HERNANDO — The payoff came Friday night for Columbus High School senior Marquavius Mitchell.
“Marquavius was down earlier in the year because he wasn’t getting that many balls,” Columbus junior quarterback C.J. Gholar said. “I told him to keep his head up because his day was coming. He is a great playmaker. I told him his day was coming.”
Mitchell’s day came in the final Mississippi High School Activities Association Class 6A, Region 1 game of the season. A season-high 129 receiving yards highlighted the best Columbus passing day of the season in a 44-24 victory against Hernando.
Columbus (8-3, 6-1) set a school record for region wins, and reached eight or more wins for only the second time. It will play host to Region 2 No. 3 seed Clinton (7-4) when the North State Class 6A playoffs begin Friday night.
“Last year around this time we were packing our stuff up,” Columbus second-year coach Randal Montgomery said. “To go from 4-7 last year to 8-3 says a lot about the hard work these kids and coaches have put in.”
Columbus entered the game with no incentive because it had wrapped up a home playoff games two weeks earlier. Even though Hernando (7-5, 2-5) had been eliminated from playoff consideration, a large senior class received motivation from a large Senior Night crowd.
The Falcons had hoped to rest players and to build an early lead. Instead, Columbus rallied from a double-digit deficit for the third time in region play.
A large part of the rally came thanks to Gholar, who was 10 of 19 for a career-best 238 yards and his second two-touchdown passing game of the season. Mitchell was the primary target. He made two nifty moves on a 60-yard touchdown pass. Kenneth Martin also had three catches for a season-best 84 receiving yards, including a 52-yard touchdown.
“We went out and played hard tonight and kept fighting,” Mitchell said. “Winning eight games is quite an accomplishment considering we won that many the last two years combined. My boy C.J. threw it out there tonight and I went out there and got it.”
Columbus was looking for a bounce-back performance after seeing a five-game region winning streak snapped with a 35-13 loss to No. 1 South Panola. The Falcons haven’t lost back-to-back games. Montgomery said the team “needed to feel good” again before entering the playoffs.
“No way you wanted to go in (the playoffs) with back-to-back losses,” Montgomery said. “We just wanted to go out, play hard, and get a win. You want the guy to have some positive reinforcement. It has been a great season, but everybody starts off 0-0 next week.”
Hernando built a 12-0 lead early in the second quarter. Columbus worked more of the regulars in the game from there. Junior Kylin Hill played despite stretched ligaments in his thumb. Hill continued to run over defensive backs on a night in which he had 12 carries for 155 yards and two touchdowns.
Columbus scored twice in the final 8 minutes, 22 seconds of the half to take a 14-12 halftime lead. Gholar hit Mitchell on the 60-yard touchdown before Hill capped a 10-play, 60-yard drive with a 4-yard touchdown run with eight seconds left in the quarter.
Columbus, which had 512 yards of offense, then had its best quarter of the season — a four-score, 23-point outburst in the next 12 minutes. The defense did its part with interceptions by Tyran Smith and Chris Blair.
“We have been working hard on the practice game all season,” Gholar said. “It was something we struggled on to start the season. We just have been getting better in practice and it finally started clicking. I am really proud of Marquavius because that is what he can do every week.”
Sophomore Patrick Jackson scored his first varsity touchdown on a 15-yard touchdown in the closing minute.
“The best is really yet to come for this team,” Jackson said. “It is exciting to be out there and getting a chance. It is great when you see that your teammates really believe in you. It has been fun being part of this great season. We are excited about the playoffs.”
Gholar feels like this team learned a lot from the loss to South Panola. The Falcons have played with confidence throughout the season and aren’t fazed by early deficits.
“It’s a different mind-set for this team this year,” Gholar said. “We are excited to play every Friday night. Instead of worrying about what might go wrong, we are more concerned about doing things right. Everybody is ready for the playoffs. We are excited about playing at home.
“Since we have had some good come-from-behind wins, we don’t get down. We just keep believing and keep doing the things that we do in practice.”
Montgomery reminded his team one loss will end the season. He told that players the best week of practice this season would be needed.
“We started off like a team that didn’t want to be here,” Montgomery said. “We always fight to the end, though. The kids always believe they have a chance to win every game. That gives you a chance. We talked all week about having a great week of practice and ending the regular season on a positive note. We were able to do just that.”
Follow Dispatch sports writer Scott Walters on Twitter @dispatchscott
Scott was sports editor for The Dispatch.
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