Randal Montgomery knew what he was getting into.
When he accepted the head coaching job at Columbus High School after the 2013 season, Montgomery knew he was taking over a program without much historical success. The Falcons had just seven winning seasons in the past 22 years, and they’d never gone beyond the second round of the playoffs.
In fact, Columbus had hosted just one first-round playoff game: against Vicksburg in 2001. The Falcons lost.
But Montgomery managed to build Columbus into a contender by his second year at the helm. The Falcons finished the 2015 regular season 8-3, thanks to a breakout season by junior running back Kylin Hill. For just the second time in program history, Columbus earned the right to play the first round of the playoffs on its home field.
For a school and a team not used to that kind of success, the days leading up to the Nov. 13 contest were thrilling.
“It was a really great week,” Montgomery said. “Our kids were really excited about it.”
Hill was among them. That’s because Clinton was coming to town. And Clinton meant Cam Akers.
Akers, playing Sunday in Super Bowl LVI with the Los Angeles Rams, delivered an epic performance. Hill, a rookie this season with the Green Bay Packers, matched him blow for blow. And the two juniors put on a show at Falcon Field in an all-time game not many in attendance have forgotten.
“Kylin and Cam were two great athletes,” former Columbus defensive back Derrick Beckom Jr. said. “They don’t make them like that often.”
‘One of those nights’
It didn’t take Joshua Pulphus long to realize Hill was different.
The current Columbus head coach is in his second stint at the school. He served as the Falcons’ co-defensive coordinator in 2013, where he met a young freshman who would go on to do great things.
“My first year meeting Kylin, I knew Kylin was a special player,” Pulphus said.
Unfortunately for the Falcons, so was Akers, the No. 1-ranked quarterback prospect in Mississippi as a junior. In 2015, Columbus earned the No. 2 seed in MHSAA Class 6A, Region 1, but the Falcons caught a bit of bad luck.
Akers suffered a shoulder injury against Warren Central, and without him, Clinton lost to Starkville to close the regular season. That dropped the Arrows to the No. 3 seed in Region 2, meaning a first-round game on the road. Specifically, on the road at Columbus.
All week, the Falcons prepared for Clinton and its dynamic star player. A running back or wide receiver who touched the ball 20 or 25 times a game was one thing, but a quarterback like Akers involved in every play was another.
So the Falcons added a spy to their defensive package in order to contain Akers, but they knew he’d still get his share of yardage.
Instead, Columbus turned its attention to limiting the Arrows’ other playmakers, including running back Darius Maberry and wide receiver Kam’Ron White.
“We went into that game with the whole Michael Jordan mentality,” Montgomery said. “Jordan was going to get 30 a night; you just couldn’t let Scottie get 30.”
Things got off to a good start for Columbus when Beckom intercepted an Akers pass in the red zone on Clinton’s very first drive.
The former Falcons standout, who went on to play for Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College and NCAA Division II Harding University, can certainly claim bragging rights when the Rams running back appears on TV screens across the country Sunday.
“I think about it, like, ‘Wow, I caught a pick on him,’” Beckom said. “I don’t think too much about it.”
Perhaps that’s because of what Akers proceeded to do to a Falcons defense that only gave up more than 25 points once all season. By halftime, Clinton held a commanding 42-21 lead.
At the break, though, Columbus coaches implored the Falcons to “keep scoring.” The game was far from over, and Montgomery knew it.
“It was just one of those nights where I don’t think either coach could call a wrong play,” he said. “There were a couple times where the play that we had called was probably not the best play, but at the end of the day we knew we would turn around and hand it to Kylin, so we felt like it was just going to work. It was one of those nights as a play-caller that whatever you called, you felt like it was just going to work because those guys were just going at it.”
After Hill and Kendre Conner had touchdown runs, Damonta Kidd wrestled the ball out of Akers’ hands in the red zone. Hill promptly ran for an 86-yard touchdown, his longest score to date. The game was tied, 42-all.
“As a team, we kind of went how he went, and that night, he really put us on his back and really just carried us to a game that we had a chance to win at the end,” Montgomery said of Hill.
