STEENS — On the road to a season filled with firsts, Columbus Christian football coach Greg Watkins has watched his team mature.
Not only did the Rams make history and win their first district title as an 11-man team, but they also secured their first home playoff game and then capitalized on the home-field advantage to earn their initial playoff victory.
Columbus Christian’s 34-14 victory against DeSoto School (Ark.) was even more special because it came on a night when the school honored its 1988 and 1992 eight-man teams that were national runners-up. After the game, Watkins talked about how much progress the Rams had made, but he quickly added they aren’t where they want to be.
At 7 p.m. Friday, fifth-seeded Columbus Christian will get an opportunity to see how much closer it is to its ultimate destination when it takes on fourth-seeded Natchez Trinity Episcopal in the second round of the Mississippi Association of Independent Schools Class A playoffs.
“You can see the confidence in the kids,” Watkins said. “It is not a cockiness because we don’t really want to be cocky and we want to respect our opponents. But they feel like going in they can play with anybody. They know they are the team the other team better be preparing for. Our mind-set is a whole lot different from last year with that. As a coach, that is what you look for in that step on the field and step off the field with that confidence. This group has matured to that level where they are not stepping on the field being intimidated.”
The game will give Columbus Christian (7-4), which has set a single-season record for wins as an 11-man team, a chance to gauge its progress against the reigning state champion. It also will give Columbus Christian an opportunity to erase the memory of a 55-0 loss to Trinity Episcopal last season. A year ago, Trinity Episcopal was the No. 1 seed and Columbus Christian, which was then known as Immanuel Christian, was the No. 16 seed after it finished second in Class A, District 2.
This season, Columbus Christian believed it was the favorite to win the district from the start. It displayed that confidence from beginning to end in going 4-0 in district play. Watkins is eager to see how his team responds to the challenge of taking on one of the state’s top programs. In a sense, it will be an opportunity to go head to head with a program that has reached the ultimate destination that he and his players are striving to reach.
“Last year, they had a powerhouse and were one of the top schools not only in A, but AA and AAA, too,” Watkins said. “They saw what a top-notch program was. Losing district last year and going and facing a team like that kind of stuck in their minds with we want to win district, but we want to get up to that level, too. The guys have worked real hard in summer workouts and all up to now. We’re further than they have ever been and have a chance this week to take another step. We’re excited about the opportunity and what we have building here.”
Watkins said Trinity Episcopal was the most physical team his squad faced last season. During the summer, Watkins said the players on his boys basketball team wanted to watch the tape of the Trinity Episcopal tape over and over because they enjoyed watching the Saints play “smash-mouth football.” He agreed that ordinarily teams would like to forget a loss like that, but he said his players liked watching the repeats because the Saints were that good.
This season, Watkins feels the Rams have played some of their most physical football down the stretch. He also believes the Saints (8-3) are a very good team, but that they aren’t what they were last season, which gives him the confidence the Rams can hold their own or even pull the upset.
“We’re looking to play that physical ball that they played last year,” Watkins said.
Senior Grant Wyatt remembers last year’s game against Trinity Episcopal. He said the team didn’t play its best game and he admits he thought “we can’t do this” because the Saints were so big. As a result, he said he didn’t put forth the effort like he needed to as one of the more experienced players. This season, he talks more confidently about what the Rams have accomplished and about his hopes for Friday night.
“I feel like we can do it this year,” Wyatt said. “We have that brotherhood and that mentality that we can go there and win Friday.”
In addition to the confidence, Watkins feels his team has the intelligence to know it needs to play with focus, energy, and intensity to beat one of the state’s best teams. A long bus ride could be a distraction, but Watkins said the confidence the players have developed in one another will benefit them once they get their legs back under them and hit the field.
Wyatt said the Saints followed a simple formula — they played together, they hit hard, they remembered their plays, and they did their jobs — en route the shutout that propelled them on to the state title. He said the Rams can follow that same plan and have similar results Friday night. If they can, that would be a big step forward for a program that is helping Columbus Christian develop a reputation for being more than a basketball school.
“I think we will surprise some people,” Wyatt said. “If we lose, its going to be hard, but as long as we give it our all I think that will definitely show out.
“It is nice to have accomplished what we have accomplished this year. Leaving this behind, hopefully it will give the future teams and next year’s team the effort and encouragement that they can push harder because we are definitely a small team and we haven’t been noticed lately, but I think this has definitely got us on the board
“You have always heard about it — and you have seen it on TV — that it seems like a fairy tale or imagination, but this team has definitely put it together.”
Follow Dispatch sports editor Adam Minichino on Twitter @ctsportseditor
Adam Minichino is the former Sports Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
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