Week 3 of the MHSAA football season was highlighted by a pair of statement wins for Marion County football teams. The Columbia Wildcats avenged their only loss from 2021 with a 20-16 victory over Petal, and East Marion drubbed North Forrest 41-0 on homecoming night while West Marion fell to 6A St. Martin 48-20.
COLUMBIA 20, PETAL 16
A year ago, on their way to their first state title in four decades, the Columbia Wildcats lost just one game — the opening of their brand new stadium in a 14-7 slugfest against Class 6A Petal. Columbia’s coaches and players will tell you they needed that early-season adversity to propel them to the promise land, but it’s highly unlikely they went into Friday night’s rematch at Petal not seeking revenge.
Revenge is precisely what they got as Columbia upended the 6A school 20-16 in a hostile environment in a game the Wildcats led for most of the night.
Despite previously being stuffed inside the 5-yard line on their previous drive, the Wildcats struck first on the first play of the second quarter. After quarterback Collin Haney, who arguably played the best game of his young career, broke free for a 43-yard run, Jalon Anderson muscled his way into the end zone from a yard out to give Columbia a 7-0 lead.
Petal immediately responded with quarterback Deljay Bailey tossing a 15-yard touchdown to Cayden Burger less than two minutes later. But midway through the second quarter, Petal muffed a punt moments after it started sprinkling to set up Columbia second score of the night.
Haney rolled out to his right and fired a strike to AJ Lewis in stride for an 18-yard touchdown, putting the Wildcats ahead 14-7 heading into the locker rooms.
To start the second half, the Panthers went deep into their bag of trips, recovering an onside kick then quickly trying and failing to fake a punt. But two plays after Columbia stuffed the fake punt, Haney scrambled to his right again and hit Kendale Johnson in stride on a deep ball for a 64-yard touchdown that made it 20-7 just under three minutes into the second half.
In the fourth quarter, Petal switched up its attack and started running the ball nearly every play, which the Wildcats didn’t have an answer for. Moments after Columbia running back Amarion Fortenberry was stripped, the Panthers made it a one-score game with a Corey Toole 22-yard touchdown run right through the heart of the Columbia defense, which made it 20-14 with 8:20 remaining.
Columbia tried its best to run out the clock with a long drive of its own, but a key third-down pass, which would have put the Wildcats in the red zone, was ruled incomplete as DJ Cloyd’s toe was just barely out of bounds as he came down with the ball.
That gave Petal the ball back with 4:33 to play, needing 89 yards and an extra point to win the game. The Panthers kept it on the ground and quickly drove into Columbia territory on nine straight runs until a holding call forced them into a passing situation. Bailey tossed a deep ball down the seam that was deflected and intercepted by Wildcats cornerback Jeremiah Tatum.
Columbia opted to kneel the ball, but Petal still had two timeouts remaining, forcing Columbia to line up to punt out of its own end zone with nine seconds remaining. Rather than risk having the punt blocked or Petal return it for a touchdown, Columbia had Haney take a knee in the end zone with five seconds left for a safety that made it 20-16.
Petal seemingly would have to return the ensuing kick back to win the game, but the Panthers instead opted to have their returner slide down with a second remaining to give them one last play with just one second on the clock. They tried to run a Hail Mary, but Bailey instead tried to run for the touchdown and was pushed out of bounds at the 30-yard line, ending the game.
Columbia (3-0) will head across the river Friday to take on rival West Marion (1-2) for the Marion County Football Championship.
EAST MARION 41, NORTH FORREST 0
The East Marion Eagles (1-2) grabbed the lead early against North Forrest and never looked back, storming their way to a 41-0 victory in Friday night's homecoming game. On the opening drive, senior running back Jadarrius Mallard stormed through a gap in the North Forrest defensive front and raced 62 yards for a touchdown, setting a tone that would remain in place until the final horn sounded.
Moments later, following a turnover on downs forced by the Eagles' defense, Christopher Magee pushed the ball across the goal line on a 1-yard touchdown run to extend the lead. After forcing another three-and-out on North Forrest's next drive, Malcolm Simmons scooped up a blocked punt and returned it to the house for East Marion's third score of the first quarter.
East Marion kept its foot on the gas in the second quarter, scoring on a 3-yard run by Ka'Ron Weary, a 55-yard touchdown pass from LJ Andrews to Magee and a 16-yard field goal by Kristian Day to take a 35-0 advantage into the locker room at halftime.
Eagles quarterback LJ Andrews takes off for a big gain against North Forrest Friday night. | Photo by Brad Crowe
The second half of action was short and sweet, with a running clock as a result of the Eagles' 35-point lead. Late in the third quarter, Mallard made his second trip to the end zone on a 60-yard run to cap off a huge performance for East Marion on both sides of the ball.
The Eagles will look to carry momentum from Friday's blowout into next week's road game against Jefferson County as they inch closer to the district portion of their schedule.
ST. MARTIN 48, WEST MARION 20
It was not a great night for the Trojans, who trailed 42-6 at halftime and ultimately fell 48-20 to St. Martin.
West Marion won't have much time to go back to the drawing board as it plays host to Columbia (3-0) Friday night for the Marion County Football Championship. While a lot has changed in a year, the Wildcats beat the Trojans 56-0 last season.
