Football players at Columbus High School finally had some fun Friday night.
As the trio of Falcons mascots danced with the Homecoming court, a great exhale could be heard from the football team as the final seconds ticked off and Columbus knocked off Louisville 43-20 before an overflow crowd at Falcon Field Friday night.
Columbus racked up a season-high of 414 yards of total offense and presented first-year head coach Randal Montgomery with his first victory with Falcons.
“This win means so much to this team,” Columbus sophomore running back Kylin Hill said. “We haven’t play happy this year. Today, we played happy. Football is all about having fun and you have to play happy to be successful. This win really gets the monkey off our shoulders. We feel we can go forward now and if we play hard, we can compete with anybody in the state.”
In a myriad of early-season turnovers and growing pains from youth, Columbus had dropped its first three games. On this night, the Falcons had all of the answers.
Columbus (1-3) scored on its first four possessions and had a new season high in points in the first 12 minutes, 34 seconds of play. By the time, that spree ended the hosts were well on their way, holding a 29-0 lead.
“The offense really came together as a unit in this game,” Columbus senior running back/wide receiver Rod Hogan said. “We had been playing with too many I’s. We had the best week of practice we have had all year. The coaches told us to quit playing not to lose and instead play to win. We had the right mind-set in this game and that was the big difference.”
Columbus unleashed a powerful rushing attack which racked up 304 yards and six touchdowns on 42 carries. Sophomore Kendre Conner had 11 rushes for 116 yards, and a touchdown, while Hill had 11 rushes for 109 yards and two touchdowns. Hogan also had a 32-yard rushing touchdown and a huge 57-yard kickoff return which set up another score.
Quarterback Jay Jay Swanigan passed for 110 yards but threw three interceptions – all after the contest was no longer in doubt. Swanigan also scored twice on quarterback keepers.
“I thought we kept going for the big play too much and got away from what was working for us,” Montgomery said. “There was about a 15-to-20 minute stretch where we had some drives stall out and Louisville could have gotten back into it. The defense was not going to let that happen.”
Columbus played easily its best defensive game of the season. The Falcons held the Wildcats scoreless until the final 9 minutes, 54 seconds of play.
“Playing defense is fun when your offense is giving you help,” Columbus senior safety Alex Lipscomb said. “Playing high school football is all about fun and we were able to have the kind of fun that you want to have tonight.”
Lipscomb and fellow senior John Neal Stanback anchored a Columbus defensive unit which threw a blanket on the Louisville defense. Louisville (2-3) managed 248 yards of total offense, but 192 of those yards came on the final three possessions after many of the Homecoming balloons had been released to the sky.
“Tonight really means a lot to this team because we had been facing a lot of adversity,” Lipscomb said. “Losing the first three games really hurt a lot. The fans were beginning to doubt us. I just have to give a lot of compliments to my team tonight. I am very proud of them.”
In its first three games, Columbus had held only one lead – a slight second-quarter advantage in an eventual loss to New Hope. Still, Montgomery and his assistants saw the progress that causal observers did not see.
“We really hadn’t been practicing like an 0-3 team,” Montgomery said. “We have a young and inexperienced football team and we have played like a young and inexperienced football team. We go game to game looking for progress. We feel like we have gotten better each week even though the scoreboard hasn’t shown it. As a staff, we felt like we got better in every area of the game last week (in a 35-7 loss to West Point). For the most part, the kids have been great. They understand where we are.”
Where Columbus found itself Friday night was the end zone. The Falcons reeled off first-half scoring drives of 71, 55, 26 (thanks to the Hogan kick return) and 60 yards. The flurry of activity was enough to make even the Falcons themselves surprised at the sudden reversal of fortunes.
“In the first quarter, we took advantage of some things,” Hogan said. “All year we have been a 20 (yard line) to 20 (yard line) team. We haven’t been able to go the extra mile to get the points. Tonight, we got straight to it.”
After the fast start, Columbus then could set its sights on finishing the job defensively. Chris Deloach and Leon Payne were in on a pair of big first-half sacks. The momentum got stronger as the proceedings continued.
“This past week we had a great week of practice,” Lipscomb said. “Everybody was locked in. We wanted to show that we came here to play football. We wanted to show that we plan to compete for championships.”
Montgomery said he frequently reminded his team the past week there was a lot of football left to be played.
“We had two primary goals to start the season – a winning record and making the playoffs,” Montgomery said. “We reminded the kids in practice that those goals are still out there and can be reached.”
For the Falcons, the second season begins next week. Columbus will open Mississippi High School Activities Association Class 6A, Region 2 play by traveling to top-ranked Starkville.
“Coming off a win makes everything easier,” Lipscomb said. “We have to keep our heads on straight. We have to come out and practice this week just as hard as we did last week. We practiced hard because we were tired of losing. Now, we need to practice just as hard this upcoming week, because we know we play a really good team.”
Follow Scott Walters on Twitter @dispatchscott.
Scott was sports editor for The Dispatch.
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