Unfortunately for the Falcons, Clinton landed the knockout blow in what Pulphus termed a “heavyweight fight.” On fourth-and-goal from the 4-yard line, Akers ran around the left side and reached the end zone to put the Arrows back ahead.
Columbus fumbled a lateral on a last-gasp possession, and Clinton turned it into a game-sealing touchdown. The Arrows ended the Falcons’ season with a 56-42 win.
When all was said and done, Akers and Hill had combined for more than 900 yards. Akers had 355 passing yards on 25 attempts and 150 rushing yards, throwing for three touchdowns and rushing for two more. Hill ended up with 382 rushing yards on 24 carries, scoring five times.
“You knew that those guys were NFL players because no defense could stop either one,” Pulphus said. “That’s remarkable.”
Talented but overlooked
When it comes to those in the NFL ranks, 50 players born in Mississippi competed in the league in 2021.
Per capita, the Magnolia State has produced the most NFL players of any state in the country — 26.6 for every 100,000 people since 1936.
With a population of less than 3 million, though, Mississippi often gets overlooked, according to Beckom.
“A lot of our Mississippi guys are very talented,” he said. “I don’t think we get the exposure that other states do.”
That’s why Beckom roots for players from all over Mississippi at the professional level: Hill, Akers, Starkville’s Willie Gay and A.J. Brown, Oxford’s DK Metcalf, Noxubee County’s Jeffery Simmons and others.
And Akers isn’t even the only Rams running back from Mississippi. South Panola product Darrell Henderson will play in Sunday’s Super Bowl, too.
Pulphus said those who have made it to the NFL owe their success to the work they put in both on the practice field and by themselves at home.
“There’s so much talent in Mississippi, so much talent in the Golden Triangle area,” he said. “People sometimes turn a blind eye to it, and it’s sad.”
Much of that talent remained in the Magnolia State at the collegiate level. Hill, Gay and Simmons attended Mississippi State, going on to have excellent careers; Simmons became a first-round pick in 2019. Brown, a Starkville native, spurned his hometown Bulldogs and attended Ole Miss, as did Metcalf.
Akers was the only one of the group to play college football out of state. Originally committed to Alabama, he wound up having a successful three-year career at Florida State before being drafted by the Rams.
Pulphus was the defensive coordinator at Starkville in November 2016 when Akers and the Arrows outdueled Gay — playing both quarterback and linebacker — and the Yellow Jackets in a similar game to the Columbus-Clinton battle. He said he knew exactly what made Akers special as Clinton beat Starkville 35-28 in the regular-season finale.
“He knew he was going to have to win the game, and he did,” Pulphus said. “He carried the team on his shoulders. There were many plays where you could tell he should have been tackled, he should have been down, but he found a way to get two or three yards.”
Apart from that, though, Akers’ leadership set him apart. Pulphus said he often saw the Clinton star’s teammates willing to push him that extra yard or pat his back after a big play.
Heading into his fourth season as Columbus’ head coach, Pulphus has tried to instill the same leadership qualities in his own players. He sees them in Hill, who often returns to his hometown to greet the children who look up to him.
Montgomery said seeing the success of Hill, who arose from inner-city Columbus to reach great heights, can inspire those primed to follow in his path.
“For him to go on and have a successful career at Mississippi State and make it to the NFL, I think it gives those kids in Columbus something to really look up to, something for them to strive for,” Montgomery said. “They can look at it as an example to say that if he can make it from Columbus, then I can, too.”
But no matter how much Hill means to Columbus, Beckom, Montgomery, and Pulphus won’t hold a grudge. When the player who beat Hill and the Falcons in that long-ago game takes the field Sunday, they’ll be watching and cheering Akers on — and Henderson, too.
“It’s good to see those guys represent the state of Mississippi as well as they’re doing,” Pulphus said. “It’s good to see them going and competing for a championship.”
Theo DeRosa reports on Mississippi State sports for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter at @Theo_DeRosa.
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Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 39 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
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