After kicking off last season what both sides hope will become an annual rivalry game, West Marion and Columbia Academy are set to do battle once more Friday night.
The Trojans won the first matchup last September 58-40 as the host team, and now it’s Columbia Academy’s turn to play host.
The inaugural game lit up the scoreboard and both teams return offenses that can score points in bunches, but West Marion comes into the game as the lone undefeated in the South region of Class 3A, while the Cougars are 2-3. CA head coach Randy Butler knows the Cougars are in for a challenge.
“It’s the same West Marion team: well coached, very athletic, very fast, physical on both offensive and defensive lines and it will be a huge challenge,” he said. “Some of the things they do creates problems really for anybody that they play. They create some mismatches, and coach (Brad) Duncan does a great job of getting the ball to playmakers in space. It’s going to come down to, again, against a very athletic team tackling in space.”
Rather than attacking a specific area of the Cougars defense, Duncan said the Trojans are going to stick with what they do best offensively.
“We’re still going to try to throw the quick game with our screen game outside, and I think we can attack the secondary depending on how much pressure they put on us up front,” he said.
One player the Cougars will need to find a way to stop is DonTavious McGowan, who has more than 300 all-purpose yards and five touchdowns the past two weeks.
“He’s been really hot the past couple weeks,” Duncan said. “He had three catches and two of them for touchdowns and a return for a touchdown (against Forrest County AHS Friday night). His big-play capabilities have been really big for us, but we have some other guys who can make big plays, too. I think Noland Miller can step up and make big plays when we need him to, and Larry Magee, Octavious Harvey and O’Marion Husband can too. We have some playmakers outside.”
Butler said any time you play an explosive offense like West Marion, you have to try to limit their possessions.
“You try to control (the ball) and keep it out of their hands or score when you have it. We’ll have to be much better this week offensively for sure,” he said.
Duncan added the Cougars could pose some issues for the West Marion defense as well.
“They’re not bad offensively. The quarterback, (Ras) Pace, is good, Drew Havard is a good football player and they’re big and physical up front. They’re going to try to run the football, and (our) defense is going to have to play really well to slow them down,” he said.
Kickoff is at 7 p.m.
