Columbus High School head football coach Randal Montgomery knew there were would be growing pains as he tried to rebuild the Falcons program.
Moving from a Class 3A program at Hazlehurst to the state’s highest level of Class 6A was going to be a challenge.
For Montgomery, the good news would be more money, better facilities and more depth from which to build a state championship contender.
When hired 20 months ago, Montgomery knew he would have to win over the locker room. Players would have to learn a new way of doing things.
A program with only a handful of successful seasons was going to have to learn how to fly.
Essentially, the program would have to be taken down before built back up.
Now with one season in the books, all signs indicate the Columbus football program is headed in the right direction.
Kids play hard and give a relentless effort for four quarters. Even fans have started to get on board. In last Friday’s 25-8 loss to Noxubee County, the visitors section was full at Macon. That has rarely been the case in recent memory.
Of all the hurdles Montgomery knew when he took the job, there is no way he would have envisioned what has become the hardest part of the job.
Quite simply, Columbus can not protect the football.
Through last season’s 4-7 finish, the Columbus football program became a revolving door. Some veteran players weren’t willing to pay the price of hard work in practice. Other veteran players were overshadowed by young talented stars ready to take their job.
Columbus had flashes where it looked the part of a great team. On other nights, turnovers took place and they were ugly. Columbus had six turnovers in a 46-7 loss to Noxubee County. Columbus had seven turnovers in a 20-7 loss to Northwest Rankin.
Ironically, Columbus missed the playoffs by one game by the time the season ended. The one game margin showed up in the region loss to Northwest Rankin.
After the season ended in early November, Montgomery and his staff returned to the drawing board. After being named late in the proceedings a year before, there was not an opportunity to have actual spring practice with the head coach and all assistants on board. That took place this year.
Columbus then hit the weight room and worked even harder than it had before.
There is talent on the team. Junior C.J. Gholar drew the final four starts and won three of them last season. He is the unquestioned team leader and his teammates rally around him.
In the backfield, Kendre Conner and Kylin Hill give Columbus a very strong 1-2 punch. Like Gholar, both members of this duo are juniors. Marquavious Mitchell and Patrick Jackson give Columbus speed at the receiving positions.
The offensive line is full of seniors. This group bought into the new system and according to Montgomery made the most strides during the off-season.
On defense, senior Mario Bradford has quickly become one of the area’s premier linebackers. Damonta Kidd lived in the Noxubee County backfield Friday night. Hezekiah Manigo has been a pleasant surprise.
Christopher Deloach, Tahj Sykes and Cameron Williams anchor the defensive line in the new-look 4-2-5 formation.
Kiren Sharp, Tyron Smith and Derrick Beckom anchor a steadily-getting better secondary.
Columbus looked like it had made the leap to complete team in a season-opening 49-27 win over Kemper County. Friday night, that same Kemper County squad beat Quitman, 32-12.
In the victory, Columbus made one turnover — a late fumble when the game was well in hand.
Against Noxubee County, Columbus had six turnovers — five fumbles and an interception.
In the postgame, Montgomery rode his team hard. It was a similar speech to the one given after last season’s loss to Northwest Rankin.
The big difference is this. Against Northwest Rankin, Montgomery was looking for winners in his locker room. He felt like the lack of attention to detail rested solely on the players. He had to find the right buttons to push to motivate the team. He also had to find the right 22. With that season fading away, the youth movement began. After being dressed down by the head coach, Columbus players more young playerrs and won three of its final four games.
Against Noxubee County, the conversation was similar but it had a totally different meaning. Montgomery really likes his team. After telling them he wasn’t real happy with them, he sat with this reporter and went on at length about how great this team can become. That is a marked difference from where the program was a short 12 months ago.
Columbus looks the part of a legitimate Class 6A team. They look like Starkville has looked for several seasons now. They look the way West Point and Noxubee County look on most nights.
They have size, speed and quickness. They have a desire to compete on a high level. They have a belief they can overcome obstacles and beat the heavyweights of the state.
That confidence will be needed with county rival New Hope and West Point on the immediate horizon and traditional powers South Panola, Tupelo and Southaven showing up later on the schedule.
However, the turnover problem is real. It is severe. It must be addressed and it must be addressed now.
Against Noxubee County, Columbus turned the ball over on the Noxubee County 12-yard line, 9-yard line and 1-yard line.
Columbus has an incredible amount of potential. However, this star-studded offense can’t score if it does not have the ball.
Scott Walters is a sports writer for The Dispatch. You can email him at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @dispatchscott.
Scott was sports editor for The Dispatch.
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