The snap was low, the punt was high, and the Columbus High School football team’s luck was about to change.
With under a minute to go in Friday’s home opener against Southaven and the Falcons inside their own 15-yard line, senior Darion Mosley fielded a snap at his ankles and sent away a towering, short punt.
The football descended from the blue-black sky and smacked a Southaven player with his back turned on the crown of his orange helmet.
Columbus’ Hemyar Nagi jumped on the ball at the 31, and the Falcons (1-1) got the luck that escaped them time after time in 2020 to seal a 10-6 win over the Chargers (1-1) on Friday night.
“Last year, we didn’t get those bounces,” Columbus coach Joshua Pulphus said.
Nor do the Falcons likely win a game in which they failed to score a single offensive touchdown, a milestone which has eluded them through the first two contests of 2021.
But on Friday night, Columbus’ defense was enough.
Senior defensive back Michael Mosley put the Falcons up for good in the second quarter by returning an interception 64 yards for a touchdown, and the defense bent and bent and bent and never snapped as the Chargers couldn’t break through.
“We played our hearts out tonight,” Michael Mosley said. “We had to step up because we knew what was at stake, so we just went out there and played ball.”
Neither team scored in the second half as each traded punts throughout the game’s final 24 minutes. But with 1 minute, 22 seconds to go, Southaven fumbled the ball at the Falcons’ 8-yard line, a key mistake that almost cost the Chargers their final chance.
Then Columbus went three and out as running back Tawonn Troop was stuffed on second and third down after an 8-yard gain on first down. Southaven called all three timeouts on the series, preparing to mount one final drive for the win.
But the Falcons were ready to stop it.
“The defense said, ‘Just get us back on the field,’” Pulphus said.
Ultimately, they never had to. Nagi pounced on the fumbled punt, and Columbus went into victory formation, taking a knee once to run out the clock.
“I’m proud of my guys,” Pulphus said. “I knew it was going to be a fight.”
The two teams each put up zeros in three of the four quarters, and all of Friday’s scoring took place in an eventful second period.
After a partially blocked punt wound up in Jamarion Moody’s hands at the Southaven 15, Columbus settled for a 28-yard Darion Mosley field goal mere seconds into the quarter.
Injuries to two consecutive Southaven quarterbacks on back-to-back plays hurt the Chargers, but they mounted a touchdown drive after an errant punt snap made Darion Mosley unable to get off a kick.
Southaven started from the Falcons’ 32 and marched into the end zone, with Dontavious Brevard scoring on fourth-and-goal for the 1 to put the Chargers ahead. A two-point conversion pass never reached its intended target, unless its intended target was the ground.
Dewayne Graham Jr. intercepted Columbus’ Omari Williams on the next series, but Michael Mosley jumped a route, snagged the pass and took off down the right sideline for the eventual winning score.
It was the second interception of the game for Mosley, who picked off a deep pass thrown right at him on Southaven’s first play from scrimmage.
“It was huge for Michael Mosley because he’s so special,” Pulphus said of the second-quarter pick-six. “He has a chance to do a lot of great things. He’s on the verge of a breakout year. Mike has always been that guy who with the ball in his hands can do wonders from special teams to defense to offense.”
The victory gives Columbus a huge lift amid a four-game non-region schedule comprising strong teams from the north part of the state. The Falcons visited Starkville last week, a 28-0 loss, and they’ll host Louisville next week before hitting the road to play at Tupelo on Sept. 17.
“Like I tell my guys, if we finish this gauntlet 0-4, 4-0, 2-2 — whatever our record may be at the end — going against the competition of Starkville, Louisville, Southaven and Tupelo will only get us prepared for our goal of trying to make the playoffs,” Pulphus said. “We’re still rebuilding, and we’re trying to get this thing going in the right direction.
“We scheduled it tough for a reason,” he added. “The kids knew it, and they embraced and were ready for the challenge.”
Columbus 10, Southaven 6
Southaven (1-1) 0 6 0 0 — 6
Columbus (1-1) 0 10 0 0 — 10
Second quarter
C — Darion Mosley 28 FG, 11:51
S — Dontavious Brevard 1 run (pass failed), 6:35
C — Michael Mosley 64 interception return (D. Mosley kick), 2:57
Theo DeRosa reports on Mississippi State sports for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter at @Theo_DeRosa.
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