Chase Short isn’t really a talker.

But when the lights burn bright on Friday nights, the Straughn senior quarterback takes charge on the field, yielding his voice in a commanding way.

This was evident last week when Short helped score 10 of the Tigers’ 17 points over Midfield in the third round of the Class 3A state playoffs. His 2-yard touchdown run and 36-yard field goal were good enough to earn The Star-News’ Player of the Week honors. This is the senior’s second time to win the weekly award.

Short said team’s game plan last week was the same as it is every week.

“Offensively, we knew we just had to do what we’ve done all year — that’s just pound the ball,” he said. “Defensively, we knew they had some athletes on offense. We knew we had to stop them.

“We had to minimize their big plays and we had to drive them down the field and not let one play hurt us,” he said.

During the second-round playoff game against Trinity, Short injured his toe, which turned out to be turf toe.

Short had to wear a metal plate in his game shoe and taped it up so he could run.

On the field goal try in the third quarter, Short said the distance was shorter than the one he kicked right before halftime against W.S. Neal.

“I had confidence knowing that if my coach thought I could make it, then I knew that I could,” he said.

Straughn will host Fayette County on Friday night for semifinals, and Short said the players’ aim is to not get too excited, treating it as if it were another game.

“Everybody here at the school knows what’s at stake,” he said. “They know what we’re playing for.”

Even though Short shines as a quarterback, he also plays at safety on defense.

FCHS has a good duo in quarterback Marcellus Redmond and wide receivers Jetevin Madison and Jatrae Madison.

Short said the Madisons are quite the athletes.

“They have two good wide receivers and a quarterback who can throw the ball right where it needs to be,” he said. “He’s (Redmond) pretty good. They’ll go up and get it.”

Short said his game plan for this week is to play better than he did the week before and “minimize on mistakes.”

“I want to be more of an encourager than a downer,” Short said. “Most of all, I just want to make sure I let the team know that I’ve got their back when something happens.”

Most importantly, Short said his driving force late during games is the knowledge that there may not be another game.

“We don’t know if we’ve got an extra game until the final buzzer blows and if we come out on top,” he said.