CALEDONIA — Ben Marchbanks doesn’t mind that his offensive line isn’t the biggest in the area.
Onterrio Lowery knows there are other teams in the state of Mississippi that have deeper and more talented backfields.
Cole Bruce understands some teams can boast they have a stronger and faster group of skill position players.
What’s more important to Marchbanks, Lowery, and Bruce is that the Caledonia High School football team is proving the sum of its parts can make things happen.
Paced by a balanced running attack, a strong effort by the offensive line, and an opportunistic defense, Caledonia defeated Heritage Academy 20-7 on Friday night in the second installment of the Lowndes County public-private school rivalry.
“It’s the whole progression. It’s where we should be,” Caledonia coach Ricky Kendrick said. “We’re not a superpower 4A team by any means. Are we hoping to be in the playoffs? Sure we are. Isn’t everybody? But we have to be on that level keel, and I think our kids lost sight of that just a little bit because of some of the interference. When they got back and when we were able to get them back focused on what we needed to do, they locked her back down and did what we have been doing. We finished good.”
The victory helped Caledonia improve to 3-0 for the first time since 2004. It also helped the Confederates avenge a 48-45 loss to the Patriots last season in the initial meeting in Columbus.
In the rematch, Caledonia didn’t rely on flash or gimmicks or a spread attack that pitched the football all over the field. Instead, true to their blue collar mind-set, the Confederates ran the ball 50 times for 192 yards and controlled the line of scrimmage for the first half. When the Patriots (1-2) adjusted and started to close the running lanes, the Confederates relied on a special teams and a defense that each recovered a fumble to thwart potential drives. Darryl Williams and Colton Gilbreath also sacked quarterback Cade Lott in the second half, as Caledonia limited Heritage Academy to only two first downs in the final 24 minutes.
“We didn’t execute offensively,” Heritage Academy coach Barrett Donahoe said. “They whupped us on offense, defense, up front, in the secondary, at the linebackers. They made plays. We didn’t. They just outplayed us from point A to point B.”
Donahoe said the Patriots did a lot better job defensively as the game progressed. Unfortunately, he said Heritage Academy was “all over the place” offensively and couldn’t get into a rhythm. In the third quarter, Donahoe said the Patriots tried to capitalize on a three wide-receiver set that helped them score their only points in the second quarter. But he said Lott took a shot on another option that Randy Randle intercepted on Heritage Academy’s second play of the second half.
“We weren’t trying to throw the backside fade. We were trying to throw play-side underneath,” Donahoe said. “We just misread the defense. Cade took a shot at it, and we had a good guy out there, and we will live with taking a shot all of the time. We just didn’t make a play.”
The turnover was one of three the Patriots committed. Coming off a 19-6 victory against archrival Starkville Academy last week, Donahoe said the mistakes were too much to overcome for a team striving to find consistency.
“From a coaching staff standpoint, we’re going to have to find a way to be more consistent,” Donahoe said. “You asked me earlier this week Heritage Academy always seems to follow up big wins with big losses. We didn’t break the mold with this one. I told you back during the week we’re going to find a different way to do things, and we’re going to do that.”
While Donahoe searches for the right combination, Kendrick appears to have plenty of pieces to a puzzle that is taking shape. Now in his third season after years with one and four victories, Kendrick said the Confederates are stronger. Last year, he said only two players could squat 315 pounds. Now all of the starters can squat at least that much. Kendrick also said the Confederates are more confident, but he will remain a grounding force to keep the team focused.
“I just thought we were flat,” Kendrick said, “We just had some kids tonight that got winded and tired that haven’t been. I don’t have the answer, but we ran out of gas. That is something you can fix. Early, we were punching them pretty good. They made good adjustments and took some things away that we were getting early. They did a good job and have a good staff.”
“We’re certainly ahead of where we were, but we’re not where we want to be. Having a little success is a good thing, but when you haven’t had it you don’t know what to do with it. I think that caught up with us a little bit tonight. But an ugly ‘W’ is better than a pretty ‘L.’ ”
Caledonia was able to win “ugly” thanks to an attitude Marchbanks said Kendrick has built in the weight room. “Just play hard” may be a simple message, but Marchbanks, a junior quarterback, said the Confederates have bought in and have improved, especially on the offensive line. “We’re putting in more effort on the offensive line than we did last year,” Marchbanks said.
Lowery led Caledonia with 96 yards on 16 carries. He would have had more, but he cramped in the second half. He said after the game he didn’t eat enough bananas during the week. That drew a laugh from Bruce, his fullback. Lowery tried to make up for his dietary misstep by eating a plastic bowl filled with mustard..
“At practice, we get guys in and get reps and they come out and play hard whenever someone goes down,” Lowery said. “That helped out a lot.
“We don’t get overconfident and just come out here and play ball and have fun.”
Bruce said one player isn’t going to determine the fate or identity of the team. He said the Confederates realize they can’t suffer if someone is out of the game and that everyone else has to pick up the slack. That is a sign of maturity for a team that is learning what it takes to win.
“Considering since my seventh-grade year we have won five games and this is my senior year and we’re 3-0, it feels pretty good,” Bruce said. “He has given us a weight program. We have never really had a weight program, and we have been in the weight room working hard. Even if we don’t want to work hard, he makes us work hard. He has been here for three years in a row. I haven’t had the same coach for three years in a row since pee wee. It helps out a lot.”
Adam Minichino is the former Sports Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
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