Football returned to Marion County Friday night with Columbia Academy playing host to bitter rival Simpson Academy, but Simpson got the better of the hometown squad in a 39-12 shellacking.
CA head coach Randy Butler said the Cougars were playing a bunch of young players who have little varsity playing time, and he hopes they will learn a lot from the loss to their biggest rival.
“You improve the most from the first to the second game, and we’ve got a lot of that to do,” he said.
Despite a failed onside kick to begin the game, it couldn’t have started off any better for the Cougars. Simpson Academy started its drive at CA’s 43 and got to first-and-goal at the CA 8-yard line within a few plays. But the Cougars defense stopped Simpson on four straight plays, including a great pass breakup in the end zone by Trey Stringer on third down and Kris Ginn forcing a fumble recovered by Jacob Reid on fourth down.
CA's Trey Stringer breaks up a pass.
Then on CA’s second play of its opening drive, sophomore running back Preston Sauls accelerated through a huge hole up the gut, turned on the burners and raced for a 90-yard touchdown to put CA up 6-0 less than four minutes into the game.
However, it didn’t take long for Simpson to throw a counterpunch and take control of the game. Following a long catch-and-run, Aubren Kennedy tied it up with an 8-yard touchdown run. Then after a three-and-out, a bad snap on CA’s punt set up Simpson on CA’s 26. A few plays later, Kennedy was in the end zone again, scoring from 2 yards out to make it 12-6.
Making his first start, Cougars freshman quarterback Cole Fortenberry was sacked and stripped on the ensuing possession, leading to a 15-yard touchdown run by Simpson’s Andrew Smith to make it 19-6 just before the end of the first quarter. Fortenberry completed the first pass of his prep career on the first play of the following drive, a 26-yard strike to Robert Johnson on a run-pass option, but he was intercepted three plays later attempting to fit a deep ball in to Johnson in double coverage.
CA's Cole Fortenberry rolls outside the pocket.
Simpson continued to pile on, scoring two more touchdowns in the first half, including a 46-yard reception by Caden Coulson and a 4-yard run by Kennedy, to make it 33-6. The Cougars had a chance to score right before halftime thanks to a long kick return by Johnson, but a pass in the end zone from Fortenberry to Johnson was tipped at the last moment on fourth down.
Kennedy opened the scoring in the second half, scampering 46 yards to pay dirt on Simpson’s first play of the half and increasing the lead to 39-6. Ginn replaced Fortenberry under center to open CA’s second drive of the half, and it took until the fourth quarter for the switch to pay dividends.
With CA at midfield, Ginn faked a handoff to Sauls on a read option, captured the edge and blazed down the sideline for a 50-yard touchdown. The Cougars failed on the two-point conversion attempt, and with a running clock in effect they never got the ball back.
Offensively, Butler said Sauls ran the ball well, but the Cougars missed some chances and reads in the passing game that would’ve kept drives going and the ball away from Simpson. He added some of that is to be expected when playing two quarterbacks who had never taken a varsity snap at quarterback. Butler said he plans for both of them to take snaps as the signal caller at Adams County Christian Friday night, but he also expects Ginn to factor in elsewhere in the backfield.
“They’re both going to practice this week at quarterback, and you might see (Ginn) a little bit more. We’ll also going to work him a little bit at tailback,” he explained. “We have to get the ball more to Preston, but he’s also playing safety. Kris showed his running ability on that zone read (50-yard touchdown) so we’re going to work him some at tailback this week.”
While CA rushed for 194 yards against Simpson, 140 of those yards came on just two plays. The other 16 carries gained just 54 yards (3.4 yards per carry), and Butler said it’s part of the growing pains.
“On the offensive line, we’re not real big. When you’re playing somebody as big and physical as Simpson, you’re going to take some lumps,” he said.
On the other side of the ball, Butler said the Cougars need to be more physical at the line of scrimmage and learn gap responsibility. They do have some big-time help on the way with transfer Jeremiah Haynes set to make his CA debut against Adams Friday. The 6-foot-2, 315-pound defensive tackle, who has several junior college scholarship offers, hadn’t been enrolled in school long enough to play in the opener but is ready to help the Cougars.
“He’ll give us a big, big lift and give us another number and a big body,” Butler said. “We’re going to need him this Friday.”
Although Adams lost its opener to St. Joseph’s 50-20, Butler said it was a weird game with turnovers and penalties that skewed the final score to not be indicative of the talent levels of the two teams.
“I don’t think St. Joseph’s is any better than Adams,” he said. “(Adams) is like a two-headed monster on offense. They spread you out and throw verts or run quarterback draw. Then they can get in a heavy set like they ran against us last year where they line up three people in the backfield, and you know where they’re going to run, but it’s just a matter of stopping them.”
Butler added that while being prepared for all of Adams’ looks is key, CA’s progression will come from in house.
“We got to get back to the drawing board, try to keep them up and try to get a little bit better,” he said.
Kickoff in Natchez Friday is scheduled for 7 p.m.
