The Columbia Wildcats (3-0) and the West Marion Trojans (2-1) pitched shutouts in lopsided victories Friday night, while Columbia Academy (0-5) lost a shootout and East Marion (0-3) dropped a high-scoring affair.
Columbia-31 Lawrence County-0
The Wildcats defense was incredible throughout and smothered a typically dominant Lawrence County ground game to give Columbia the 31-0 road victory.
Junior running back Omar Johnson, who recently was offered by Mississippi State, set the tone early for the Columbia offense with an impressive opening drive that he capped off with a powerful 4-yard touchdown. In the second quarter, Carter Smith connected with Josh Brown on a corner route for a 25-yard touchdown to give the Wildcats a 12-0 lead going into halftime.
The Smith-to-Brown connection linked up again to open the third quarter on a slot fade for a 24-yard touchdown that made it 18-0. Early in the fourth quarter, senior athlete Greg Fortenberry rumbled his way to a 36-yard run then punched it in the end zone from 6 yards out to make it 24-0. Smith capped off the scoring for the Wildcats with a 16-yard touchdown run following Jaheim Oatis recovering a fumble.
The Wildcats will return home for their first home game this season Friday night as they play host to East Marion for homecoming.
West Marion-42 Sumrall-0
It was all Trojans on the West side as they jumped on the Bobcats early and never looked back en route to a 42-0 victory.
The Trojans will look to keep the momentum rolling at home Friday when Vancleave travels to Foxworth.
Silliman Institute-40 Columbia Academy-28
The Cougars stayed within striking distance throughout but couldn’t overcome an early hole in a 40-28 home loss to the Wildcats.
CA will look to pick up its first win of the season Friday night as the Cougars travel to Hattiesburg to take on PCS.
Jefferson County-50 East Marion-22
While the Eagles scored their first points of the season in their third game of the year, it wasn’t enough in a 50-22 loss at Jefferson County.
East Marion will look to right the ship Friday night as it makes the short trek across town to face Columbia.
