Starkville has won eight straight games at home (dating back to last season), while Tupelo has won eight straight on the road also dating back to last season, but those streaks won't matter much on Thursday. The Starkville Yellowjackets will take on the Tupelo Golden Wave at 7:00 p.m.
Starkville is coming in fresh off a high-stakes matchup with another one of Mississippi's top teams: Madison Central, who was ranked fourth in their home state at the time (Starkville was ranked tenth). Starkville lost 31-8 to Madison Central on Friday. The contest marked the Yellowjackets' lowest-scoring matchup so far this season.
Meanwhile, Tupelo never let their opponents score two weeks ago. They simply couldn't be stopped as they easily beat Clinton 49-0. The Golden Wave might be getting used to big wins seeing as the team has won seven games by 20 points or more this season.
Jaeden Hill continued his habit of posting crazy stat lines, rushing for 119 yards and three touchdowns, while also picking up 51 receiving yards. Another player making a difference was Noah Gillon, who threw for 135 yards and two touchdowns.
Tupelo was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 360 rushing yards. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now rushed for at least 207 rushing yards in three consecutive matches.
One reason for the win was Tupelo's imposing defense, which managed to get into the backfield for five sacks. In that department, Jakaylan Chapman was the leader with two.
Tupelo's record is now 9-0. As for Starkville, their loss dropped their record down to 6-3.
Starkville was dealt a bruising 36-6 defeat at the hands of Tupelo in their previous matchup back in November of 2023. Thankfully for Starkville, Jeremiah Harrell (who threw for 185 yards and four touchdowns while completing 75% of his passes, and also rushed for 31 yards and a touchdown) won't be suiting up this time. Will that be enough to change the final result? There's only one way to find out.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
