The Columbia Wildcats’ undefeated season came to a screeching halt Friday night in the south state championship as Jeff Davis County upended the Wildcats 27-7 on Columbia’s home field.
Jeff Davis (9-5) was able to shut down what Columbia (13-1) does best while playing mistake-free football to stun the Wildcats. While the Wildcats didn’t achieve their ultimate goal of winning a state title, head coach Chip Bilderback said there’s still a lot to be proud of from winning Region 8-3A and the Marion County title to overcoming adversity together.
“It’s really more about the journey and who our players become as opposed to the end destination of where we end up. Yeah our goal was to end up at The Rock, but I think as a whole we’ve tried to become better people and in that process became better football players,” he said.
Bilderback added that the Wildcats have been hunted as the team to beat all season long, and he believes they handled it as well as possible.
“It’s hard to be ranked preseason No. 1 and maintain that the whole year. It’s hard to play a high level of football for that long. I thought our kids handled that really well and stayed hungry,” he said. “In the end it was going to take a really good football team to knock us off, and that’s what it was.”
Jeff Davis jumped on Columbia early in the first quarter Friday with Deandre Shorts racing 48 yards untouched for a touchdown to put the Jaguars up 6-0 on their first drive. The Wildcats responded with a long drive of their own and got inside the Jeff Davis 10, but Josh Brown was stuffed on a fourth-down run for a turnover on downs.
The Jaguars nearly went up two scores on the ensuing possession and got into the red zone, but Sadarion Magee intercepted a Lyric Hall pass to end the threat. It wasn’t until late in the first half that Columbia’s passing attack finally jumpstarted the usually explosive offense.
Two plays after Javen Moses connected with Josh Brown for a 16-yard gain, Moses hit Jamison Kelly on a slant and Kelly broke a tackle and turned on the jets for a 40-yard touchdown. Antoine Franklin drilled the extra point to give the Wildcats a 7-6 lead going into halftime.
Late in the third quarter Malcom Hartzog got loose for the Jaguars and ran in a 26-yard touchdown. Jeff Davis converted the two-point try to recapture the lead 14-7. Omarie Johnson found a seam and returned the subsequent kickoff back to the Jeff Davis 37 that set up the game-altering sequence.
After completing a 26-yard pass to Dashod Ball, Moses connected with Kelly on a fade that would have set up the Wildcats with 1st-and-goal at the Jeff Davis 7. However, Kelly was flagged for offensive pass interference on a questionable call, leading to a punt. The Jaguars surged through the line, blocked the punt and returned it to the Columbia 32. A few plays later Kyser Booth scooted into the end zone on 4th-and-goal from the 3 for the Jaguars to make it 20-7 with 9:22 remaining in the fourth quarter.
Bilderback said he believes if the catch had stood the Wildcats would have scored and tied the game.
“That to me is a 14-point swing right there that would’ve changed the whole complexion of the game,” he said.
On the ensuing possession Moses was stripped trying to scramble on third down, setting up a 26-yard Michael Carraway touchdown for the Jaguars to put the game out of reach.
Bilderback said the biggest difference was executing in the red zone.
“We missed two opportunities on offense (in the red zone),” he said. “The one (area) we’ve been playing really well on defense the last eight weeks is when people have gotten in the red zone we’ve done a great job of keeping out of the end zone. Our inability on both sides to execute on both sides in the red zone was really a big difference.”
He added when you get two teams similar in talent in the playoffs, special teams can be the determining factor and the blocked punt was a backbreaker.
Kentrel Bullock and Johnson combined for 372 yards and five touchdowns on the ground in the first matchup against Jeff Davis in October but were limited to just 44 yards on 22 carries without a touchdown Friday night. The Jaguars loaded the box, which they did the first time and basically every team Columbia has played has done this year, but their team speed was able to keep the duo from getting into the open field. Bilderback said their team speed coupled with the lack of execution both up front and from the backs played a part.
Moses actually had a solid game throwing the ball and had several key completions extend drives when the running game was being shut down. He completed 8-of-17 passes for 115 yards with a touchdown and an interception. His last three passes all fell incomplete when Columbia was down 27-7 in garbage time, with the last one being picked off.
“For the most part Javen made some plays, and our receivers made some plays to keep the chains moving. But it’s one of those things that we’ve prided ourselves on being able to run the ball on anyone, and you have to be able to do that to be successful in the playoffs and we struggled at it,” Bilderback said.
Jeff Davis hurt the Wildcats defense several times on outside sweeps and misdirections, especially in the second half. The Jaguars were able to use Columbia’s speed against them and win the pursuit-angle battle, according to Bilderback.
“Their backs did a great job of running laterally and getting us to run and overpursue the football,” he said. “They got a lot of their big plays from cutting back then getting north-south.”
The Wildcats graduate a massive senior class with 21 players and 15 starters. Bilderback said the class has silenced a lot of critics and built an impressive legacy with a 23-4 record the last two years. He added they learned to have success in life by understanding that it’s going to take sacrifice and hard work while restoring the tradition of Columbia football.
It includes Bullock, Kelly, Moses, Magee, Anotione Franklin, Teshonne Franklin, Tryson Johnson, Daqwan Jones, KD Andrews, Robert Johnson, Daquan Ball, AJ Walker, Jordan Aaron, Joey Croom, Christian Rowell, Ethan Bond, Justin Lee, Andre Peters, Eli Johnson, Marquis Scales and Chase Forbes.
Pictured Above: Columbia star running back Kentrel Bullock gets tripped up by Jeff Davis County’s Deandre Shorts for a 10-yard loss Friday night in the south state championship game. Bullock was limited to just 21 yards on 13 carries in the 27-7 loss that ended Columbia’s perfect season. The Wildcats rushed for just 52 yards on 25 carries and had only 167 yards of total offense. Jeff Davis will play Noxubee County for the Class 3A title Friday at 11 a.m. at USM. | Photo by Joshua Campbell
