There was a lot on the line Thursday night at Walter Payton Field — playoff positioning and the Marion County Football Championship — and all signs pointed to West Marion and Columbia playing in a tough, close game.
But then West Marion came out and threw a couple of haymakers early in the first half that Columbia never responded to, leading to a 40-0 blowout win for the Trojans.
“It kind of seemed like we fell apart,” Columbia head coach James Harvey said in his office following the game. “We had a couple of kids get injured. It just got away from us early on, and we couldn’t get it back.”
West Marion (5-5, 3-1) needed to beat Columbia (3-6, 1-3) by at least three touchdowns to claim the county title for the fourth straight year, which seemed like a tall task before kickoff, and needed a win to clinch a playoff berth. The Trojans accomplished both in style.
“It feels awesome. We lost to East Marion on the last play of the game and Columbia beat them bad. Every week our guys get better. We have five seniors, four juniors and a lot of the guys you’re seeing making plays are going to be around for a while,” West Marion head coach Brad Duncan said following the game. “To come back and do this, winning the Marion County Football Championship — we won it three years in a row, that was history — to win it four years in a row is awesome. Marion County has always had really good football. For West Marion to be able to do this, it says a lot about our kids and a lot about our coaching staff. We at least got third in the district sewed up and got Tylertown coming. Tylertown is always athletic. But our guys are starting to believe. We lost so many close games early in the season with turnovers, and that’s what happened to Columbia tonight. They’re really young as well, and turnovers hurt them. We capitalized on it. I’m just proud as heck of these guys.”
Both defenses stood firm for the first few drives of the game, leading to a series of punts, then the Trojans got their spark that ignited a fury of points. Facing a third-and-4 and in search of their first first down of the game, the Trojans got a big play from Cyrus Thompson, who beat the Wildcats defense on a post route and nearly broke away for a long touchdown but was brought down by his shoestring for a 47-yard gain. Three plays later, Jeremiah Holmes took a quarterback draw up the middle for a 10-yard touchdown.
On the ensuing Columbia drive, quarterback Javon Moses was intercepted by Qavonte Swanigan on third down, but the Trojans were forced to punt and Jayden Duncan pinned the Wildcats deep in their own territory.
Swanigan then intercepted Moses again and returned it down to the 2-yard line. Holmes once again powered his way into the end zone on the next play, putting West Marion up 14-0 early in the second quarter.
When describing Moses’ two costly interceptions, Harvey said he simply “threw the ball to the wrong guys.”
The Trojans defense then forced a three-and-out and gave West Marion the chance to bust the game wide open, and the Trojans did just that. Holmes threw a quick screen to Dontavius McGowan, who made a man miss, reversed field and took off for an 80-yard touchdown. With the successful two-point conversion, West Marion took a commanding 22-0 lead, but it wasn’t done.
Columbia, badly needing a spark, took a chance and went for it on fourth down, but Moses was dragged down by Keyon Brister and Tyrese Smith for a sack to set up another Trojans scoring drive.
Highlighted by a 40-yard run by Charles Lewis, the Trojans marched 70 yards in eight plays and scored again as Holmes threw a jump ball in the end zone that McGowan high-pointed for a 13-yard touchdown with 14 seconds left in the first half.
Columbia attempted a Hail Mary to end the first half, but Moses was intercepted again — this time by McGowan.
Coming out of the break, West Marion and Columbia both put together long drives that ate up the third quarter, stalled out and ultimately ended with turnovers on downs. Then Swanigan made another play. He caught a quick screen pass, juked the cornerback and raced down the sideline for a 38-yard touchdown, putting the Trojans up 34-0 with 10 minutes remaining in the fourth quarter.
Swanigan (five catches for 50 yards and a touchdown, plus two interceptions on defense) and McGowan (three catches for 99 yards and two touchdowns, plus an interception on defense) drew the praise of their head coach after the game, as well as Holmes, who had five total touchdowns.
“(Swanigan) has probably been our most steady playmaker as a freshman,” Duncan said. “(McGowan), he’s pretty and a sweet kid, but he just hadn’t bought in. He kind of got challenged a little bit this week. I even made him captain before the game. Heck, if I would’ve known that I would’ve made him a captain a long time ago with the game he had. He responded. As a freshman two years ago, we thought he was a kid who was going to be special. Last year as a sophomore, he kind of disappeared. He’s been kind of sporadic this year. At times, you’ll see it. At times, he disappears. I can’t say enough about Jeremiah Holmes. He’s just a tough, hard-nosed kid that has no quit in him. I’m excited about our future.”
The Trojans would add one more score before it was all said and done, an 8-yard fumble return for a touchdown by Thompson.
“I think West played a good game,” Harvey explained. “We had a chance, had some opportunities, had receivers open, but we just missed some throws.”
An interesting development was Columbia’s star running back Kentrel Bullock’s absence on offense. He ran just six times in the first half and didn’t receive a single carry in the second half despite playing linebacker on defense.
“He was banged up in the first half, then we were trying to do something different,” Harvey said. “I think he was still having some effects of whatever happened to him in the first half. He just didn’t seem like himself.”
Bullock’s absence led to eighth-grader Omar Johnson having a big night for his debut, showing off speed, agility and power.
“He’s an eighth-grade kid who looked really good. He ran the ball well,” Harvey said. “It’s just a matter of him learning the offense.”
While West Marion already has its fate sealed with Friday night’s home game against Tylertown only determining whether the Trojans will be home or away for the first round of the playoffs, Columbia is in a do-or-die position.
The Wildcats and Seminary (4-6, 1-3) are tied for the fourth playoff spot in the district and clash Friday night in Columbia for a winner-take-all game. The winner will go to the playoffs and the loser will stay at home. Kickoff for both games are at 7 p.m.
Pictured Above: Keyon Brister and Tyres Smith combine for a tackle for loss on Jermaine Barnes. | Photo by Joshua Campbell
