Getting back to work was a postgame theme shared by Charleston High School head football coach LaDon Taylor after his Tigers lost a 38-6 decision to the Heidelberg High School Oilers in the Class 2A state championship game Saturday, Dec. 7.
It was a rematch of the 2023 state contest, which the Tigers won at Ole Miss for the program’s second-ever crown.
This time, Charleston (13-2) finished as the state runner-up to Heidelberg (14-1) in a game played at M.M. Roberts Stadium on the campus of the University of Southern Mississippi in Hattiesburg.
After a 6-6 deadlock at halftime, hopes for the Tigers’ first back-to-back state titles were dashed during a brutal second half that saw the Oilers outscore CHS 32-0.
With the loss, Charleston fell to 2-7 in state championship football games, having first won it all in 2011.
Taylor said the Tigers on Saturday ran into a situation where they were not the best team on the field that day.
“We gave everything that we had, and it just wasn’t enough,” he noted. “But I’m always proud of our team.”
Taylor said the offense sputtered uncharacteristically, but he also gave a nod to the Oilers’ defense, which allowed just 75 points in 15 games this season and postseason, an average of 5 points per outing.
Both the Tigers and the Oilers ran 49 offensive plays Saturday. Heidelberg had a net gain of 358 yards. Charleston had a net gain of 156 yards.
“It was not a good offensive day for us,” Taylor said. “Some of that had to do with our execution, but some of it had to do with Heidelberg.”
The coach said he appreciates the large contingent of Charleston fans who made the long trip to Hattiesburg.
"I appreciate the fans that came," he noted. "It's tough when you can't give the fans everything that they want. ... I apologize to the people who traveled to support us that we couldn't get them that big prize this year."
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Taylor said a first-quarter knee injury suffered by utility man Quentin Carter — running back, linebacker, wide receiver, free safety and punter — had a huge impact.
“He’s our big-play threat throwing the ball, which means people had to respect that, which opened up the run so we could mix it up,” he said. “Once he went down, it threw off the game plan.”
Carter entered the game with nearly 500 rushing yards, second on the team, and led the Tigers with more than 800 receiving yards.
Before exiting Saturday’s game, Carter booted two punts for a 48.5-yard average. After he left, two other players shared punting duties, and the average for all CHS punts fell to 30.8 yards by game’s end.
High snaps in the punt game also resulted in some mishaps on special teams, including a safety after the ball was snapped over the punter’s head and rolled out of the back of the end zone. Taylor attributed the problem to nerves.
“It was a big-time game, and with 15-, 16- and 17-year-old kids, things like that are going to happen,” he said.
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After the Tigers punted on the game’s opening possession, Heidelberg drove from their own 6 to the Charleston 36 before a third-down pass into the end zone was intercepted by Martiquez Latham.
On their third drive, facing third-and-24 at their own 13, Tigers quarterback Devon Olive completed a pass to Marcus “Deuce” Flowers Jr. at the 22, and Flowers ran to the 35, spun away from two would-be tacklers and raced for an 87-yard touchdown. The Tigers led 6-0 with 54 seconds in the first quarter.
A short punt set up the Oilers’ three-play, 42-yard scoring drive that saw quarterback Chase Craft run untouched for a 36-yard touchdown with 7:45 in the second quarter.
At 9:53 in the third act, the Oilers scored on a Craft to Alrekus Graves 54-yard TD, and at 5:02 on a 51-yard Craft to Lathaan Gavin TD. Kaden Porter ran in the conversion for a 20-6 lead.
At 11:49 in the fourth, Heidelberg was gifted a safety.
The Oilers scored on a 29-yard TD pass from Craft to Ja’kayden Moore. Craft hit Michael Martin for the conversion at 8:15 in the fourth.
Heidelberg closed scoring on a 3-yard TD pass from Craft to Moore on a drive kickstarted by a high snap on a punt attempt that gave the Oilers the ball at the CHS 9. Craft hit Martin for the conversion and 38-6 lead at 4:20.
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Olive hit 5-of-13 passes for 99 yards. Flowers had four catches for 95 yards and Brandon Henderson one for 4.
Flowers led CHS rushers with 26 carries for 89 yards, and with punt and kick returns he ended the game with 292 all-purpose yards and, no doubt, a bruised body.
"Deuce is a gritty player," Taylor said, when asked about his heavy workload on Saturday. "At halftime, he had to take some ibuprofen, but he's never going to let you think you're getting the best of him. He's going to grind it out and play hard-nosed football from the beginning until the end of the game."
Defensively, Charleston’s Lamarion Brown led the team with 11 tackles. Kameron Andrews had nine; Lemar Frost six with one sack; Latese Edwards six; and Carter, Demarion Johnson, Henderson, Aybekia Bradley and Latham four apiece.
For a deep dive into the statistics, visit the Mississippi High School Activities Association's Class 2A state championship game page.
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Taylor said that after the game, he thanked the CHS seniors for their contributions through the years.
"Those guys, for the last three years, have been division champs, north half champs and they've competed in the state championship game for the last three years of their career," he noted. "They were blessed to win one. So, the first thing was just to definitely congratulate them on a great career as well as thanking them for what they've done for Charleston football.
The coach said he then addressed the underclassmen.
“We spoke about the feeling we had at that moment and things that we needed to do going forward to, hopefully, not have that feeling again,” he noted. “That consisted of getting back in the weight room on Monday and doing the things that we need to do ... to prepare ourselves as best as possible to continue to have success.”
Taylor said the forward-leaning message to the team did not change much from last year's title-winning postgame remarks.
"Last year after we won it, it was the same message: We're in the weight room Monday," he noted. "That message didn't change this year. We just let them know that we've got to go back to work. Football is a 12-month grind, and you can't take time off besides the normal little breaks that you have."
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Despite the expected loss of some 15 seniors to graduation next May, Taylor said he feels good about the 2025 Tigers.
"Our junior class, which is going to be seniors, with Carter, Deuce, Olive, Lamar Frost, those kids have been special for us," Taylor noted. "When you look back at those guys, they will be going into their senior year, and the only thing that they know is state championship games. Since they were freshmen, they started and played in every state championship game."
The revolving door of high school students coming and going has an annual impact on the roster, but the coach said the team is familiar with the exercise.
“Every year, we're in the double digits of losing seniors. Every year, we just work with what we have to try to get us back to where we want to be, which means extra work with guys who possibly did not play the year before and now that is going to be on their shoulders,” said Taylor. “We’ve got to work with them, get them up to speed and help put them into a position to be able to step into those roles and keep Charleston football moving.”
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During pregame festivities, CHS defender Joseph Simmons was honored as the team’s scholar-athlete, an award presented to one player from each team before state title games.
Editor's note: This article has been expanded from the print edition version.
