CALEDONIA — Midway through the third quarter, in a wet defensive struggle, a muffed punt snap set up the Okolona High School football team inside the Caledonia 10-yard line.
With the Chieftains leading 6-3 in a game with few explosive plays, it looked grim for Caledonia. But outside linebacker Sam Cooper wasn’t going to give up anything easy.
On first-and-goal, Cooper slashed into the backfield to bring down J.C. Buchannan for a loss. Three plays later, the defensive line, led by Jacob Sudduth and Coby Coleman, forced a turnover on downs at the 1-yard line.
“I was just thinking we gotta stop them because our offense needed some help a little bit,” Cooper said of the goal-line sequence. “I think we got a little bit of momentum going on our side after that, and it really helped.”
The stand helped Caledonia rally in the fourth quarter and piece together a touchdown after a 30-yard strike from Spencer Unruh to Will Burton. The running of Zion Ford set up a quarterback sneak by Unruh that gave Caledonia the lead for good en route to a 17-6 victory.
Defense was the name of the game Friday, as both teams put a heavy workload of their starting running backs and struggled to make progress through the air. Okolona was able to drive the ball well in the first half, but Caledonia coach Andy Crotwell said his team made the right adjustments to shut them down late.
“I felt like the problem was our defensive line was penetrating,” Crotwell said. “We weren’t engaging offensive lineman and knocking them off their path to linebackers, we were just flying up field and they were taking advantage of it. The defensive line settled down in the second half and hit their targets and then pursued to the football. The second half they did what they were coached to do and the results were evident.”
Sudduth was the leader of the defensive line that played smarter and with more discipline in the second half.
“We finally figured out about the screens and stuff, to sit back and wait on it to try to pick it off,” Sudduth said. “We were finally able to shut down the running game.”
The biggest plays came on the goal line-stand in which the defensive line stood tall.
“The running back cut it back towards me every time, so they were pretty much running at me all game,” Cooper said. “He was a big dude; he was pretty good.”
Said Crotwell, “I thought the defense played outstanding in the second half. I thought we did a lot of great things. Offensively, we’re still trying to find an identity and still trying to get better at doing the things we need to do to be successful.”
Speaking to his team after the game, Crotwell was pleased with the 3-0 start, but he wanted to impress on his team the need to improve if it wants to beat New Hope next week in a Lowndes County rivalry game.
Caledonia recorded its last victory against New Hope on Sept. 10, 2004. Last season, the Confederates scored on the Trojans for the first time since 2007. New Hope is 0-3 this season after graduating a deep class of seniors in 2014.
“We just gotta get that win,” Cooper said. “We haven’t beat them in a long time. It used to be a rivalry. It isn’t anymore. We have to make it one.”
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