In a bit of lopsided matchup, Columbia Academy’s season came to an end Friday night on the road as the Cougars fell 50-12 to Tri-County Academy.
The Cougars (3-9) couldn’t get much going offensively in the first half and were unable to stop the Rebels’ physical ground game defensively.
“We struggled with their defensive front and couldn’t handle their physicality. It was our first taste of the playoffs. When things didn’t go well those first couple of series, I think we got the deer in the headlights again. The stage was kind of big, and we just have to get that playoff experience,” CA head coach TC Chambliss said. “I tried to downplay it with the kids to just treat it like another game, but in the end, the playoffs are different. They’re supposed to be different. They’re played by teams that are supposed to be there. We fought and earned our way to be there, but we just have to get used to being there.”
The Cougars are only losing four seniors, so the majority of their starters next season will have playoff experience.
On the opening drive of the game, Tri-County imposed its will with its ground game, consistently blowing the Cougars off the ball and delivering punishing hits at the end of runs. Trace Dearman capped it off with a 13-yard scamper, and he ran in the 2-point conversion to make it 8-0. After a CA three-and-out, Dearman did it again, scoring on a 3-yard run and running in the conversion.
To begin the second quarter, the Cougars were facing a fourth-and-inches from their own 14. Knowing the Cougars would need to steal a possession or two, Chambliss gambled by going for it, but CA was stuffed.
Zac Clark then extended the Rebels’ lead to 22-0 with 10:24 remaining in the second quarter with a 1-yard touchdown run.
CA’s offense finally responded with a little (illegal) trickery to get into the end zone. They ran a double pass with Kris Ginn connecting with Holton Hartzog for a 55-yard gain down to the Tri-County 1-yard line. Quarterback Cole Fortenberry’s pass to Ginn definitely traveled forward, which should have drawn a flag because you can’t throw two forward passes on the same play, but the refs missed it and let it count. Hartzog nearly scored on the play but was ruled down short of the end zone after trying to dive in. He made up for it, though, on the next play, tossing up a high pass to Fortenberry, who snagged it with one hand for the touchdown.
“Cole made a heck of a catch. He’s a great athlete. If he wasn’t our quarterback, he would be one of our better wide receivers,” Chambliss said.
The Cougars forced the Rebels into a fourth-and-19 and could’ve captured all the momentum with a stop, but Dearman made a nice, twisting grab for a 22-yard touchdown instead to make it 28-6 midway through the second quarter. Ty Milner made it a 36-6 game with just over three minutes to play in the first half with a 22-yard touchdown on a jet sweep. Dearman punched in one more touchdown before halftime from a yard out to extend the Rebels’ lead to 42-6.
Tri-County’s lead ballooned to 50-6 on CA’s opening drive of the second half as Fortenberry was picked off, and the Rebels returned it for a touchdown.
In the fourth quarter, following a Preston Sauls 21-yard run, Jacob Reid found pay dirt for the Cougars on a 2-yard run up the middle to make it 50-12, which proved to be the final score.
CA is graduating its two starting linebackers in Reid and Sam Mitchell, as well as Ginn and Noah Branch, who was the starting left tackle before going out for the year with a knee injury.
“Those are guys you don’t replace,” Chambliss said. “It’s going to take more than two guys to replace the leadership and tackles that Sam Mitchell and Reid gave our defense. Sometimes it’s almost not human that they’re able to be in so many places at once. They’ve taught some guys and have been great with our young guys, showing them the ropes and how to work.
“Branch has missed a lot, but he was a big part of our offseason program, showing guys how to work, how to lift. He gained like 30 pounds. He was a rock solid lineman for us early in the season, and he’s going to be a guy we miss in the locker room.
“I can’t say enough about Ginn. He’s been it from day one. He’s a leader in the locker room and a leader on the field. I’ve stuck him everywhere you can stick a football player — I’ve stuck him on the line, punting, kicking, quarterback, receiver, running back, you name it. There’s literally not one thing he hasn’t done for this team. He’s played hurt, he’s played banged up and he’s just irreplaceable. I hope he gets the chance to play at the next level, and I think he will.”
He added he hopes and prays that the coaching staff is training the younger guys to be like those four seniors because they can’t be replaced one for one.
In Chambliss’ first year, the Cougars rebounded from a winless season last year to earning three victories and making the playoffs. Going forward, he said the sky is the limit for what the Cougars can accomplish.
“We’re super optimistic. We have nothing but reason after reason to be hopeful about the future and be even more competitive moving forward,” he said. “The next step is to have a winning season and shoot to win the division, so we can host one next year and get that bye week next year.”
