The Columbia Academy Cougars dropped their second consecutive foray into Louisiana at Silliman Institute Friday night in a 65-34 contest that lit up the scoreboard.
Head coach Randy Butler said the Cougars struggled in basically every aspect of the game and that moving forward they need to focus on improving themselves first.
The Cougars (1-4) have to rebound quickly, though, during a busy homecoming week as Presbyterian Christian (5-1) comes to town Friday night. Butler said he wants his players to enjoy homecoming but realize there’s still a big game to play.
“Homecoming is really important to CA and the patrons, and it should be. What I’m asking the players to do is just give me about three hours a day. Come down here and lift for an hour so, then on the practice field no more than two hours every day. If they’ll do that we’ll be fine,” he said. “We have to try to keep them focused as much as we can on the ball game without taking away from homecoming itself. At the end of the day we have a football game to play.”
The Bobcats offense centers around all-around playmaker Rico Dorsey, who has accounted for 1,255 all-purpose yards and 13 touchdowns and reportedly runs a 4.33 in the 40-yard dash. Dorsey is a receiver by trade, but PCS moves him around a lot and will line him up as a Wildcat quarterback, bring him in motion on jet sweeps and occasionally line him up at running back. He’s averaging 14.4 yards per carry and 158 yards per game on the ground, and he has 25 receptions for 418 yards.
“We’ve got to identify where he’s at in their offense. They line him up at quarterback, put him in the backfield a little bit and any receiver spot. They do a good job of getting in multiple formations, and you really have to be on your toes of where he’s at,” Butler said.
The fourth-year CA head coach added that it’s not just Dorsey the Cougars have to prepare for. He said in scouting the Bobcats he has 20 pages worth of different formations they use offensively and that quarterback Collin Necaise and running back Marquis Crosby are both threats. Crosby is a transfer from Seminary who rushed for 2,063 yards and 24 touchdowns last year for the Bulldogs and has 553 yards and four scores in five games so far for PCS.
“It’s not just (Dorsey). They’re much improved since last year, and we’ve just got to be ready,” Butler said.
Friday night, Riles Stuart started off the 99-point contest with an 88-yard kickoff return for a touchdown to give CA the early 6-0 lead, but Silliman responded with 23 unanswered first-quarter points.
Silliman’s Jack Jackson got into the end zone from a yard out before Bo Gilkinson hauled in a 35-yard touchdown on a deep pass over the middle from Brock Berthelot to make it 15-6. Ras Pace scrambled out to his right and threw a late pass intended for Robert Johnson that was intercepted on CA’s ensuing possession and set up another Berthelot-to-Gilkinson touchdown.
The Cougars answered back, though, as Ras Pace plunged into the end zone from a yard out to make it 23-12 early in the second quarter. Berthelot found pay dirt on a 5-yard run on Silliman’s next drive before another CA turnover began to put the game out of reach.
Pace threw a quick screen to Stuart, who had the ball deflect off his hands, and it was intercepted by Elijah Clyde and returned 26 yards for a touchdown that made it 37-12. Pace found Patrick Gill on a 7-yard score on the next drive, but Gilkinson scored two more touchdowns for Silliman to balloon the lead to 50-20 early in the third quarter.
Butler said while it’s discouraging that the offense has started to turn the ball over more frequently in recent weeks, the defense has to be able to step up regardless of where the opponent starts its drive.
“I don’t want to harp on (turning it over) too much. We just have to go back, work on it and keep working on what we’ve been doing. Maybe it’ll stop,” he said.
Pace threw two touchdowns to Johnson in the second half, an 8-yarder and a 2-yarder, but it was too little too late for the Cougars.
The Wildcats rushed for more than 300 yards and three touchdowns in the contest, and their game plan caught CA off guard.
“You have to hand it to them. They lined up and ran the football. I would’ve thought before the game we would’ve been able to hold up a little bit better against the run. The passing game was what I was really concerned about, but they lined up and ran the football all over us,” Butler said.
The Cougars were without starting center Colby Thompson, who missed with a concussion, and were forced to shuffle the offensive line with players who are also a big part of the defensive line rotation. Butler said the trickle-down effect hurt CA’s ability to stop Silliman’s rushing attack.
“We were playing those guys both ways, and that wore us down a little bit,” he said. “We didn’t do hardly anything real well the whole night, though. The only positive thing was our kickoff return unit was pretty good. There weren’t many positives the rest of the way.”
Pictured Above: Columbia Academy offensive lineman Hunter Courtney sets in pass protection against Bowling Green Sept. 13. | Photo by Charlie Smith
