WINIONA, MS-- Eighteen years ago, the Trojans reached the pinnacle of high school football as they ascended to and won the State Championship. Since achieving that feat, Magee has not proceeded past the second round of the playoffs, despite having several talented teams in that 18-year drought. This year's Trojans team grew into one of the best in recent years both talent wise and character wise. This group of young men bought into a team first mentality under a new coaching regime and were one of the closest group of men I have ever seen. After the game, Coach Dyess praised this year's Senior class for their selflessness and dedication to the team, "The biggest thing was that they bought into this program, when you come in new and for a group of Seniors to buy in the way that they did was huge, this was a team that was 6-6 a year ago and to go 9-4 and get to the second round of the playoffs took a lot of buying in of our Senior class, they laid the foundation for what Magee football is going to be down the line." There are a lot of Seniors who played their final game for the Trojans, but there is young and exciting talent waiting in the wings.
The conditions were what you would expect for a November match-up in the Northern half of Mississippi, very cold and very muddy. The game pitted two stellar teams who possessed elite offenses and defenses that were vying for a third round berth. Early in the game, both teams went through a bit of a feeling out process as they both adjusted to their opponents and being hit in such cold weather. The playing surface took some getting used to by both teams as it became apparent early on that the game would likely be fought on the ground due to the wet conditions causing the ball to slip from both quaterbacks' hands as they misfired several passes early on. The teams exchanged three-and-outs to start the game before Magee mounted an impressive drive on their second turn with the ball. The drive started with a solid punt return by Josh Sanders to place the Trojans at midfield. Ross McInnis grinded out a 4-yard run in the muddy conditions followed by an offsides call on Winona to give Magee 2nd and 1. McInnis picked up the first, first down of the game and Magee was off and running. Senior QB, Javo Thurman, connected with wide-out Matthew Thurman for a 13-yard gain that put the Trojans on the outskirt of the Tigers' redzone. McInnis tacked on runs for five and three to set up 3rd and 2 for Magee. Winona had the Trojans well scouted as they zeroed in on McInnis and refused to let him beat the team on the night with star receiver Xavier Franks injured, the Tigers knew Magee would lean heavily on McInnis to make up for the loss of production with less threats being available through the air. McInnis came up a yard short on 3rd and 2 to put the coaching staff in a sticky situation, the distance was likely within Sam Rials range, but the conditions said kicking a long field goal may be dangerous. Magee rolled the dice on 4th and 1, giving the ball to McInnis again and he delivered a 6-yard run that put the Trojans deep in the redzone. Unfortunately, a false start penalty and a delay of game penalty forced the Trojans backwards into what became 3rd and 17 from near the 20 of Winona. On 3rd down, Thurman delivered a near perfect pass off his back foot in the face of heavy pressure into the hands of a wide open Sanders at the goaline for what would have been a touchdown, but the normally sure handed Sanders dropped the pass to force a 30+ yard Rials field goal attempt. The Rials attempt had the aim, but was just a half a foot short as the clang of the upright silenced the Magee sidelines.
The Tigers took over around their own 20 and An'darius Coffey started to show why he is such a highly touted playmaker. Coffey picked up the first Winona first down of the game on two runs for three and eight, which was followed up with another by running back Jay Lofton who added an 11-yard run of his own. Coffey broke loose for the first time on the night as he exploded into the secondary for 25 to the Magee 40 where he was stripped of the ball by Chase Rankin and company to give Magee the ball back in good field position. The Trojans were unable to capitalize on their good fortunes and were forced to punt the ball away as the first quarter came to an end. The game was shaping up to be a defensive struggle where yards and points would be very precious and hard to come by. The first points of the game came on the ensuing Winona drive. The Tigers started the drive at their own 34, but quickly switched over to the Magee 38 after a long run by Coffey. Coffey took off on the next play for 11 to put the Tigers on the doorstep of the Trojans redzone. Davandre Bays tacked on a 12-yard run to put Winona just outside the 10 of Magee. Coffey dashed ahead for four to the Magee 8, followed by a Lofton run to the Trojans 1 to set up 1st and goal for the Tigers. An offsides penalty backed Winona up to the 6, from where Blake Cooper would score on a toss sweep to put the Tigers up 7-0 halfway through the second quarter which would be the score going into halftime.
The Tigers started the second half with a bang, as Rials booted the ball deep into the arms of Ahmad Robinson. Robinson found room and blockers up the middle before springing to the outside and winning a footrace with the Trojans kickoff team for an 87-yard kickoff return for a touchdown after apparently not being forced out of bounds and momentarily pausing after he appeared to have been forced out at the Magee 30 by Rials to give the Tigers a 14-0 lead just seconds into the second half. The Trojans could not answer on their next drive and were forced to punt. On the first play of the Winona drive, Coffey received an unwelcomed wake-up call from Cassius Walker of the Trojans who obliterated the Tiger QB after a short run. Cooper picked up 12 to move the Tigers to the 40 for a 1st down, before Coffey coughed up the ball on the following snap where it was recovered by the Trojans back at the Winona 30. Following the sudden change in possession, Magee took a shot for the endzone on early in the drive but the J. Thurman pass went wanting off the fingertips of M. Thurman in the back left corner of the endzone. Thurman then hit Sanders for a 6-yard bubble screen that saw the undersized Sanders drag several larger defenders as he fought for the first down. Sanders continued to be featured on the drive as he took ball down inside the Winona 5. Ross McInnis would cap off the drive with a punishing 4-yard touchdown run followed by a failed 2-pt conversion to reduce the Tigers lead to 14-6 midway through the third quarter.
The two teams would exchange fruitless drives that ended with a shanked punt by Malik Paul that ran off the punters foot, along the ground, and into the arms of Bays who would return the ball to the Magee 29. Coffey went back to work and got the Tigers inside the Trojans' redzone. Jalen Campbell carried the ball down to the Magee 10 to put Winona in good position to increase their lead. Lofton would seemingly finish the drive on the next play, but a holding call backed to Tigers up to their own 20 and negated to touchdown. The Trojans appeared to have Winona stopped after a dropped pass on third down looked as if the damage may be limited to a field goal attempt. However, a very questionable roughing the passer penalty gave the Tigers second life, which they would not let go to waste as Lofton finally broke through for a 8-yard Winona touchdown to push the lead to 21-6.
Magee would turn up the heat as they quickly responded on their next drive. Sanders took the following kickoff to the 50 where he would follow up with a hard-nosed 14-yard gain on a screen pass to light a spark under the Trojans offense. Sanders again stuck for big yards, this time a 23-yard seam route over the middle to put Magee inside the Winona redzone. Sanders and McInnis teamed up to move the ball down to the two, where McInnis would punch it in for a 2-yard touchdown. A bobbled snap on the PAT made the score 21-12 with 9:39 remaining in the game. Magee attempted a squib kick to regain control of the ball, but a Winona upman managed to fall on the ball at the Tigers 43. The Trojans appeared to be playing with renewed vigor as they busted into the backfield on the first play of the ensuing drive. Unfortunately, Cooper had on his P.F. Flyers (RIP Stuart Scott) and hurdled two Magee defenders behind the line of scrimmage and scurried 22-yards to put the Tigers in Magee territory. Lofton and Bays would combine to get Winona to the Magee 6 where Lofton would finish the drive to put the lead up to 27-12. The Trojans fought valiantly to the end, but the Tigers were able to salt the game away and finish off the 27-12 victory.
