11:25 remaining and put the Yellow Jackets up 31-10 and out of reach for a comeback win for CHS.

But Clinton junior QB Jayden Jones had a career night throwing for 243 yards, completing 11 of 19 passes for a TD and rushing for 72 yards.

Arrow receivers Dayson Scott and Jamari Smith both had big nights. Smith’s electrifying 77-yard TD reception tied the game 10-10 in the second quarter. He led the Arrows with three catches for 123 yards. Dayson Scott had a big night, too, with four receptions for 89 yards, including a 33-yard catch.

“Starkville had a much bigger offensive and defensive line and just wore us down,” said Arrow head coach Hamer Morgan. “And we didn’t score two times we were in the red zone. We have to play better to win games like this.”

Starkville held the ball for nine minutes in the third period compared to three minutes for CHS.

Trevion Casnel led the defense with twelve tackles, ten solo stops and two assists. Montario Braden had ten solo stops.

“This game was a lot closer than the score indicated,” said Starkville head coach Brett Morgan, brother of Warren Central head coach Josh Morgan. “Clinton’s defense played better than they have all year, and their QB Jones is hard to stop. I still think they have a good chance to make the playoffs.”

A week earlier, the Arrows defeated Jackson Murrah 48-14.

Jones threw four TD passes. He connected with Scott for two scores and also threw TD passes to John Jackson and Matthew Fletcher. Albert scored on a 5-yard run, and Amarreau Coleman ran 13 yards to score. Brayden Gough kicked field goals of 21 and 35 yards.

TeKarian Johnson had seven solo tackles for the Arrow defense.