ARCOLA — The Columbus Christian football team made history Friday night.
KC Cunningham had seven carries for 122 yards and three touchdowns, and B.J. Shirley had 12 carries for 100 yards to lead Columbus Christian to a 39-0 victory against Deer Creek Academy in a Mississippi Association of Independent Schools Class 1A, District 2 game.
The victory helped the Rams (6-4, 3-0 district) secure the program’s first district title in 11-man football.
“They handled it real well,” Columbus Christian coach Greg Watkins said. “They were humble and they were proud. Everybody was excited. It has been 10 or 11 years since when (former coach) Billy Thomas started 11-man football at the school. … There is a lot of excitement and history being made. Hopefully it will bring us to a new level and new expectations.”
Thomas, who also coached the boys basketball team at the school, saved a football that all of the members of the school’s 11-man football team signed. That team went 0-9. Watkins said all of the members of the current team will sign that same football Monday to commemorate their district championship.
Columbus Christian wasted little time in its second chance in as many years to make history. A year ago, Columbus Christian lost to Deer Creek Academy 28-26 in Steens in a game that would have clinched the district title.
On Friday, the Rams broke out to a 16-0 lead after the first quarter and a 36-0 lead at halftime. The second half was played with a running clock.
“The first series on defense we attacked real well, and I think they lost yards on all three plays,” Watkins said. “We got the ball and took about six plays to score. It was the same thing on the next series on defense. We scored again and it took a lot of life out of them.
“Our guys played with more emotion and more fire than all year. Going into the playoffs, it is a good thing.”
As Watkins expected, Columbus Christian earned the No. 5 seed based on power points for the Class A playoffs. Columbus Christian will play host to Desoto School at 7 p.m. Friday. The winner of that game will take on the winner of No. 4 Natchez Trinity Episcopal and No. 13 Central Holmes. Last season, Columbus Christian, the No. 16 seed, lost to top-seeded Natchez Trinity Episcopal in the first round of the playoffs.
The victory helped Columbus Christian erase the sting of a 35-8 loss to Newton County Academy, which earned the No. 3 seed, last week. In that game, Watkins said the Rams moved the ball but didn’t finish. He said earlier this week that he felt confident about the team’s ability to move the ball against Deer Cree Academy. Columbus Christian stuck with its ground game and did just that, piling up 421 yards on 39 carries.
Columbus Christian had a little more than 300 yards in the first 24 minutes. It held Deer Creek Academy to -1 yards in the first half.
“Against the run we attacked better than we have all year long,” Watkins said. “We have had problems with the run and some of the power plays, but our corners, our linebackers, and the line was blowing plays up. It seemed like we played downhill more than we have all year.”
Shirley, Kimarri Whitfield, Alec Vasquez, and Kameron Mitchell led the team with four tackles.
Cunningham had touchdown runs of 13, 7, and 50 yards in the first half. Whitfield (nine carries, 92 yards) had touchdown runs of 30 and 42 yards. Quarterback Dawson Shaw added eight carries for 100 yards.
“Offensively, we’re doing pretty good and have a lot of confidence,” Watkins said. “Even last week, we moved the ball real well,, but we didn’t put it in the end zone. … We did a real good job of finishing drives. We spread it out pretty good, so it was hard to key on one guy.”
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