By Robert Wilson
Starkville senior quarterback Luke Altmyer came into Friday night’s matchup with Clinton with all the attention, being ranked as the third pro-style quarterback in Mississippi, 13th best in the country and verbally committed to Florida State.
But after the game Clinton senior quarterback Caleb Miller had the headlines, a big win, a region championship and a home game in this week’s Class 6A first round of the playoffs.
Miller ran 18 times for 108 yards and three touchdowns and completed 10 of 16 passes for 174 yards and one TD to lead Clinton to a 35-7 Class 6A, Region 2 victory over Starkville, knocking the Yellow Jackets out of the playoffs and ending Altmyer’s high school career.
For his outstanding performance, Miller has been named the Junction Deli/Mississippi Scoreboard Metro Jackson Football Player of the Week for the second time this season.
The 5-foot-10, 180-pound Miller scored on a 1-yard run, completed a 46-yard TD pass to Michael Hughes and ran for a 5-yard score for a 21-0 lead at half. Miller added another 1-yard TD run with 7 minutes to play for a 28-7 lead.
Miller completed 9 of 14 passes for 129 yards and two TDs and ran 16 times for 73 yards and one TD to lead Clinton to a 24-21 6A-Region 2 victory over South Panola Oct. 2 at Clinton when he won his first Player of the Week honor. South Panola came in as one of the state’s best 6A teams and had won 15 of the last 17 games.
“Caleb has been laser focused and competing at a high level for the past five weeks,” Clinton coach Judd Boswell said. “I’m very proud of the way he is performing and his leadership.”
Miller has completed 72 of 114 passes (63.1 percent) for 947 yards and 14 TDs with only three interceptions and ran 109 times for 569 yards (5.2 yards per carry) and eight TDs this season.
Clinton, 9-2, plays host to Horn Lake, 5-4 and the No. 4 seed from 6A-Region, Friday at 7 p.m. in the first round of the 6A playoffs at Clinton. This is the most wins for the Arrows since All-American quarterback Cam Akers led Clinton to a 14-1 season and the 6A championship in 2016
