The Columbia Academy Cougars dropped to 0-6 Friday night in Hattiesburg with Presbyterian Christian scoring 28 first-quarter points en route to a 56-22 victory over CA.
The Bobcats compiled 428 yards of offense to CA’s 172, and head coach Randy Butler said they knew going in it wouldn’t be easy to stop their offense.
“They’re a really good football team and have some playmakers,” he said. “We had another rough go of it. We made some mistakes we probably shouldn’t be making like fielding short kickoffs and not communicating on the back end to the front line. Poor tackling showed up again. Then their size up front with their defensive line against some of our guys really took over as the game went a long.”
The Cougars started the game with a quick three-and-out with some trick plays not working then faked the punt, but Trevor Courtney’s pass was batted down for a turnover on downs. They were able to back the Bobcats into and 3rd-and-14, but Marquis Crosby broke off a 31-yard run out of Wildcat then scored two plays later to make it 7-0 three minutes into the game.
PCS then recovered an onside kick and used Crosby as a decoy to add to its lead. Crosby motioned out of the backfield like the Bobcats were throwing a swing pass to him, which drew the attention of two CA defenders and left Tripp Morris wide open for a 56-yard touchdown reception from Ian Randolph.
A quick three-and-out and a long punt return then set PCS up at the CA 35. Four power rushes out of Wildcat later and Cameron Shaw was into the end zone for a 21-0 lead for PCS with five minutes remaining in the opening quarter. CA gave it right back to PCS on the second play of the ensuing drive with Courtney getting rocked on a speed option and fumbling. The Bobcats turned the takeaway into their fourth touchdown of the quarter with another unique play design fooling the Cougars. Miles Harris motioned from the slot like he was going to take a jet sweep, but Randolph faked it and with two lead blockers out in front ran untouched for a 12-yard score.
Another quick three-and-out for the CA offense prompted another fake punt, but Courtney barely got back to the line of scrimmage and gave the ball back to PCS at CA’s 27. Three plays later, Crosby went untouched again for a 16-yard touchdown that ballooned the lead to 35-0 a minute into the second quarter.
Although the Cougars didn’t have success with the trick plays, Butler said they’re going to continue to be aggressive.
“We went into the game feeling like we were going to have to do some stuff like that to try to steal a possession or two. We worked on it during the week and just didn’t execute. That’s the bottom line; we just didn’t execute when we had the chance to do some of those things.”
On the ensuing drive, a holding penalty negated a first-down scramble by Kris Ginn, leading to another CA punt. PCS made quick work of its sixth straight touchdown drive as Damion Gooden rumbled into the end zone from nine yards out.
Down 42-0 with three minutes left in the first half, a reverse finally jumpstarted the CA offense. Robert Johnson lined up as an H-back to the left, looped behind Ginn for a handoff going the other way, captured the corner and raced 66 yards down the sideline to the PCS 4. Preston Sauls ran over a defensive back and fell into the end zone on the next play to make it 42-6 going into halftime.
CA got its first defensive stop of the game on the opening possession of the second half and finally got a positive play out of its special teams. Trey Stringer and Sauls busted through the line and met at the punter, blocking the kick to set up shop for the Cougars at the PCS 25. On the next play, Johnson beat the cornerback off the line and easily caught a fade from Ginn in the end zone for a 25-yard score that made it 42-14 as Ginn ran in the two-point conversion.
However, PCS scored once again on the first play of the ensuing drive with Crosby taking off for a 50-yard touchdown that increased the Bobcats lead to 49-14 late in the third quarter. The Cougars answered, though, with a 31-yard pass to Stringer preceding a 14-yard touchdown run by Ginn. The junior quarterback made four Bobcats miss on the play, three with one juke to find pay dirt and make it 49-22 with the two-point conversion.
PCS added the last score of the game on the second play of the next possession as Jackson Pecunia scampered in for a 9-yard touchdown.
Stringer and Dakota Breeland both had sacks for CA.
Columbia Academy returns home Friday night for its homecoming game against Lamar School (3-2). Lamar beat Simpson Academy 43-7 Friday following a 25-0 over Park Place last week. Butler said Lamar can run the ball pretty well, but its main threat is its passing attack.
“They sling it around pretty good. We know from last year they can do that,” he said. “They have good size in both their offensive and defensive lines. We’ll have to really just buckle down, try to get a hat on a hat, stay in front of people and really tackle better. We can’t continue to miss a lot of tackles.”
With it being homecoming week, Butler said he’s asked his players just to give the team their sole focus for the two-plus hours they’re at practice.
“I want them to try to enjoy it, but at the end of the day there is a football game that goes on. It’s our responsibility to get ready and perform the best we can for the football game,” he said.
