Columbus High School football coach Randal Montgomery has waited patiently for an inexperienced offensive line to come together.
That unit might have finally jelled Friday night at Trojan Field, as Columbus rushed for 365 yards and collected a season-high 506 yards of total offense in a 49-21 victory against Lowndes County rival New Hope.
“The offensive line was great,” Columbus senior quarterback C.J. Gholar said. “It was like really, really great. I am proud of my guys in the trenches. They have been battling for us. Tonight, everything worked.”
Columbus began its season of promise with a victory against Kemper County, which moved it to No. 5 in The Clarion-Ledger statewide rankings. A heart-breaking one-point loss to Noxubee County forced Columbus to regroup quickly.
“We talked at length about letting Noxubee County beat you again,” Montgomery said. “I challenged the guys Monday at practice to leave that loss right there. It was nothing we could do about it now. All we could do moving forward was making a statement in our next game.”
The statement was received loud and clear.
“I thought we did a good job of letting the Noxubee County loss go,” Columbus senior wide receiver Michael McCloud said. “We played well in that game, and that was against a state champion. I think we really learned from that game, and that helped us here.
“The offensive line was really on point. It allowed us to do all kinds of things on offense. It was a lot of fun being out there and watching everybody on my team do well.”
Columbus drove 69 and 70 yards on the game’s first two possessions. The Falcons did it with relative ease on the ground. Columbus also did it without the services of leading rusher and Mississippi State commitment Kylin Hill, who missed the game with what Montgomery called “a minor injury.”
“(Being without Hill) just means you step up,” Jackson said. “We are in this together as a team, so you just go out when your number is called and you do what you can to help your team win. We really needed to win this game because New Hope is a big rival. Practice was good this week. You could tell we were determined. We wanted to come out and start strong and make things happen.”
Columbus scored on five of six possessions and didn’t commit a turnover in the first half. The Falcons were up to the challenge on defense, too. New Hope was held to three-and-out on four of six first-half possessions.
Granted, the Trojans (2-1) had timing issues. On three occasions, a wide receiver beat the secondary and appeared open downfield but a connection with senior quarterback Thomas Stevens wasn’t made.
“Our guys were not mentally ready,” said New Hope coach Kris Pickle, whose team trailed 35-7 at halftime. “There were plays to be made we couldn’t make. It should have been 35-35 at halftime. We just weren’t mentally ready for the challenge of this game.”
Columbus rushed 40 times for 365 yards. Senior Kendre Conner led the way with 16 rushes for 154 yards, while Gholar ran 12 times for 126 yards. It was the first two 100-yard games for the Falcons this season. Jackson ran seven times for 61 yards.
Gholar and Jackson had two rushing touchdowns, while Conner had another. Gholar added touchdown passes to McCloud and Jackson.
“When you have a hard loss, you just have to come out and recuperate,” Gholar said. “I really told the guys to keep their heads up. It’s a long season and you can’t let one loss define your season. We still have all the district games to go. Each week you are 0-0. Each week you got to get better.”
The Columbus defense also turned in its best performance even though New Hope scored two touchdowns in the final seven minutes.
Derrick Beckom, Chris Blair, Braylen Edinburgh, and Tahj Sykes helped the Falcons pressure Stevens in the backfield. Sykes had a fumble recovery, while Beckom had an interception.
“We knew we had to play better than we had been playing,” Columbus junior cornerback Devon King said. “New Hope likes to throw the ball, so we knew we had to be lock down on the receivers. This was a big rivalry game, and we really came out excited and ready to play.
“I think that was the big difference in the game. We just had a lot of emotion. This team really loves playing the game, and we really wanted to play again after last week.”
Stevens hit Terryonte Thomas and Andre Erby for touchdowns. Tony Deloach also scored. New Hope had 122 of its 246 total yards in the final quarter.
New Hope forced three turnovers, with Eriq Johnson and Tae-kion Reed recovering fumbles and Kyree Fields intercepting a pass.
Still, the Falcons had the answers.
“We played our hearts out and give it all we had,” McCloud said. “Our goal was to give it all for four quarters and to never slow down. We got a long way to go, but this is the kind of game we can watch and see the things we are capable of doing.”
Follow Dispatch sports writer Scott Walters on Twitter @dispatchscott
Scott was sports editor for The Dispatch.
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 37 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.