As the game clock hit 20 seconds in the fourth quarter and kept counting, the Columbus offense hurried to the line of scrimmage with a sense of urgency.
The Falcons lined up in a power formation and snapped the ball from the Louisville 1-yard line. Quarterback Ethan Conner took the snap, pushed the pile and fell into the end zone with the football. A loud cheer went up from the home crowd for the last-minute touchdown.
One look at the scoreboard at the other end of the field revealed all: Louisville 32, Columbus 6. Ten seconds to go.
Conner’s touchdown may not have been the deciding score, but it was an important one for the Falcons, who avoided being shut out for the second straight game. Columbus fell to 0-3 with the loss, but the score showed that it wasn’t entirely uncompetitive against one of the state’s best teams.
For Columbus coach Joshua Pulphus, it also showed the Falcons were actually capable of putting an entire drive together — something they lacked last week against Noxubee County in an 18-0 loss. Columbus has lost 20 straight games, a streak dating back to 2017.
“Scoring a touchdown is big because we have to finish drives,” Pulphus said. “I’m happy to see our kids not quit and finish.”
The Falcons got the ball back with just over three minutes left after Louisville’s Jaden Triplett scored the Wildcats’ fourth and final touchdown, and they decided to make it count. Conner found Omari Williams for a big gain into Wildcat territory, and the Falcons kept it on the ground all the way to pay dirt.
Fittingly, it was Conner who took the final snap. He used his legs even more than his arm, running 22 times for 114 yards compared to 14 pass attempts for 64 yards.
The junior knows if he can score against Louisville, he can score against anybody.
“They’re a good state championship team,” Conner said. “If we can do that consistently, we’re probably going to be pretty good.”
Of course, that skill hasn’t shown itself yet for the winless Falcons. They’re getting into district play soon, starting a critical set of games Pulphus has been eyeing from the start of the season — one that offers plenty of paths to success.
“We’ve been talking pretty good about division, because that’s how you get to the playoffs,” Pulphus said. “You can go 4-0 and still don’t make the playoffs. Or you can go 0-3 and win one game, and boom, the sky’s the limit.”
Pulphus has persisted in preaching this kind of optimism for the Falcons no matter the final result, and Conner’s encouraging late score added to it. The coach pointed out that just a couple of plays could have made a key difference.
“Two dropped passes would make this game 17-14,” Pulphus said. “Two drops!”
But against a team like Louisville, which came into the day a week removed from a win over rival West Point, the Falcons’ mistakes proved critical.
Chief among them, though it may have come too late to really matter, came early in the fourth quarter when Conner, on the run, threw late and into the arms of Louisville’s Tyrell Thames. Thames took the football back 60 yards for a touchdown, and Louisville succeeded on a two-point conversion to stretch its lead to 25-0.
The Wildcats were already on cruise control after 17 unanswered first-half points. Roper Stoots opened the scoring less than three minutes in with a 30-yard field goal, and Louisville quarterback Drea Shumaker punched in a short rushing score later in the quarter.
Running back Michael Foster added to the lead with seven minutes and eight seconds left in the second quarter, going up the middle for a 25-yard touchdown. Ten of Foster’s 16 carries went for at least five yards, as he continually made big plays against the Falcons’ defense.
After facing Louisville’s strong offensive attack, Columbus gets a week to recover. The Falcons’ next matchup comes at home against Lanier on Sept. 20.
And Pulphus has a plan for Columbus’ week off.
“Us as coaches want to use this bye week to go back and reevaluate film and ourselves and just see what we need to do to get that first W,” he said. “It’s coming. We’re so close.”
Louisville 32, Columbus 6
Louisville 10 7 0 15 — 32
Columbus 0 0 0 6 — 6
First quarter
9:31: L — Roper Stoots 30 FG
1:16: L — Drea Shumaker 2 run (Stoots kick)
Second quarter
7:08: L — Michael Foster 25 run (Stoots kick)
Fourth quarter
10:33 L — Tyrell Thames 60 interception return (2PC successful)
3:11 L — Jaden Triplett 23 run (Stoots kick)
0:10 C — Ethan Conner 1 run (kick failed)
Team statistics
L C
First downs 10 11
Rushes-yards 26-192 41-130
Passing yards 113 64
Comp.-Att.-Int. 9-15-1 7-15-2
Individual statistics
RUSHING: Louisville — Michael Foster 16-137, Jaden Triplett 1-23, Jaquez Thames 3-13, Drea Shumaker 3-6, Kylan Tippett 1-6, Tyrell Thames 1-4, Keyarrion Jackson 1-3; Columbus — Ethan Conner 22-114, Karon Hawk 10-23, Jakaylin Lewis 4-4, Tawonn Troup 2-4, Devarkus Ramsey 1-4, Joshua McCrary 1-(-8), Jeremiah Lang 1-(-11).
PASSING: Louisville — Drea Shumaker 9-15, 113; Columbus — Ethan Conner 7-14, 64. Jaelan Craddieth, 0-1.
RECEIVING: Louisville — Kaleb Mosley 7-65, David Haynes 2-48; Columbus — Omari Williams 2-43, Cameron Ledbetter 1-19, Steve Turner 1-7, Devarkus Ramsey 3-(-5).
Theo DeRosa reports on Mississippi State sports for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter at @Theo_DeRosa.
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