While the playoffs began Friday for some area schools, the postseason was already in full swing for others like Columbus Christian Academy. After a long layoff from action, the Rams captured a dominant win in the second round, while West Lowndes notched a blowout to begin its playoff trek.
Columbus Christian Academy 58, Tunica Academy 14
CCA head coach Marcus Davidson admitted he was a little worried.
A first-round bye and another open week kept his Rams off the football field for more than two weeks, and despite his best efforts to keep them practicing, there was a twinge of concern that some rust had built up on his well-oiled offense, which averages 62 points per game, and his strong defense.
About midway through the first quarter of last Friday’s contest against Tunica in the second round of the MAIS Class 1A Division II playoffs, those worries were wiped away.
Like all season, the No. 2-seeded Rams scored touchdown after touchdown and cruised to a rout of the Blue Devils, which earned the squad a trip to semifinals for the first time since the 2018 season. Quarterback Matthew Benge had six rushes for 185 yards and four touchdowns and completed all three of his pass attempts for 105 yards and two more scores, both to tight end David Easterling. By halftime, CCA was up 50-14.
“I was very well pleased,” Davidson said. … “I think the guys have realized the opportunity they’ve got coming up and they’ve seemed to have knocked the rust off and got after and bought in the other night.”
If the Rams had any rust to knock off, it was their defense. The offense was moving the ball up and down the field early like it has all season, but defensively, the Rams weren’t quite firing on all cylinders on their first few drives. That unit gave up two fairly quick touchdowns to cut CCA’s lead to just 22-14 – but it didn’t take long for them to settle in.
“After that, (Tunica) never crossed midfield again,” Davidson said.
Running back Imonn Hill added four runs for 58 yards and a touchdown, and sophomore Colby Hand also got into the action and punched in a scoring run to go along with three carries for 52 yards. While Hill and Benge have created most of the team’s staggering amount of rushing yards this season (3,329), Davidson said those yards would not have been gained as easily if not for Hand.
“We’ve been called a two-head monster, but it really is a three-headed monster,” he explained. “Especially as a sophomore, because we’re pretty senior-laiden, but as a sophomore he has played as steady or as consistently as anybody. A lot of his yardage is three or four yards a pop to set up us bringing in one of those other guys for a big bust. Then plus, he does a lot of blocking for us that goes unseen or unheralded, and at the same time too he plays linebacker, and he’s a heck of a linebacker in terms of tackling and being around the football. … He doesn’t really get enough credit for what he does.”
Their victory moved the squad to 9-0 on the season and set up Friday’s semifinal match against visiting No. 6 seed Tallulah Academy of Louisiana, which has the Rams’ full attention. The Trojans played the role of David last week and knocked off No. 3 seed Briarfield Academy 22-18.
“It was kind of a shock to everybody,” Davidson said. “They’re big and physical and everything, but that’s why we play the ball game to see what happens.
It’s going to be a competitive game and everything and we’re looking forward to getting up for the task. We are going to have to play well. They are extremely big across the front and they get after it pretty good.”
West Lowndes 44, Coffeeville 0
An early interception led to an easy and short touchdown pass from quarterback Kadon Burton to Kylan Ellis and the Panthers were off and running.
Behind a strong offense output from Ellis and Burton and a lockdown defense, West Lowndes advanced to the second round of the MHSAA Class 1A playoffs Friday in a shutout of Coffeeville.
Ellis finished the night with three touchdowns, two rushing and one receiving, and Burton also ran for two scores and threw another. Head coach Anthony King said it was a great way to rebound from a 40-0 defeat on Oct. 30.
“Our guys were sharp,” King said. “I was very impressed with (Burton). He made all the right throws, he made two or three he wished he could get back, but everything else was pretty much on the money. (The) offensive line and defensive line did great; they dominated the line of scrimmage, so we are very pleased. We’ve got pretty much everything mapped down. You want to be playing your best football when it’s playoff time.”
And last week, the Panthers played some of their best ball – perhaps too much good football, King said. They took a 30-0 lead to halftime and added two more touchdowns in the third quarter, which started the running clock. That meant the Panthers didn’t have that much time to work on their passing like King had hopped.
“By the time we got to the passing game, time was running out,” he said.
West Lowndes’ record improved to 5-4 with the victory, and the loss ended the Pirates’ season at 3-8 overall. The Panthers move on to play at Biggersville on Friday, which is a mighty step up in competition. The Lions opened the 2025 season with a 34-8 win over West Lowndes and went on to have a 10-1 regular season, only dropping a 54-14 decision to 2A East Webster. Biggersville, the 2023 1A state champion, has been the hurdle the Panthers haven’t been able to clear in quite a while, owning victories in their last nine matchups, four of which were playoff games. King is hoping after a full season of experience that his team will play a much cleaner and effective game against the Lions.
“It was 14-8 all the way until the fourth quarter and we had a turnover and that’s when we gave up with about eight minutes left on the clock,” King recalled. “It was a close game all the way through. We’ll go back and watch the tape and see a lot of stuff that we could have done that we didn’t do, so we are going to correct those mistakes.”
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