In their bid to get a share of the district title, the Columbia Academy Cougars fell short Friday at home in a 41-22 loss to Wayne Academy and have just one more chance to pick up a win in the regular season.
The Cougars (0-8, 0-2) will close out the regular season next week at Oak Forest Academy. The playoffs are very much still in play for the Cougars, though.
If they beat Oak Forest Academy (2-4) Friday, they will 100% get in. But there’s also still a chance they could sneak in with a loss despite being winless because of their strength of schedule. Hillcrest Christian is in the 12th and final playoff spot with a power-point rating of 14.889 despite being 2-7 because it played a weak non-district schedule. The Cougars, with a rating of 14.625, have played one of the hardest schedules, but they would also need a couple of the teams they played to win this week.
Butler said he heard all year Oak Forest is down this year, but after watching the Yellowjackets he believes they’re really a good football team with few weaknesses.
“They may be as good as anyone we’ve played all year,” he said. “They just got through beating Parklane. PCS got them a little bit earlier, but they’ve got a real good football team. They’re a power team, and it’s going to be pretty tough trying to slow them down.”
The Cougars need to tackle better defensively, be able to run effectively on offense, consistently complete passes to move the chains and be better on special teams, according to Butler.
Friday night against Wayne, the Cougars fell behind 41-0 at halftime but did rally to score 22 points in the second half to make the final score more respectable.
Wayne recovered the opening kickoff of the game and started the drive inside CA territory at the 37. It was pooch kick between the front and second lines of CA’s kick return, and both lines froze rather than attacking the ball.
“The front line has got to go block, and the guy on the second line has to go field the ball and make a play,” Butler said. “We worked that last week and worked it a bunch this week because we’re going to see it again.”
It didn’t take the Jaguars long to get into the end zone with Stone Ross punching it in with a quarterback sneak to give them the early 7-0 lead after just a couple plays.
After picking up nine yards on a speed option on their first play from scrimmage, CA went back to the well with another speed option. But the slot corner blitzed off the edge, batted down the pitch and the defensive recovered it for the Jaguars deep inside Cougars territory. It didn’t lead to points, though, as Wayne missed a field goal.
The Jaguars did score when they got the ball back, however, with Ross getting into the end zone on another quarterback sneak. They added to their lead in the second quarter with a 91-yard touchdown run by Cross Kittrell, a 3-yard touchdown run by a player not on their MaxPreps roster, a 2-yarder by Kittrell and a 45-yard run by Cameron Holyfield to go up 41-0.
On CA’s first possession of the second half, Kris Ginn broke off a 61-yard run then scored two plays later on a 9-yard quarterback sweep to make it 41-8. Riley Bond then fell on a fumble for the Cougars, leading to a 6-yard Ginn touchdown run. Late in the fourth quarter with a running clock, Ginn scored again on a 1-yard keeper.
“We were down big at halftime so I came in and challenged them to go play as hard as they could, as smart as they could, and we played a little bit better in the second half,” Butler said. “They’re hanging in there the best they can.”
The Cougars have been decimated all year by nagging injuries while playing with a very limited roster. CA usually has a roster size somewhere in the 30s, but it has only been dressing 22 players this year. Most of the Cougars play both ways with four freshmen and three eighth graders being a part of the 22-man roster.
