Despite playing on a wet field and having to overcome a lightning delay, the Columbia Wildcats rebounded from their loss to West Marion last week in spades Friday night to beat Seminary 33-0 on the road.
Head coach Chip Bilderback said the Wildcats (6-1, 3-1) had a great week of practice, and he really liked how they responded following their first loss of the season.
“It showed Friday night,” he said. “Our kids played well in all phases of the game, on offense, defense and special teams.”
He added, though, that the West Marion loss really had no bearing on the Wildcats’ motivation because they never really need a boost to get up for a district game, especially when a playoff berth is on the line.
“Every week our guys are excited to play football, regardless of who we are playing. I think it was more or less we get to play football again in a weird season so we’re just going to get out there and get after it. Our challenge was we wanted to play a complete game, and our kids did that,” he said.
Columbia controlled the line of scrimmage offensively, rushing for 323 yards and five touchdowns on just 32 carries (10.1 yards per carry). Omar Johnson, Josh Brown and Jonathan Wiltz each rushed for at least 90 yards, and quarterback Carter Smith completed both of his passes.
Defensively, Bilderback said the Wildcats flew around to the football and were very physical to limit the Seminary rushing attack. He added Wiltz and Johnson played extremely well at linebacker.
Next up for the Wildcats is a home showdown with undefeated Magee (6-0, 4-0), who is ranked the No. 1 team in Class 3A currently. Bilderback said the Wildcats are excited for the opportunity, and it’s going to be a fun atmosphere. A Columbia victory would force a three-way tie for first place in Region 8-3A between the Wildcats, Magee and West Marion if the Trojans beat Seminary as well.
“We’re not here by accident; we’re here because we worked our butts off for 10 months. It’s our district championship. We’re going to prepare like we always do, get out there and give it a run. I think it’s going to be a great high school football game,” the third-year coach said. “That’s what you kind of always wish for, going into the last regular season game playing for the district championship, and really the last three years have been that way.”
Bilderback added it’s going to be a tough challenge for Columbia’s defense slowing down Ole Miss commit Chandler Pittman and UCF commit Xavier Franks, and he believes the Wildcats offense will have to control the ball to shorten the game and keep the Magee offense off the field. Pittman makes just as many plays with his legs as he does with his arm between designed quarterback runs and scrambles, and Bilderback said Columbia will employ a spy to try to limit his effectiveness on the ground at times.
“Everyone has to be aware of him at all times. When you blitz him and put pressure on him, everything is built to contain him and not let him get outside and break contain,” he said. “We will have someone who spies him, but we’ll also try to make sure we keep him bottled up. It’s going to be important we get a push up the middle and our defensive ends do a great job of keeping him inside.”
The Wildcats beat Magee twice last year — 24-14 in the regular season and 35-0 in the playoffs, but they graduated more than half of their starters and sent seven of them to the college ranks. Magee, meanwhile, retained most of its starters and has played like the team to beat this season.
