Contrast Columbus High School’s first drive Friday against Center Hill with any of its other possessions, and it shouldn’t take long to divine how the Falcons’ two-game winning streak was snapped at home.
The Falcons gradually moved the ball and ran the clock, going 67 yards in 13 plays and just over seven minutes. A 28-yard touchdown pass from Ethan Conner to Devarkus Ramsey and a successful two-point conversion capped a drive that couldn’t have gone any better, putting Columbus ahead 8-0.
But as it turned out, that was the beginning and the end for the Columbus offense. The Falcons flamed out after that sustained opening possession, failing to score again and letting Center Hill run wild for a 31-8 win on the Falcons’ home field.
“We just got brain-dead for a second,” Columbus running back Karon Hawk Jr. said.
A combination of crushing penalties, too-predictable play-calling and strong defense by the Mustangs effectively shut down the Falcons’ offense, and Center Hill ran its option offense to perfection.
Seeing his team outmatched Friday, Columbus coach Joshua Pulphus knew the fault ultimately lay on his shoulders.
“This is my loss,” Pulphus said. “I didn’t have the guys prepared. I didn’t have the guys ready to play fast. I didn’t have the guys ready to play physical. We didn’t get as many stops as we needed.”
While the Falcons did key on Mustangs running back Darryen Hobbs, it hardly mattered, as Hobbs dashed through narrow gaps all evening and finished with three touchdowns on the ground.
“We knew 15 was the man,” Pulphus said of Hobbs. “We knew 15 was a good player. That was the plan to come in and make sure we respect and honor him. We just missed assignments, and that goes back to me.”
Those missed assignments were the Falcons’ undoing — especially against a team like Center Hill, where Pulphus said one missed assignment essentially becomes four.
“We had a lot of self-inflicted wounds,” Pulphus said. “We didn’t play our best.”
The poor performance was quite the opposite of what Hawk expected based on the team’s effort during game preparation, he said.
“They were going hard at practice and when we were watching film,” Hawk said.
The junior had some of his best runs before a second-quarter ankle injury limited him and Jakaylin Lewis assumed the bulk of the snaps at running back.
Even apart from Hawk’s injury, that second quarter was where it really fell apart for Columbus on Friday.
Hobbs scored from 10 yards out a little bit over a minute into the quarter and repeated the performance from 6 yards out a little less than six minutes later. Just before the half, Center Hill’s Xavier Pearson knocked a 39-yard field goal through the uprights to put the Mustangs up two possessions, and the Falcons, who had taken an 8-0 lead into the period, headed into halftime trailing 17-8.
Columbus’ offensive efforts as the Falcons tried to get back into the game in the second half resulted in several dropped passes, runs blown up in the backfield and penalties, but perhaps even less promising was the team’s screen game. The Mustangs saw right through essentially every screen play the Falcons ran to sophomore receiver Omari Williams and snuffed them all out, most for big losses.
“We just didn’t execute,” Pulphus said. “I didn’t prepare us hard enough in wide receiver blocking, DB blocking.”
On the other side of the ball, Center Hill put on a master class in blocking, seemingly always creating the necessary holes for Hobbs or sophomore back Troy Martin.
Martin scored 46 seconds into the fourth quarter from 5 yards out, and Hobbs put the finishing touches on the ballgame with a 40-yard score with 4:13 to go, giving Center Hill a 31-8 advantage.
The Falcons’ final possession was a fitting end to Friday’s game, as quarterback Ethan Conner completed a 4-yard screen to Williams then threw three straight incompletions, including a drop by junior wideout Steven Turner, to give the Mustangs the ball back for the final time.
It goes without saying that Columbus will have to bring better offense to the table to notch a win in next Friday’s home matchup with Grenada.
“Grenada’s a division matchup, division game, and it’s important,” Pulphus said. “We gotta come back to the drawing board next Monday ready to practice, ready to work and ready to play football.”
Theo DeRosa reports on Mississippi State sports for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter at @Theo_DeRosa.
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