GATORS NORTH STATE-BOUND [11/24/01]STARKVILLE A

Published 12:00 am Thursday, November 29, 2001

GATORS NORTH STATE-BOUND

[11/24/01]STARKVILLE A pair of college stars’ relatives sent Warren Central out of the Class 5A state playoffs two rounds short of a state championship.

Starkville quarter DeAngelo Dantzler threw for 161 yards and two touchdowns to Tee Milons as the No. 2 Yellowjackets (12-1) shut down the Vikings, 21-0, before an estimated 3,500.

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Dantzler, first cousin of Clemson star signal-caller Woodrow Dantzler, and Milons, cousin of Alabama standout Freddie Milons, connected on two second-half scoring passes 5 and 28 yards as the Starkville offense generated 434 yards against a formidable Vikings’ defense.

“We knew we’d have to overachieve to win this ballgame,” said WC coach Robert Morgan, whose team went from being on the brink of a losing season to the final eight in the state, finishing 9-4. “We never quit. We had a good game plan and had an opportunity to make some plays, but we just didn’t get it done.”

Using three down lineman and a three-deep zone defense, the Vikings confused Dantzler early, forcing him into seven incompletions in the first half. The Yellowjackets held a 7-0 lead on a 1-yard dive by Shawn Johnson with 4:11 to play in the half.

“I have never seen that before. I don’t know where that came from,” said Dantzler, a Michigan native who was 12-of-24. “Coach (Bill Lee) likes to go with what’s working and the passing game wasn’t working in the first half, so we had to use the run.”

The explosive Yellowjackets’ offense, which entered the game averaging more than 300 yards, had 273 yards on the ground led by Dantzler’s 91 yards on 16 carries.

The WC offense, however, had only 10 first downs. WC never got closer to the end zone than the Starkville 36-yard line and that drive started on the Yellowjackets’ 40.

“We could never get field position,” WC quarterback Brett Morgan said. “We couldn’t make a long drive against them and when we did, we couldn’t do anything with it because we had to go so far. They wore us down.”

Morgan, who will play at Mississippi State next year, was 7-of-16 for 43 yards and John Hicks led WC’s ground game with 62 yards on 12 carries. Morgan also punted 10 times.

“Our main focus was to shut down the run and play every down,” said Starkville linebacker Chaz Harris, considered one of the top linebackers in the state. “We knew the secondary was going to have to play big to contain Morgan. We wanted to come out and play to the best of our ability.”

WC’s defense held Starkville on its first three possessions to a pair of punts and a missed fourth-down conversion, but Johnson capped an 87-yard drive with his plunge with 4:20 left in the first half. The drive was highlighted by Dantzler’s 49-yard quarterback keeper from Starkville’s 16-yard line.

“At first, everyone was trying to lay the big blow and they were just bouncing off our hits,” junior linebacker Tyler DeRossette said. “They have good running backs, so in the second half, we had to make sure we could wrap up and tackle.”

Starkville was driving late in the second quarter, but Dantzler was intercepted by Antonio Brown at the WC 40-yard line. The Vikings punted four plays later and Starkville ran out the first-half clock.

Torrance Hampton blocked a Morgan punt on the Vikings’ first possession of the second half and Starkville drove 48 yards in seven plays and capped the drive with Milons’ first touchdown, a 5-yarder with 4:58 left in the third quarter. Milons ended the game with 99 yards on five catches.

“They really studied us at halftime and knew what to do against our defense,” DeRossette said. “Once you start connecting on a short pass here and a long pass here, the next thing you know, you’re inside the 5 and can’t really do much.”

Seven minutes later, Dantzler and Milons hooked up again on a 28-yard touchdown pass and Zach Bost added his third extra point to put the game away.

Leading 21-0, the Yellowjackets tried to score again as time was running out, but Chris Hemphill stopped wide receiver Willie Lee inside the 1-yard line on a fourth-down pass with 57 seconds left. The Vikings gained a first down and Morgan hit Carlton Bradford on a 23-yard pass as the horn sounded ending the game.

Despite the 21-0 deficit, Robert Morgan called a pair of timeouts with less than 20 seconds to play.

“We wanted to score,” Robert Morgan said. “It’s hard to give up, but God’s been good to us and we’re thankful.”

Robert Morgan said the season should still be looked upon as a success.

“This team is a hard-nosed, get-after-it team,” said Morgan, who extended his team’s record playoff streak to 17 years this season. “We don’t have the talent Starkville has, I’ll tell you that, but the thing is the games we have lost this year we could have won.

“My hat’s off to our seniors for this season. … I’ll say one thing, they never stopped dreaming, never stopped believing they could win a state championship and that’s what it’s all about.”