Despite missing two of their best players in Omar Johnson and Jonathan Wiltz, who both left Columbia’s regular season finale with injuries, the Wildcats cruised to a 35-6 win over South Pike in the first round of the Class 4A playoffs Friday night.
The Wildcats (10-1) scored early and often, putting up five first-half touchdowns, and completely shut down South Pike’s offense to advance to the second round of the postseason. Head coach Chip Bilderback said it was a complete win for Columbia, who played well in all phases.
“We were without Omar and J-Prince (Wiltz), who we had to hold due to injuries, and everyone stepped from our O-line to Miguel Cook, Amarion Fortenberry and Kentrell (Jackson) doing a good job at running back to our defense playing really well,” he said. “Carter (Smith) played another good game. All in all, it was an overall great game for us.”
While the Wildcats were without two of their top running backs in Johnson and Wiltz, they did still have Miguel Cook, who had 520 rushing yards on 7.0 yards per carry and seven touchdowns going into the game. The explosive junior proved he’s more than capable of handling lead-back duties on the opening drive, breaking free for a 45-yard touchdown run to put the Wildcats up 6-0 less than two minutes into the game.
Columbia’s defense stuffed South Pike on the Eagles’ first possession to force a three-and-out and set up Columbia’s second first-quarter touchdown. Carter Smith, who is on pace to have the best completion percentage of any Marion County quarterback in the past decade, added to his stellar senior season with a 14-yard touchdown pass to Josh Brown, and Amarion Fortenberry made it 14-0 with the 2-point conversion.
Smith’s development as a passer this season has done wonders for Columbia’s offense. After compiling a 79.1 quarterback rating last season (per NFL standards), completing 50% of his passes for 527 yards, nine touchdowns and six interceptions, he’s raised his efficiency as a senior and currently has a 121.7 quarterback rating, completing 70% of his passes for 1,070 yards, 13 touchdowns and just three picks. Obviously, there have been a lot more big plays through the air, but what it’s also done is keep defenses from being able to load the box against Columbia’s vaunted rushing attack.
“Carter works extremely hard and really does a great job of making everyone around him better,” Bilderback said. “We’ve got some great targets to throw to — DJ Cloyd, Kendale Johnson, Josh Brown, Kentrell Jackson — those are great receivers to throw the ball to.”
Early in the second quarter, South Pike’s offense finally woke up and had the Eagles knocking on the door until Jaylon Anderson forced a fumble that Will McLendon scooped up to get the ball back for the Wildcats. Bilderback said Anderson has improved with every game this season, and you want guys like him on your defense that aren’t afraid of contact.
Kentrell Jackson then capped off a five-minute drive for Columbia with a 1-yard touchdown to put the home squad up 21-0 with four minutes to play in the first half.
Columbia forced another South Pike three-and-out and went up 28-0 with another long touchdown run. This time it was Fortenberry who took it to the house from 48 yards out, but the Wildcats weren’t done scoring in the first half.
South Pike was forced to punt with less than a minute to go in the second quarter, and Columbia managed to put together a 71-yard drive to extend its lead to 35-0 going into halftime. Smith connected with DJ Cloyd, who has emerged as the top big-play receiver in Marion County in recent weeks, for a 20-yard touchdown that had the Wildcats in complete control.
The second half flew by with a running clock and Columbia’s backups in, but South Pike did manage to get on the board. With two minutes to play, Derrick McNeil punched in a 2-yard touchdown to make the final score 35-6.
Columbia will play host to Bay (8-3) Friday night at 7 at Walter Payton Field. With a win over Bay, the Wildcats would play either North Pike (10-0) or Newton County (5-6) in the third round with a trip to the South State Championship on the line.
