By Robert Wilson
Third-year Germantown High head football coach Russell Mitchell has been a part of many successful offenses over the years, being an offensive coordinator or quarterback coach on seven state or national championship teams in his career, which spans more than two decades.
But with his starting quarterback King White going down with a leg injury in the first quarter, and one of his top wide receivers, Keyshaun Coleman, already out with a head injury from last week, Mitchell relied on a ball control offense and a stingy defense Friday night against Pearl.
The result was an 18-7 victory over Pearl in a battle of non-region, MHSAA Class 7A Metro Jackson teams Friday night before an estimated 6,200 at Pearl’s Ray Rogers Stadium.
Germantown improved to 4-1, just one win short of last year’s total and not even halfway through the season. The Mavericks defeated Pearl for the first time in school history after losing to the Pirates three previous times, including last year’s 44-28 decision at Germantown.
Pearl – which has played without starting quarterback Jack Durr all season (ACL injury this summer) – dropped to 2-3.
Mitchell knows how to win football games.
Mitchell was the quarterback coach at Pearl River Community College in 2004 when they won the national junior college championship. He was also the quarterback coach at Pearl River Community College for four consecutive state titles from 2003-2006. Mitchell was the offensive coordinator for Picayune High when they won the MHSAA Class 5A state title in 2011 and 2013. He was the offensive coordinator and assistant head coach on Oak Grove’s MHSAA Class 6A state title team in 2020. Mitchell was at Oak Grove for six seasons.
Now, he’s trying to bring a winner to Germantown, something the school hasn’t done since moving to the highest class in 2019, Class 6A, now Class 7A. This 4-1 start is the best since the 2014 team won its first six games.
Friday night, the Mavericks’ defense stood tall.
“(Defensive coordinator) Coach (Michael) Washington and our defensive staff put a great gameplan together, the kids believed in it, and played extremely hard all night,” Mitchell said. “I think the more determined team won the game. Our d-line, led by (6-foot-4, 254-pound junior) Jayden Gross and (6-foot, 256-pound junior) Dillion Travis, set the tone for us. I’m really proud of our team for finding a way to win an old school, hard-nosed football game.”
“Our kids played hard for all four quarters,” said Washington, a West Lauderdale High, Northwest Mississippi CC, and Mississippi College alumnus who has been at Germantown since 2021. “That is something that we have been pretty hard on them about, and they continued to give max effort in the game. Our defensive line and linebackers had a big night stopping the run, especially Jayden Gross at the defensive end position. Jayden finished the night with two blocked punts, a big-time sack and multiple tackles. Another group with an outstanding performance for us was the secondary. They did a really good job of eliminating big plays and covering a good wide receiver group. Mike Johnson had multiple pass breakups, along with Aaron Ferrell, Landon Brooks, and Branden Harris.”
Senior linebacker Banks Polk had a team-high 10 tackles. Ferrell, a junior defensive back, had 8 tackles. Sophomore linbacker Kelly McGeehee and Gross had six tackles each. Gross had three tackles for loss and one sack.
Gross blocked his first punt for a safety in the first quarter for a 2-0 Germantown lead. Then, senior running back Julian Slaughter scored on an 8-yard run for a 9-0 Germantown lead.
Pearl scored its only touchdown late in the first half (a 30-yard run by Marquel Lake) to close the gap to 9-7 at halftime.
After a scoreless third quarter, Germantown took a 16-7 lead when junior running back Lawson Branson scored on a 5-yard run with 9 minutes, 30 seconds to play in the game. The score was set up by a 39-yard pass play from backup quarterback Rhett Murphy to senior wide receiver and South Alabama commitment Trae Stevenson on third and 9 from the Pearl 44. Stevenson caught a perimeter wideout screen on the right side by the line of scrimmage and raced through several Pearl defenders for not only a first down, but almost a score.
Stevenson – a member of the Junction Deli/Mississippi Scoreboard Metro Jackson Preseason Elite 11 Team – caught four passes for 59 yards and the one TD Friday against Pearl. He now has caught 20 passes for 382 yards and four TDs this season. Stevenson set single season school records with 49 receptions for 869 yards and eight touchdowns last season as a junior.
“Trae does some special things when he gets the ball in his hands,” Mitchell said. “We did what we had to do on offense. It was tough sledding all night. Rhett Murphy stepped up for us and ran the offense. It was our first turnover free game of the year and we limited penalties. We started three sophomores on the offensive line, and they grew up last night.”
White, a junior transfer from Madison St. Joseph, came into the game with 842 passing yards and six TDs and for 248 rushing yards on 32 carries and three TDs. Coleman, also a junior transfer from St. Joe, has caught 16 passes for 192 yards and one TD.
First-year Pearl coach Patrick Schooler, who replaced Justin Hunter, wasn’t at full strength either. He was expecting Durr – passed for 2,361 yards and 16 TDs last season as a sophomore – to lead his team this season. Instead, Durr’s backup, senior Dylan Story, had played until he suffered a high ankle sprain against Warren Central three weeks ago. Pearl’s third-string quarterback, sophomore Peyton Parks, took Story’s place before Story returned to action Friday night.
“I was pleased with the effort and physicality of the guys,” said Schooler, who is in his 12th season as a head coach, three years at his alma mater Hatley and eight years at Neshoba Central. “In every game, it comes down to a handful of plays and last night they made some big plays, and we didn’t. The scoreboard didn’t say it, but I feel like we had our most complete game of the season on offense. We just couldn’t cross the goal line enough.”
Pearl, led by 6-2, 210-pound senior outside linebacker and Louisiana Tech commitment Kaleb Arterberry, limited Germantown to 183 total yards.
