OXFORD – The Starkville Yellowjackets found a way to win, even with 224 yards worth of penalties.

The Yellowjackets defeated the Oxford Chargers 28-16 to win the fourth annual Little Egg Bowl.  This was the third year in a row for Starkville to do so.  Even in defeat, OHS head coach Chris Cutcliffe thought his players played competitive against a unanimous top ten Mississippi team like Starkville.

Both teams featured first year starters at quarterback.  Between Oxford’s John Reece McClure and Starkville’s Malik Brown, it was McClure who had a better night passing statistically speaking.

Despite McClure completing only 35 percent of his passes, going 12 for 34, he still managed to throw for 275 yards and two touchdown passes.  McClure was sacked six times by the Yellowjacket defense, two of those were from Starkville’s Zach Edwards

Barry Flowers only had four catches on the night, but he had 105 yards receiving.  His 56 yard touchdown reception early in the fourth quarter put the Chargers within a touchdown away from tying the ball game.

Jaquan Webb had a 30 yard touchdown in his previous game against Southaven.  In this game, Webb gave the fans a glimpse for the first time this season at his track speed.  Webb (who is also a indoor track all-american) caught a inside screen from McClure and raced 77 yards to give Oxford their first points of the game early in the second quarter.  Webb finished the game with 86 total receiving yards.

Hiram Wadlington led the Chargers on the ground with 17 carries for 36 yards, averaging two yards a carry.

On defense, the Chargers were led by Quentin Wilfawn who had a mind boggling 21 tackles in this game.  Three of Wilfawn’s tackles were for loss.  D.Q Thomas, C.J Terrell, and D.T Thompson all had 10 plus tackles.

Quay Quarles forced the Chargers’ only turnover, an interception underneath two minutes left in the first half.

Extra Points

Turning Point:

Starkville’s Tavian Clark caught a touchdown and scored a two point conversion to put the Chargers in a two touchdown hole heading into the fourth quarter.  In an attempt to extend the Starkville lead, the Yellowjackets fumbled the ball and gave the football back to Oxford with 9:30 left in the game.  Then McClure found Flowers wide open for a touchdown to cut the Starkville lead to a touchdown and an extra point.  Oxford then kicked an onside kick and recovered the football.  The momentum then was all on Oxford’s sideline with 9:09 left in the game.

Playmaker:

Flowers did not get many catches, but he made some big plays.  His biggest play was the 56 yard touchdown that put the Chargers back in the game early early in the fourth quarter.

Talking Point:

“I think our guys fought hard throughout the game and I thought we competed well and played with great effort,” Cutcliffe said about his team. “We had some guys step up and make some plays, we just needed a few more.”

Notes:

• Both teams had a chance to score on 4th and 1 from the one yard line and neither team could score points
• Oxford has had three home losses the past five seasons, two of which are against Starkville
• Up next for the Chargers is a road game at 6A power Madison Central.  Kickoff is set for Friday at 7:00 p.m