Since starting the season with a blowout win and back-to-back one-possession losses, the Cougars have been on a streak no team wants to be a part of. Columbia Academy had lost each of its past four games by at least 23 points, and with a talented team like Centreville Academy visiting Friday night, it was highly possible that streak would reach five.
But the Cougars (1-7) refused to let that happen on their homecoming night and arguably played their best game of the season despite falling to the Tigers 26-18.
CA head coach TC Chambliss said the Cougars stepped up, and all of their progression this season came to a head on the field against Centreville.
“That’s what I was looking for,” he said. “We just fell a little bit short. The mistakes we’ve had that we needed to limit, we limited. We just didn’t limit enough of them. But it’s coming.”
It looked like the Cougars would lose by a significant margin once again as they trailed by 14 points early in the second quarter, but they rallied to put up 12 unanswered points and only allowed six the rest of the way. Chambliss said it was encouraging the way the Cougars battled back instead of letting the game get away from them.
“They could’ve looked up at the scoreboard and said, ‘Man, here we go again.’ But they didn’t. They said, ‘Let’s fix this. Let’s get our heads on right and get back in this thing.’ The defense started laying the wood and standing their ground,” he said. “The offense started clicking a little bit like I knew was coming.”
After converting a key fourth-and-3 on the opening drive of the game, Centreville’s ground game started picking up big chunks until Jaden Morris walked in for a 3-yard touchdown to put the Tigers up 6-0.
A big sack on third down backed the Cougars way back in their own end and forced a punt that gave the Tigers the ball at the CA 38. On the next play, a blown coverage assignment allowed Centreville’s Peyton Jones to hit a wide open Caleb Kinabrew for a touchdown. Cougars free safety Dillon Rowley jumped an out route and left the deep middle of the field uncovered, allowing the Tigers to go up 12-0.
On the ensuing drive, back-to-back big plays by Carter Rowell set up CA’s first score of the game. It was a beautiful play design out of a full house pistol formation. Quarterback Cole Fortenberry faked a handoff to deep back Preston Sauls then reverse pivoted to hand it to Kris Ginn going outside the other way. Ginn did the rest from there, making five defenders miss with a series of jukes on his way to pay dirt from 15 yards out. Centreville sniffed out the 2-point conversion to keep it at 12-6.
The Cougars had a chance for a goal line stand after the Tigers methodically drove down to the 2-yard line. But on fourth-and-goal, Tigers fullback Ace Sellers punched it in to put Centreville up 20-6 early in the second quarter.
Over the past month, this was the type of position, down two touchdowns early, the Cougars found themselves in before the wheels completely came flying off. But this time around, the Cougars manned up and refused to bow down to the potential bully.
Late in the second quarter, the Tigers were in CA territory again and facing a third-and-11. Jones thought he was going to pick up a key first down with a receiver coming open over the middle on a post route. But Rowley, making up for his crucial mistake earlier, read it the whole way, broke on the pass and delivered a big hit to force an incompletion and a punt. Rowley’s hit energized the crowd and the entire CA sideline and was the turning point in the game.
Sauls ripped off a 20-yard run down the sideline before Fortenberry connected with a streaking Eli Beard for a 35-yard completion and scrambled for a 7-yard touchdown. Sauls was stuffed on the 2-point conversion, but the Cougars managed to make it a one-possession game, 20-12, going into halftime.
Behind strong running by Sauls and Ginn, the Cougars opened the second half with a long drive that took five minutes off the clock. In the red zone, Fortenberry found Beard on a scramble drill for an impressive 13-yard completion down to the 1, setting up a touchdown plunge by Ginn. The Cougars were once again stuffed on the conversion, though, making the deficit 20-18.
Chambliss said CA has to improve on its conversions until the Cougars can develop a kicker that can consistently make extra points. He said they are leaving far too many points on the board.
After forcing a punt, CA was marching again with a chance to take the lead, but a holding call practically derailed the drive. A 10-yard run by Sauls, though, gave the Cougars a chance to keep it going as they faced a manageable fourth-and-7, but Sauls was stopped just shy on a 6-yard carry.
Three straight runs of more than 10 yards jumpstarted the Tigers offense, which had not scored in nearly three quarters, and led to a 3-yard Tucker Lobrano touchdown. The Cougars managed to stop the 2-point conversion, though, keeping it a one-score game at 26-18 with the majority of the fourth quarter left to be played.
The Cougars got two cracks at a potential game-tying touchdown in the fourth quarter, but both opportunities were ruined by crucial mistakes. The first drive came to a halt when Fortenberry was called for intentional grounding after retreating nearly 30 yards while trying to scramble. On its last drive of the game, CA reached the Tigers 41 after Ginn took a dump-off pass 33 yards. But on the next play, the CA offensive line didn’t pick up a blitz from the middle linebacker, who sprinted through the A-gap practically untouched to drop Sauls for a 7-yard loss. The Cougars were unable to recover to pick up a first down.
Chambliss said once the CA defense realized the Tigers primarily wanted to run the ball, the Cougars were able to play fast and physical to keep it close.
The Cougars move on to one of their biggest rivals Friday night when they visit Simpson Academy. Kickoff is at 7 p.m.
