For the second year in a row, the Wildcats are heading to the South State championship despite Columbia being in its first year in Class 4A. The Wildcats made the two-hour trek to Decatur Friday night and braved the near-freezing temperatures and a feisty Newton County team to win 41-25 in the third round of the playoffs.
The Wildcats (12-1) got all they could handle from the Cougars (6-7) but made more game-changing plays — despite committing a season-high 16 penalties — when it mattered to most.
Columbia will return to Walter Payton Field this Friday night to take on Poplarville (11-2) in a rematch of the Wildcats’ 27-3 road win over the Hornets in late October.
While the Wildcats beat up Poplarville the first time around, they know how difficult it is to beat a team twice after their experiences with Jeff Davis County and Magee the past three years. And Poplarville knows what it takes to win big games as the Hornets have won four of the past five 4A South State titles and three in a row.
With a win over Poplarville this week, the Wildcats would advance to the 4A title game against either Caledonia (11-2) or Senatobia (12-2) on Dec. 4 at Southern Miss.
Columbia blew out its last three opponents, and head coach Chip Bilderback said it was good for the Wildcats to be involved in a four-quarter battle heading into the championship rounds.
“We needed to play four quarters,” he said. “When you’re in the third round of the playoffs, you should be getting some battles. They were a solid football team and well coached, and that’s what you expect this late in the year. Everyone is here for a reason. I’m definitely proud of our kids’ resolve, but we know we need to keep on pushing. Our goal wasn’t just to make it to South State. Our goal now, as it has been all along, is to win a championship.”
Beyond Newton County proving to be far better than its record, the Wildcats had to deal with an entirely different type of battle Friday — the injury bug. Both Omar Johnson and Jonathan Wiltz have missed playoff games but gave it a go against the Cougars. Johnson seemed slightly hampered by a lingering ankle injury but was still better than just about everyone on the field, even at 80-90%. Wiltz tried to brave through playing with a torn ACL with a brace on but ultimately had to sit out the second half. On top of those injuries, Josh Brown, who leads Marion County in receptions, suffered an AC joint sprain in his shoulder that kept him out on offense, but he continued to play on defense when Columbia went to its nickel package.
“We’re in like Week 17 of actual football practices, so I think everyone battles that, but this group really is purpose driven to win a championship. They’re not going to let the dings hold them back. It’s encouraging and great for everyone see, and it inspires everyone around them,” Bilderback said. “In Week 17 of a physical season, you shouldn’t be feeling perfect. You’re going to be banged up, especially with the schedule that we’ve had.”
It didn’t take long for the Columbia offense to get going, especially the ground game led by running back Omar Johnson. Two plays after Carter Smith connected with Peyton Anderson for 17 yards and the Wildcats got 15 more with a roughing the passer penalty, Johnson burst through a huge hole up the middle for a 17-yard touchdown to put Columbia up 7-0 less than three minutes into the game.
But Newton County’s offense was rolling on its opening drive as well, pushing all the right buttons to march down to the Columbia 6-yard line. However, a 15-yard unsportsmanlike conduct penalty forced the Cougars to settle for a 32-yard field goal that nailed the right upright and barely fell through the goalposts to cut the Columbia lead to 7-3.
With just under three minutes to play in the first quarter, the Wildcats faced a crucial fourth-and-2 from the Newton County 17. They lined up in a jumbo package and defensive tackle Jaheim Oatis, who was in the game as an H-back, blew up a linebacker in the hole and allowed Johnson to scamper for another 17-yard score that made it 14-3.
Both defense stood firm for much of the second quarter, including Oatis blowing up a run play in the backfield to force a fumble, until Newton County’s second successful fake punt cost the Wildcats. After Oatis and Isaiah Bolton had back-to-back tackles for loss, the Cougars ran a fake punt that Tylan McNichols took 44 yards to the house. Despite Columbia seemingly outplaying Newton County for much of the first half, the Wildcats led just 14-10 going into halftime.
A week after the Wildcats ran just 25 plays against Bay, Columbia ran 32 plays in the first half alone as Newton County didn’t let anything come easy. But that changed early in the third quarter.
After Isaiah Bolton forced a fumble that was recovered by Amarion Fortenberry on the opening kickoff of the second half, Johnson ran it six straight times totaling 27 yards and punched it in the end zone for his third touchdown from 2 yards out to put the Wildcats up 21-10.
The Cougars immediately countered as Colin Crowder caught a short pass from quarterback Greyson Hale, broke a tackle and took off down the sideline for a 78-yard touchdown to cut the Columbia lead down to four with 8:03 remaining in the third quarter.
But then the Wildcats truly started to run away with it. On the first play of the ensuing drive, Smith rolled out to his right and was nearing out of bounds when he launched an off-balance throw off one foot that may have been the best throw of his career. He hit DJ Cloyd in stride on a deep crosser about 35 yards downfield, and Cloyd broke a tackle and made a house call for an 80-yard touchdown to make it 27-17. The ball placement on Smith’s throw was perfect — with a defender on Cloyd’s back hip, Smith placed the ball high and outside to where only Cloyd can get it and allowing Cloyd to snag it without breaking stride.
After getting into Columbia territory, the Cougars faced a fourth-and-long and showed they were going to try to pull off a third successful fake punt. When they motioned, though, Bilderback called a timeout to prepare his defense. Columbia’s CJ Magee read it the whole way and laid the lumber for a huge hit to stop Newton County well short of a first down.
Although a block in the back derailed a promising drive for the Wildcats, Magee gave Columbia’s offense another shot at extending the lead. Magee undercut a pass from Hale over the middle and returned the interception to the Cougars’ 24. With Columbia facing a fourth-and-1, Johnson punched in his fourth score of the game from 3 yards out then ran in the 2-point conversion to extend Columbia’s lead to 35-17 with 8:11 to play in the fourth quarter.
Bilderback said football is a game of momentum, and both teams are always fighting for it. To get the momentum on their side, like they did with Cloyd’s long touchdown and Magee’s two stellar plays, the Wildcats always make it a point to try and win every snap, according to Bilderback.
“If you have that mindset, I think it really helps because no one’s perfect. You’re going to lose some snaps, but you keep on fighting,” he said. “We have a lot of explosive football players on our team, so I think that helps. If you keep on giving opportunities to them, they’re going to make a play.”
Defensive end Isiah Foxworth, who had a sack earlier in the first half, capped off one of his best performances of the season with a fumble recovery that led to another Columbia touchdown. With Johnson already having four touchdowns, it was Miguel Cook’s turn to get in on the fun, carrying the ball three times for 35 yards and bullying his way into the end zone for a 2-yard score that made it 41-17.
Newton County didn’t go down without a fight though. The Cougars put together a 55-yard drive in just over a minute that Devyon May capped with a 2-yard touchdown and trimmed the Wildcats lead to 41-25 with 5:15 remaining. Down 16 points and needing to steal a possession, the Cougars tried an onside kick and recovered it.
Despite the Cougars having new life and all the momentum, the Wildcats defense stepped up to force a quick turnover on downs. Columbia’s ground game chewed up most of the time remaining to preserve the win.
Kickoff at Gardner Stadium against Poplarville Friday night is at 7.
