Columbus senior Jaelan Craddieth isn’t used to winning streaks.
In his four years of high school, the Falcons have never won more than two straight games. They’ve only managed a two-game win streak three times: one during a 6-6 season in 2016, one that accounted for the only two wins of the 2017 campaign and the one they’re on right now.
So when Craddieth returned to school Monday after Friday’s road win over rival New Hope, he was greeted with a fairly unfamiliar feeling as schoolmates told him and the Falcons to “keep up the good work.”
“It’s very different,” Craddieth admitted.
Sustained success may be unfamiliar for the Falcons, but Craddieth and his teammates aren’t letting it get to their heads ahead of Friday’s home district showdown with Center Hill (3-3).
“The kids are like, ‘Yeah, we won, but let’s get back to work,'” Columbus coach Joshua Pulphus said. “They still come in with the same mindset of practicing hard and continuing to get better.”
The Falcons took down Lanier at home 13-12 two weeks ago and handled New Hope 28-14 on the road in last week’s district opener, but now they’ve got arguably a tougher test in Center Hill.
The Mustangs’ .500 record features early losses to Lewisburg and Colliersville (Tennessee), and they saw a three-game win streak with victories over Byhalia and Memphis schools Southwind and Douglas snapped with last week’s loss to Lake Cormorant.
“It’s gonna be a tough test for us,” Pulphus said. “They lost a close one to their rival school in Lake Cormorant, but they have been playing very good football.”
Center Hill, which runs an option offense, depends heavily on three players: junior quarterback Preston Newson, sophomore running back Troy Martin and junior rusher Darryen Hobbs.
“They have three dynamic backs on offense,” Pulphus said. “They can run the ball very, very well. On defense, they’re fast to the football, very aggressive, love to blitz.”
Columbus junior quarterback Ethan Conner echoed his coach’s sentiment, noting the strength of the Mustangs’ defense.
“They flow to the ball,” Conner said. “They’ve got playmakers.”
The Falcons have playmakers in their own right, of course, and Conner is chief among them. His 51-yard touchdown run two plays into Friday’s game against New Hope is an example of his dual-threat ability. Conner is sometimes more willing to take off and run than he is to pass, and Pulphus draws up plenty of designed runs for his quarterback.
If the Falcons are to pull off a third straight win, Conner will need to have a big game, and the Columbus defense must sustain the success it’s had in the first half of the season.
“We’ve gotta execute and be in our spots when we’re supposed to, and everything else will take care of itself,” Craddieth said.
Should the Falcons put everything together against the Mustangs, Columbus might just see something it’s been missing for a while.
“Hopefully we can pull off another win,” Craddieth said.
Theo DeRosa reports on Mississippi State sports for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter at @Theo_DeRosa.
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