While Columbia needed its special teams to give it a boost last week to eke out a 20-14 win over Forrest County AHS, the Wildcats dominated from end to end Friday night at Purvis, besting the Tornadoes in a 40-14 game where the final score could’ve been much worse for the Tornadoes.
Columbia (7-1, 3-0) had a couple of touchdowns brought back because of penalties and another on a questionable call at the goal line, and both of Purvis’ scores were against the Wildcats’ backups in the fourth quarter. Head coach Chip Bilderback said his squad responded exactly the way he was hoping following the close win over the Aggies.
“We challenged them to bring energy, and I thought they did that,” he said. “On offense, we played really well, but we just have to clean up a few penalties. Defensively, we took it to them. We wanted to be the more physical team and impose our will, and I feel like we really did that.”
On the first play from scrimmage for Purvis, quarterback Joseph Parker rolled to his left then tried to hit a post over the middle that Columbia free safety Naji Cain read perfectly and was able to jump the route for an interception that gave the Wildcats first-and-goal. As impressive as the play was by Cain, it wouldn’t have happened without Mac McDaniel taking away the primary read in the flat, which forced Parker to throw across his body over the middle of the field.
That led to Jalon Anderson putting the Wildcats on the board, scoring easily from 14 yards out on an outside zone.
After senior Wildcats defensive end Jashawn Barnes forced a punt by batting a pass down on third down, Jeremiah Foxworth gave Columbia great field position at the Purvis 28-yard line with a long punt return. But it would be for naught as a near touchdown for the Wildcats turned into Purvis having the ball at the Columbia 24. Quarterback Collin Haney connected with Kendale Johnson on a post, and Johnson fought his way through two defenders, but just as he was about to cross the goal line, the ball was stripped and returned 75 yards by the Tornadoes. It took only two plays for the Wildcats to end the threat as Barnes fell on a fumbled handoff.
Late in the opening quarter, Amarion Fortenberry extended Columbia’s lead to two scores, stiff-arming his way through a pair of arm tackles and accelerating through the heart of the Purvis defense for a 36-yard touchdown. Luke Davis drilled the extra point to make it 14-0 with 23 seconds to go in the first quarter.
On the first play of the second quarter, this time it was McDaniel who was the beneficiary of another Wildcat defender making a play. Parker was chased out of the pocket by Andre Ruffin, and he once again made the ill-advised decision to throw across his body to the middle of the field. Anderson broke up the pass, which deflected into the waiting arms of McDaniel, who juked a receiver and returned the interception 40 yards to pay dirt.
A year ago when the Wildcats took home the Class 4A title, their entire starting lineup was made up of juniors and seniors except for Fortenberry, who was a sophomore. No freshman sniffed the field, let alone started from day one like McDaniel has.
“He’s gotten better every game. We’ve seen a lot of growth when we went from Wing T to Wing T from JDC to the next time we saw it against Forrest County (AHS), so I was really happy with that. Every week he’s gotten better, and he made a great interception himself,” Bilderback said. “Mac doesn’t play like a freshman at all.”
It took just one play for the Wildcats to go up 27-0 on their next possession. Senior running back Miguel Cook, who has been itching to find a seam to run through since returning from Texas, finally found some daylight around the left side and took off for a 56-yard touchdown.
“Miguel does a great job when he gets to the corner with his speed to separate from other people, and we saw that again Friday night. I think we’ve got three really good backs with Amarion, Jaylon and Miguel,” Bilderback said.
What often goes unnoticed is the downfield blocking by wide receivers, but Bilderback said Columbia’s receivers did a great job springing all of its long runs.
“I thought our receivers really bought in to blocking this week,” he said.
Late in the first half, Haney and Aj Lewis made it a five-possession game, connecting on a 9-yard touchdown on a slant.
Isiah Foxworth recovered a fumbled handoff midway through the third quarter to give the Wildcats great field position at the Purvis 18. Three plays later, Caymen Watts made a man miss in the hole and walked into the end zone from 5 yards out to put Columbia up 40-0.
Purvis added a pair of fourth-quarter touchdowns against Columbia’s JV defense, which led to the final 40-14 score.
While the Wildcats returned a pair of multi-year starters on the offensive line (Eli Lowery at center and Landon Fillingame at left guard), they have broken in three brand new starters in 2022. Ethan Morris played a big role last season as a blocking H-back, but he’s grown into a great right tackle as a senior, while Mashun Anderson has solidified the left tackle spot and Rashod Norris has grown into a quality right guard.
“I’ve been really pleased with the growth and maturity of those guys,” Bilderback said. “It’s definitely been a challenge, and we’ve played some tough games from Mendenhall to Petal to JDC, so we haven’t had any ‘gimmes’ up front. Every week the fronts we’ve played have been very strong in there, so they’ve had to step up and have done a good job for us.”
That growth showed in spades Friday as the Wildcats averaged 9.9 yards per carry when the starters were in the game.
Next up for the Wildcats is arguably the game of the year in Class 4A. Columbia will play host to Poplarville (7-1, 3-0) in a matchup that will likely determine the Region 7-4A championship and home-field advantage in the playoffs.
A year ago, Columbia dominated Poplarville on the road in the regular season, beating the Hornets 27-3. But when the two squads met in the South State Championship, Poplarville gave the Wildcats all they could handle as Columbia won 12-7.
The two teams once again appear equally matched, which should produce a barn burner that will be decided in the fourth quarter. Kickoff is at 7 p.m. at Walter Payton Field at Gardner Stadium.
