The Columbia Wildcats dominated in the second round of the Class 3A playoffs Friday night in a start-to-finish 25-7 blowout of Velma Jackson on their home field.
No. 1 ranked Columbia (12-0) forced four turnovers defensively, rushed for more than 250 yards and threw two touchdowns to take down the Falcons (7-5).
Head coach Chip Bilderback said Velma Jackson is a really good team but that the Wildcats’ preparation throughout the week showed on the field.
For the third round the Wildcats will play host to a familiar opponent, the Magee Trojans (10-3). Columbia beat Magee 24-14 Nov. 1 where a late Trojans touchdown made it appear closer than it really was. Bilderback said Columbia isn’t taking them lightly, though, with the talent Magee possesses.
“They have an electric player at quarterback, who is a special kid and is committed to Ole Miss. Everything runs through him, then they have four quality receivers,” he said. “I think they’re well coached on both sides of the ball. It’s going to be a challenge in a sense that there isn’t a lot of weaknesses on their team.”
Bilderback said it helps to know Magee’s personnel and what the Trojans like to do after playing them three weeks ago, but he noted the same is true for Magee having a sense of what Columbia is all about. Just last year the Wildcats beat Jeff Davis County in the regular season only to have the Jaguars knock them out in the third round of the postseason.
“In all honesty we expected to be here. The thought in our mind a year ago was we want to be back in this situation,” Bilderback said. “When you have that expectation, it’s not a surprise to your kids and they’re not overly excited or nervous about it. This is where we wanted to be and where we planned to be all along.”
It’s an all-Region 8 quarterfinal with the four teams left in the south all coming from the same district. With a win over Magee, the Wildcats would play host to the winner between West Marion (12-1) and Jeff Davis (7-5) in the south state championship next week.
Velma Jackson started the game Friday with the momentum with a big kickoff return and a fake punt that got the Falcons to the Columbia 7, but the Wildcats stood strong in the red zone and forced a missed field goal.
Then facing a 3rd-and-18 on their opening drive, the Wildcats dialed up a creative play call to find the end zone. They lined up with three receivers to the left, and quarterback Javen Moses rolled out that way like he was going to throw to the strong side. But then he pivoted and threw a receiver screen out to the right to Sadarion Magee, who made a man miss and was off to the races for a 74-yard catch-and-run to put Columbia up 7-0.
After forcing a three-and-out, the Wildcats faced a 4th-and-7 at the Falcons’ 25, and Moses connected with Josh Brown on an out route to keep the chains moving. A few plays later, Kentrel Bullock walked into the end zone on a 2-yard run that made it 13-0 going into the second quarter.
Late in the second quarter, Teshonne Franklin jumped an out route to come up with his sixth interception in the last six games and his seventh of the year. On the very next play, Bullock found some green grass and cruised in for a 24-yard touchdown as the Wildcats went into halftime up 19-0.
Brown came up with an interception on Velma Jackson’s opening drive of the second half to set up Columbia’s fourth touchdown of the night. On 3rd-and-12, Moses had pressure up the middle and extended the play by rolling out to his right and connecting with Dashod Ball on a deep crosser for a 28-yard score. It was Ball’s first catch of the season.
The Falcons were threatening on the ensuing possession inside Columbia territory, but Jamison Kelly got over the top of a deep ball at the goal line for his fifth interception in just six games since returning from an injury. Velma Jackson prevented being shutout with a short touchdown pass late in the fourth quarter.
Going into the matchup Columbia’s focus was stopping receiver Jordan Harvey, who came in averaging 100 yards per game with 18 touchdowns, and the Wildcats shut him down completely while intercepting three passes.
“Our secondary has really improved over the last month,” Bilderback said. “Every week we’ve made some tweaks and adjustments to take away what the team’s offense is doing.”
It helped that the Wildcats’ pass rush affected Falcons quarterback Diallo Thompson all game, keeping him from being able to throw from a comfortable pocket and forcing him to have to move to get passes off.
“Everyone thinks pass defense is just about the secondary, and that’s just not the case. It’s about the linebackers getting reroutes, the secondary doing its job and the D-line getting a push and containing the quarterback,” Bilderback said.
Pictured Above: Columbia's Kentrel Bullock breaks a tackle against Velma Jackson. | Photo by Joshua Campbell
