When the Columbus High School football team was cleared to practice in early July and began preparing for the 2020 season, the Falcons were understandably excited.
So excited, head coach Joshua Pulphus said, they would have happily lined up against just about any football team in the area — regardless of level.
“I think we could have played Mississippi State, and we would have been happy to go play,” Pulphus said.
So maybe it’s good that Columbus opens up the season Friday with a road game at Louisville, a perennial championship contender in MHSAA Class 4A who offers one of the toughest tests the Falcons could hope to take. Pulphus expects the Wildcats to vie for another state title this season and said the experience will be beneficial for his team right off the bat this fall.
“Anytime you’re playing championship-pedigree teams, I always think it’s a good matchup,” Pulphus said. “They could beat us 100-0 or 1-0; anytime you’re playing against somebody that has the same goal and the same drive that you have, I think it’s essential playing — win, lose or draw.”
Even though the latter two options are more likely — Louisville won 32-6 at Columbus last Sept. 6 — Columbus players voiced their confidence two days ahead of their long-awaited first game.
“We’re gonna win that one,” senior outside linebacker Steve Cattledge said.
Pulphus said Cattledge, who is 6-foot-4 and 220 pounds, has received scholarship offers from several FBS schools and recruiting interest from Auburn and Mississippi State. Senior quarterback Ethan Conner, a returning starter, is in a similar boat, but Pulphus said Southeastern Conference schools like the Tigers and Bulldogs have waited to pull the trigger on both players until the colleges’ scouts can watch them play.
Plenty of scouts will certainly be in attendance Friday to watch Louisville defensive end Tyvoris Cooper, a three-star prospect considered the No. 22 senior in Mississippi, according to the 247 Sports composite rankings.
“Anytime you’re playing a player of that caliber — that level — it’s scary,” Pulphus said. “He showed some stuff on film that a lot of high school kids don’t need to know how to do.”
Pulphus acknowledged Cooper will be a “handful” for Falcons senior lineman Johnathan Dickerson, who has received junior college recruiting interest himself. Dickerson is the only returning offensive lineman for Columbus and the only senior on either side of the line.
“He’s taken great leadership and ownership of that level,” Pulphus said.
Juniors Deitrick McCray, Isaiah Harris and Ormani Smith and sophomores Tyrese Erby and Hemyar Nagi will staff a young defensive line.
“We don’t have that many bodies,” Pulphus said. “We’re looking forward to them growing up and learning and being more mature.”
Senior Chris Allen, the Falcons’ other starter at outside linebacker, pointed out Harris as a budding star who has helped lead Columbus’ improvement on defense. The Falcons’ offense, which struggled greatly at the beginning of last season, has improved majorly, too.
But thanks to starting offseason workouts more than a month behind schools like New Hope and Caledonia, Allen admitted he still feels a little bit behind in his ramp-up for the season.
So did Pulphus, who said the Falcons’ “backs are against the wall” even though they’ve handled the transition admirably.
“We still feel pressured and rushed because we are behind,” Pulphus said. “We’re behind, but it is what it is.”
The Falcons’ coaching staff has been working extra hard to make up for lost time, planning and scheming in the field house as late as 8 or 9 p.m.
“We put in long hours,” Pulphus said. “I think I’ve got some great coaches here.”
The Columbus staff has had to make up the major blow COVID-19 dealt to the school’s junior high program in addition to putting the Falcons’ spring and summer workouts in disarray, but Pulphus said he’s pleased with the school’s incoming ninth graders and the sophomores already on its varsity roster. Tyrie Payne and Cameron Kidd are some of the 10th graders who will be “cornerstones” of how Pulphus wants to run his program, the coach said.
It’s his second year in Columbus since taking over a team without a single win in 2018. After a 4-7 season in 2019, Pulphus’ goal for the Falcons remains the same: to make the playoffs, though he said doing merely that wouldn’t be satisfying for the team.
Pulphus knows meeting those high expectations starts with Friday’s game, and no matter how the Falcons fare, he’s proud of how his team has looked.
“I can say I think we’ve got it going the way I like it,” he said.
Theo DeRosa reports on Mississippi State sports for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter at @Theo_DeRosa.
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