The Columbus High School football team will have a chance to test its character tonight.
At 4-1 and 1-0 in Class 6A, Region 1, Columbus has the same record it had at this point in the season in 2011. A year ago, Columbus trailed Southaven 14-7 early in the fourth quarter before mistakes cost it and turned a close game into a 35-7 defeat.
But victories against Aberdeen, New Hope, Louisville, and Tupelo have given Columbus coach Tony Stanford reason to believe this season can be different. While the Falcons have struggled at times on offense, their defense has risen to the challenge to help the team overcome adversity.
“We have been able to score points late in the ballgame to win the last three ballgames,” Stanford said. “I think that shows the character ballclub we’re developing into. We feel like beat people if we can hang in there until the fourth quarter.”
Columbus will try to continue that trend at 7:30 tonight when it plays host to Southaven (3-2, 0-1) in a key region matchup.
The game is one of four pivotal games involving Lowndes County public schools. New Hope (2-3, 0-1 Class 5A, Region 1) will travel to Oxford (5-0, 1-0), Caledonia (4-2) will play host to Leake Central (2-4) in its Class 4A, Region 4 opener, and West Lowndes (3-2, 2-0 Class 1A, Region 3) will travel to Louisville to play Noxapater (4-2, 3-0).
Columbus has lost its last four meetings against Southaven. The latest installment is even more intriguing given Columbus’ 14-0 victory against Tupelo and Southaven’s 31-28 loss to Olive Branch last week.
A 2-0 start would give Columbus even more control of its destiny in a region that also includes state power South Panola. Stanford feels his players are capable of competing against all of those perennial powers.
“You have to believe that you can do, and I think our players are getting that way in that they think they can do it,” Stanford said. “Things that happened to us three, four, five years ago we’re taking advantage of now. We’re not giving up and saying, ‘Well, it is over with. We can’t win.’ I don’t hear that out of them anymore.
“It used to be where you could look on the sidelines and you could look in their eyes and you could tell they didn’t think they had a chance. Now when something bad happens in the ballgame they just bounce back out there and do it.”
Michael Bradley hopes the Trojans can play tonight with a similar mind-set. Last week, New Hope lost to Saltillo 42-22 in Columbus in its region. The setback makes the trip to face Oxford, which is ranked No. 3 in Class 5A and tied for eighth in The Associated Press’ overall state rankings, even tougher. In an ultra-competitive region that also includes West Point, Bradley knows his team will have little margin for error tonight.
“We’re going to give it our all when we go up there,” Bradley said. “We had a good week of practice and give it all we got.”
Bradley liked the effort and intensity his players showed this week. He also said the team was much more focused than it has been this season. He hopes his players are prepared to face the challenge of a long road trip, a hostile crowd, and an undefeated rival.
“If we don’t go out and play well (tonight) nobody will believe we had a good week of practice,” Bradley said. “We have to go out tonight and show we actually did have a good week and that we did learn from our mistakes and that we are doing everything we can do to get better.”
Caledonia coach Ricky Kendrick knows his players realize the importance of their game tonight against the Gators. The third-year coach made sure by writing it is a “MUST” for the Confederates to win.
“We must find a way to do it,” Kendrick said. “I underlined it and highlighted it. There is no sense beating around the bush. If we plan to have a winning season, if we plan on doing well, and if you’re a legitimate playoff team coming out of this region you have to win this one.”
Last season, Leake Central defeated Caledonia 20-6. This season, injuries have hit Caledonia hard, but Kendrick expects senior fullback Cole Bruce (concussion) to be available tonight. Bruce’s return could help ease the load on a trio of tailbacks that is fighting to make up for the loss of junior starter Onterrio Lowery, who is out for the season with an injury.
Still, Kendrick won’t make any excuses for his team, which will try to snap a two-game losing streak on Homecoming.
“I don’t know if any folks would have anticipated us being 4-2, so I guess that is a good thing, but we’re on a losing skid, so we have to get that corrected if we want to get into the playoffs,” Kendrick said.
West Lowndes coach Anthony King also is thinking playoffs. A 14-0 victory against East Oktibbeha County High last week bolstered King’s hopes the Panthers could rebound from a 2-9 season in 2011 to make the postseason.
A trip tonight to region leader Noxapater is a win-win scenario for West Lowndes. Last season, Noxapater earned a 49-0 victory in Columbus en route to winning the Class 1A state title.
King feels the victory last week moved his team into better position to get back to the playoffs, but he also realizes his team has plenty to work on to realize that goal.
“I felt the defense played well (last week), King said. “We had a couple of key breakdowns in the secondary that allowed them to complete some passes. We bent, but we didn’t break.
“I was disappointed in the offense. They played a 52 (five linemen, two linebackers) with no safety, so we should have been able to pass on them, but we were not able to pass like we planned on.”
King said quarterback Justin Stephenson has to do a better job of getting rid of the football quicker if defenses are going to stack the line of scrimmage. He also said the team’s wide receivers and offensive linemen also have to do better jobs to take pressure off the defense.
Adam Minichino is the former Sports Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
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