By Stan Caldwell
stanmansportsfan.com
COLUMBIA – The Columbia Wildcats started the 2019 season as the top-ranked team among the state’s smaller schools, and they’ve stayed there throughout the season.
Thursday night, in an intra-county showdown of undefeated teams, the Wildcats looked the part of a championship contender, as they rolled West Marion 33-14 in front of a packed house at Walter Payton Field.
Columbia, the No. 1 team in the state in the Mississippi Gridiron Little 10 and Class 3A rankings, improved to 8-0 overall and 3-0 in Region 8-3A. West Marion, ranked seventh in the Little 10 and No. 2 in 3A, dropped to 8-1 and 2-1.
“We like where we are right now as a team,” said second-year coach Chip Bilderback. “We still have to improve on some things, but we’re excited about where we are.”
Bilderback is especially excited to have Kentrel Bullock in his backfield. A 5-foot-10, 195-pounder who has committed to Ole Miss, Bullock ran for four touchdowns, including two second-half bursts of 63 and 98 yards to break the Trojans’ backs.
“I’m biased, but I think Kentrel is the best running back in the state of Mississippi,” said Bilderback. “He does what we need him to do, but he’d be the first to tell you that we’ve got a physical offensive line. He works hard and is always looking to get better.”
West Marion made Bullock work for 47 tough yards on 12 carries in the first half and stopped him five times for a loss of yardage.
Still, Bullock put Columbia ahead 6-0 on the opening possession of the game with a 19-yard touchdown run straight off left tackle, capping a seven-play, 64-yard drive.
However, the drive was almost aborted at the start, when Octavious Harvey picked off a pass for West Marion on the third play of the game, only to be called for pass interference on the play. It was the first of 10 penalties against the Trojans in the first half for 86 yards.
“Those hurt us early,” said West Marion coach Brad Duncan. “The pass interference on the first play was a big turnaround. I’d be interested to look at it on film, you know, (referees), they’re human.”
The Trojans grabbed the lead midway through the second quarter, when a lateral pass went awry for Columbia, with West Marion recovering at the Wildcat 6-yard-line.
It took three plays before Jeremiah Holmes scored from a yard out on a quarterback keeper. Larry Magee’s PAT kick gave West a 7-6 lead.
But it didn’t last long.
The Wildcats needed just six plays to get into the end zone. A 37-yard pass from Javen Moses to Daqwan Contrell-Jones set Columbia up at the West Marion 1, and Bullock dove in for the score, then added the PAT on a run over right guard to give Columbia a 14-7 lead.
Whatever West Marion did against Bullock in the first half definitely didn’t work in the second.
After Columbia stopped the Trojans on a three-and-out to open the third quarter, Bullock took a handoff around left end, burst into the open and outran the pursuit for a 63-yard touchdown run.
“We knew they were going to come out playing hard, and we knew that we just had to bounce back,” said Bullock. “We just executed and got the job done. All I saw was the end zone on those plays.”
As brilliant as Bullock was on offense, the real story was the play of the Columbia defense. The Wildcats stuffed the Trojan ground game to the tune of a net 18 yards rushing and harassed Holmes all night long.
Holmes did finish 25 of 36 for 252 yards, with 13 of his passes going to his favorite target, junior Qavonte Swanigan, for 153 yards and a touchdown. But with the ground game stopped, the Wildcats could pin their ears back and come hard.
“We came to dominate,” said Wildcat junior nose guard Jeremiah Haynes. “They were a good team, with a good record, but we just had to be better. We had a good week of practice and dominated, just like we were supposed to.”
The defense stepped up after the Trojans mounted a drive to try to get back into the game, moving to a first-and-goal at the Wildcat 7.
On third-and-goal from the 3, Holmes was unable to corral a high snap and lost 12 yards, then a fourth-down pass play was stopped short of the goal line at the Wildcat 2.
Before the Trojans could get settled on defense, Bullock rocketed through the line on the first play of the Columbia possession and found nothing but green grass in front of him.
The Wildcat defense put a final bow on a big victory in the fourth quarter, when Jamison Kelly Jr. intercepted a pass and brought it back for a 48-yard pick-six.
“I was proud of our defense, especially our defensive line,” said Bilderback. “We’re great up front on defense.
“But last week we got our safety back, Jamison Kelly (after an injury), and he really made some big plays. He’s a hitter, and he covers a lot of ground. There’s a reason he’s a Division I football player, and he showed everyone tonight what he can do.”
West Marion earned a consolation touchdown in the waning minutes of the game, capping a six-play, 78-yard drive with a 14-yard pass from Holmes to Swanigan.
“They’re a really good football team,” said Duncan. “You can use the old Dennis Green quote, ‘they are who we thought they were.’
“But we get to find out right now what kind of character we have. We’ve got to fight back. We’ve got two more division games left. Hopefully, we can take care of business, and maybe somewhere down the road we’ll see them again.”
West Marion will travel to Tylertown next week, while Columbia hosts Seminary.
GAME SUMMARY
Thursday at Columbia
Columbia 33, West Marion 14
West Marion 0 7 0 7 – 14
Columbia 6 8 12 7 – 33
First Quarter
C – Kentrel Bullock 13 run (Kick failed), 7:51 (7 plays/64 yards/4:09 possession).
Second Quarter
WM – Jeremiah Holmes 1 run (Larry Magee kick), 6:21 (3/6/0:54).
C – Bullock 1 run (Bullock run), 3:33 (6/77/2:48).
Third Quarter
C – Bullock 63 run (Run failed), 10:37 (1/63/0:11).
C – Bullock 98 run (kick failed), 6:10 (1/98/0:14).
Fourth Quarter
C – Jamison Kelly Jr. 48 interception return (Antoine Franklin kick), 6:08.
WM – Holmes 14 pass to Qavonte Swanigan (Magee kick), 3:30 (6/78/2:38).
TEAM STATISTICS
WM C
First downs 16 10
Total net yards 270 255
Rushes-yards 19-18 35-215
Passing yards 252 40
Comp-Att-Int 25-36-2 2-6-0
Fumbles-lost 1-0 1-1
Penalties-yards 13-107 11-91
Punts-total (avg.) 5-175 (35.0) 6-227 (37.8)
Sacks-yards 0-0 1-7
3rd down conv. 3-11 3-7
4th down conv. 1-3 0-0
Time of possession 26:17 21:43
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
Rushing
West Marion – Octavious Harvey 6-16, Jartavious Martin 1-8, Jeremiah Holmes 11-(-1), Team 1-(-5); Columbia – Kentrel Bullock 20-214, Omar Johnson 6-8, Zavion Pittman 1-1, Javen Moses 2-0, Team 1-(-2), Josh Brown 5-(-6).
Passing
West Marion – Jeremiah Holmes 25-36-2-252; Columbia – Javen Moses 2-6-0-40.
Receiving
West Marion – Qavonte Swanigan 13-153, Larry Magee 3-39, Jartavious Martin 4-24, Octavious Harvey 4-18, Gabe Miller 1-16; Columbia – Daqwan Contrell-Jones 1-37, Tryson Johnson 1-3.
