STEENS — The Lee (Ark.) Academy football team’s defense tried to break Dakota Shaw.
The Columbus Christian Academy quarterback is used to being the smallest player on a football field. Consequently, he endures his share of big hits.
Shaw took nearly a half-dozen shots Friday night in CCA’s opening-round playoff game against Lee Academy. He once left the game for a play, and denied a substitution and limped back to the huddle on another.
With the game tied at 14 in the fourth quarter, Shaw shook off a hit he said “almost killed me.”
On third-and-9, Shaw hung tough in the pocket and found Bryar Kemp deep in the middle of the field for a 63-yard gain. He was nailed in the pocket, but he rebounded two plays later to connect with Lawson Studdard for the go-ahead 21-yard touchdown pass that CCA used to earn a 20-14 victory in the first round of the Mississippi Association of Independent Schools (MAIS) Class A playoffs.
“It was worth it,” Shaw said.
No. 3 seed CCA (3-7) will face No. 2 Union Christian Academy (La.) at 7 p.m. Friday in the second round of the playoffs in Farmerville, Louisiana. The winner of that game will advance to the Class A title game at 7 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 15, at Jackson Academy.
Shaw was 1-for-8 with an interception in the first half. The Rams had just two first downs that weren’t aided by penalties. They trailed 14-7 at halftime and had 28 yards of offense.
The deficit, however, sat well with CCA coach Bill Beck, who wanted to keep the game close after trailing by 30 at halftime in their 52-38 loss to Lee Academy on Oct. 12 in Marianna, Arkansas. Beck thought the Rams would have a chance to win if they could keep the game close and “wear down” a bigger Lee Academy front seven.
The Rams did that in the second half thanks first to a seven-play drive that tied the game at 14. The Rams ran the ball the play on every play, leaning on Jordan Meek, who had 26 yards and a 7-yard scoring run to cap the march.
CCA’s defense responded by stopping a fourth-and-goal pass on Lee Academy’s next drive. The Rams then scored the go-ahead touchdown.
“We were trying to wear them down and use the quickness to take advantage of them,” Beck said. “We got some good plays. We got a lot of good cutbacks out of the sweep action on our overload formations.”
Beck said the run-action the Rams established in the second half helped open up the offense. The Rams also changed some of their blocking schemes after halftime, moving their “biggest, strongest” offensive tackle, Tyler Blackwell, around the line, Beck said
“We started executing better,” Beck said. “We had a total team effort. That’s what it’s going to take to win.”
Shaw was 3-for-4 for 106 yards and a score in the second half. Both of his touchdowns were to Studdard. The go-ahead score came on a slant-corner that resulted in a “perfect throw,” Beck said.
“We’d been throwing the slant, and we broke the slant-corner route on them,” Beck said. “I thought (Shaw) played extremely well and threw the ball well. He got stroked pretty good about three or four times and kept coming back.”
CCA lost two regular-season games to Lee Academy this season, including a 41-0 loss Sept. 14 in Steens. The loss was part of a three-game stretch in which the Rams scored three points.
Beck said he and his staff opted to scrap some of the spread concepts to re-ignite the offense.
“We are who we are,” Beck said. “We’ve experimented with a lot of spread stuff, but we decided we got to get under (center) and throw from an under set, with play-action stuff and maybe take a chance on a fade or deep crossing route. That’s when it really turned around for us.
“We’re in a day and age where, if you’re not running the spread, you’re a Neanderthal in football. But this has gotten us where we are, and we’ll stick with it.”
The Rams forced four turnovers, including a game-sealing interception by Will Teague.
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