During a fourth-quarter heat timeout, the Columbus High School band played loudly.
Senior Jordan Randle stood at the 40-yard line and danced passionately. He implored his teammates to share a step with him.
For the first time this season, the Columbus High football team was feeling good.
Columbus erased early season misery away with a 27-7 victory against Vicksburg in a Mississippi High School Activities Association (MHSAA) game at Falcon Field.
“This feels really great,” Columbus senior wide receiver Kenneth Martin said. “We have been working hard to get a win. The seniors have been through the ups and downs. This shows the younger guys what we are capable of doing. It means a lot to go into the locker room and share a win.”
Despite dropping its first three games, Columbus has played with passion and swagger. The program has established itself as a playoff participant in Class 6A. That belief system has helped the team through the tough times.
In the home opener Friday night, jubilation finally joined the passion and swagger, as the Falcons came roaring out of the gates and showed enthusiasm for what they were trying to do.
“All week we talked about playing with a lead,” Columbus coach Randal Montgomery said. “With veteran teams, it is all about how you finish. How do you put a team away? We went with the opposite approach this week. We talked about pre-game. We talked about warming up. We talked about the coin toss. We talked about the first 12 minutes of the game and what it could mean to our season. Heck, we hadn’t had a lead all year. Let’s take a lead and see what happens.”
After a three-and-out by the Columbus defense, the offense took over and moved 59 yards on eight plays — all on the ground. Junior Derrick Jordan carried the bulk of the rushing load,but senior Patrick Jackson found the scoring column for the first time this season on a 15-yard run.
“It felt great,” Jackson said. “It was good to have that feeling again. The coaches told us to get after them, defend our field.”
Columbus scored on its first four possessions. The Falcons had a season high in points when Laterius Stowers hit Jervorious Vance for a 34-yard touchdown pass to cap the team’s second possession in the first quarter.
“The offense is growing up,” Jordan said. “This was a big step forward. We started playing with confidence (after the first score). It just gave the whole team a huge lift.”
Columbus followed with a 39-yard field goal by Chris Taylor and a 33-yard touchdown pass from Stowers to Vance.
The final possession of the half also moved to the Vicksburg 10-yard line. A sack led to a Taylor field goal attempt that was blocked as time expired.
By that time, too many positives had happened for Montgomery to be concerned about the final play.
“We had a great start,” Montgomery said. “I really wanted to see how we would respond if we had some good things happen early. We haven’t had many breaks this season, but a good team forces their breaks. In the second half, we were too comfortable with the lead and didn’t continue to attack. We can learn from that. The things that built the lead are what is important at this time.”
Despite being outscored 7-3, the Falcons dominated in the second half. Columbus ran 34 plays, while Vicksburg ran 10.
Vicksburg had 81 yards offense at the half and only added 6 yards to that total.
The Gators (0-4) erased the shutout shortly after Rasheed Knight had a 55-yard fumble return following a sack of Stowers. Nick Anderson scored on a 1-yard plunge.
Columbus had 401 yards. Derrick Jordan became the team’s first 100-yard rusher with 162 yards on 26 tries. Even without a touchdown, he was all smiles after the game.
“The offensive line really had a great night,” Jordan said. “They have been working hard in practice and it paid off. That’s the thing about this team, everybody is working hard. We are getting there and we know it.”
Senior Isaiah Karriem led a dominating performance by the defense. Karriem got in on two sacks and also had a punt block. He had lots of help with Josh Gray, Randle, and Montrez Williams continuing to put together strong starts to the season.
Stowers was 12 of 19 for 185 yards. Vance had five catches for 80 yards.
The quest for a third playoff berth begins next week when Columbus plays host to DeSoto Central on Friday night in its Class 6A, Region 1 opener.
“It’s pretty obvious we needed a win,” Martin said. “This will do a lot when we come back out to practice Monday. There is more excitement when region play starts. This will really help us get ready for that.”
Montgomery has been patient with what he calls the youngest team he has coached. He will work on corrections Monday. However, the list of positives will outweigh the negatives when the new week begins.
“We will coach them up,” Montgomery said. “There is so much more potential to reach with this team. We will show them the bad, but we will show them the good things, too. It is going to be great going into a happy film room.”
Follow Dispatch sports writer Scott Walters on Twitter @dispatchscott
Scott was sports editor for The Dispatch.
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