Through the first two week of the football season, the New Hope High School offense had gained a lot of yards and scored a fair number of points.
The script changed Friday night at Falcon Field.
Columbus held New Hope to 131 yards of offense en route to a 27-6 victory.
“Defense played well. They gave us every chance in the world to win the game,” New Hope second-year head coach Kris Pickle said. “We knew up front they were bigger than us. They were going to cause some problems for us both throwing and running the football. That proved too much for us to overcome.”
Behind a powerful running game, New Hope rushed for 280 yards in a 35-24 victory against Columbus last year at home. On Friday night, a young Trojans squad was held to -20 yards rushing.
New Hope (0-3) had enjoyed success through the air in its first two games. Senior quarterback Thomas Stevens had been averaging 289.5 yards per game in losses to Louisville and Aberdeen.
On this night, Columbus’ 4-2-5 defensive alignment proved too much. Christopher Deloach, Chris Blair, and Damonta Kidd lived in the backfield and made Stephens rush many of this throws.
For the night, the New Hope passing game, which included Stevens and reserve J.J. Johnson, was 15 of 35 for 151 yards and one interception.
“As a team, we just have to keep our heads up,” New Hope junior defensive lineman Tae-kion Reed said. “We are learning how to play through adversity. Even if we don’t have a good possession on offense or on defense, we have to keep our confidence up. That is what we are trying to learn.”
New Hope scored early in the fourth quarter thanks in part to Reed, who broke through the line of scrimmage and blocked a Chris Taylor field goal attempt with Columbus leading 20-0. The ball rolled about 20 yards and was returned another 25 yards by C.J. Lewis. From there, New Hope marched 32 yards on four plays. Stevens capped the drive with a 7-yard touchdown run.
New Hope would have only one other offensive possession move into Columbus territory. Carlos Brooks had a key 32-yard catch as New Hope drove to the Columbus 19-yard line before turning the ball over on downs.
“The biggest question was whether we could protect up front or not,” Pickle said. “They really whipped us up front, and that was the difference in the game.”
On the plus side for New Hope, the defense played well. Columbus moved into New Hope territory on 12 straight possessions. However, the Trojans were up to the task on numerous occasions.
New Hope forced a missed field goal, blocked a field goal, got the ball back on downs four times, and had a fumble recovery by Brandon McKay.
While Columbus had 559 yards of total offense, the New Hope defense had several key stops on third and fourth downs. Columbus led 13-0 at halftime but didn’t put the game away until Kendre Conner’s second touchdown in the final minutes.
“We really competed for four quarters,” Reed said. “Last week hurt (a last-second loss to Aberdeen). As a defense, we wanted to come out and play hard and do a better job at finishing plays. Even though we lost the game, we can feel good about the way we played. They have a really good offense, but we were able to make some stops.
“We just have to work at being a more complete team and keep working hard.”
McKay, Bailey Long, Jay Shinn, and Tre Samuel had strong defensive efforts for New Hope.
Pickle said the squad still has good morale. He looks for his team to spend this week’s open date ironing out the kinks on the offense. A home game with Caledonia follows before Class 5A, Region 1 play begins.
“We have a couple of weeks to get ready for region play,” Pickle said. “There won’t be any dropoff in the level of work. We will keep the guys energized and keep working to get better.”
Follow Dispatch sports writer Scott Walters on Twitter @dispatchscott
Scott was sports editor for The Dispatch.
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