In their home opener, the Columbia Academy Cougars were manhandled Friday night and were held to just 93 yards of offense in a 17-0 loss to Adams County Christian.
The shutout was the first the Cougars have had since being shut out twice in 2013, but they were forced to reshuffle their entire offense from the word go.
Robert Johnson, the team’s leading receiver last season and the first game of this year, went out on the first series with a shoulder sprain, leading to head coach Randy Butler being forced to restructure not only the lineup but the entire game plan.
“A big part of our game plan going into that game was getting him a lot of touches. When that happened it kind of put us in a little bit of a tail spin,” Butler said. “And you tack that on with Adams being really good — they’re fast and quick — but we also had some chances. We’re running behind them two or three times, and we can’t get the ball out or can’t get it there.”
Butler added Adams’ speed on the defensive line and at linebacker really limited what Columbia Academy could do on the ground as well, and the Rebels blitzed a lot leading to a perfect storm. It also didn’t help that the Cougars’ usual lead running back, Riles Stuart, had to move out to receiver to alleviate the loss of Johnson, and Columbia Academy had to rely on Preston Sauls, who had five career carries going into the game, as the lone back.
“We also had to play some guys who had not played a lot out wide — guys like Eli Beard who is a starting safety — it just kind of compounded things,” Butler said.
While the offense struggled mightily, Adams has one of the most difficult offenses to stop in all of MAIS, and the CA defense came to play.
Butler said the coaching staff challenged the defense to rally to the ball down after down and tackle well, and he said it did its job.
“They got us leveraged a couple of times, but for the most part we had two or three fourth-down stops and three takeaways in the game. I’m really proud of the defense and the whole team,” he said. “(Adams) had lost their quarterback in the jamboree so they have gone to a power running game. They put two or three guys back there that are very athletic at quarterback, try to outnumber you on one side, bring two backs over and a tight end and go unbalanced, and they just try to out gap you. To hold them to 17 was pretty good.”
Up next for the Cougars is a trip to Brookhaven Academy (2-0) before beginning district play Sept. 13 against Bowling Green. Brookhaven beat Sylva Bay Academy 43-31 in its opener and Amite School Center 46-7 Friday.
The Cougars have fared well in recent contests against Brookhaven, beating it 47-6 in 2016 and 40-0 in 2015, but they are in for a vastly different opponent than the first two they faced. While Simpson Academy and Adams were run heavy, Brookhaven likes to sling it around the yard in the passing game.
“These guys can pitch and catch it pretty good. They’ve got a quarterback (Tyler Fortenberry) who is very accurate, and they have two or three receivers that run pretty well. They protect the quarterback,” Butler said. “We have to switch gears and get back into some base coverages and reteach those things. The last two weeks we’ve jacked up our defense with an extra defensive lineman, and now you have to go back to your base and reteach your coverages.”
Butler said Brookhaven uses a basic defense that runs to the ball really well and that the Cougars will need to get a hat on a hat and reestablish the running game to open up the passing attack.
Kickoff is at 7 Friday night.
Pictured Above: Cougars quarterback Ras Pace throws a pass over the middle against Adams County Christian Friday night. | Photo by Vince Havard
