COLUMBUS — Coming into Friday night, Noxubee County head coach Teddy Young knew he’d see a tough test from the Columbus defense. Falcons head coach Joshua Pulphus has coached several intimidating defenses in his time at Columbus, and despite a losing performance, tonight was no exception.

The Falcons forced three fumbles and three turnovers on downs while backed up deep in the red zone. Two of those stops came back-to-back, while the game was still in the balance in the third quarter, with a forced fumble on the third drive making it three straight goal line stands. 

Despite the Falcons admirable effort, the statsheet will do justice to Tigers quarterback KaMario Taylor, whose three rushing touchdowns and one passing touchdown helped secure a 28-16 victory on the road.

“We go as he goes,” Young said of Taylor’s performance. “He had a great game running the ball in this weather, he took care of the ball and made throws, even as it was pouring down rain, and he used his legs to keep the chains moving and put points on the board. He’s showing he’s a true dual-threat quarterback.”

Unfortunately for both teams, it would have been easy to blame the weather for the poor ball protection. There were nearly four hours of continuous heavy rain, which delayed kickoff and continued drenching the field throughout the first half, but neither head coach accepted it as an excuse for any mistakes on the field. 

“I told the team that in the playoffs you don’t know what the weather is going to be like,” Young said. “It’s a great experience to play in this type of weather, but I don’t think it caused our problems in the red zone. We had dropped balls, missed assignments, poor ball protection, all things we just need to fix.”

The Falcons had several fumbles of their own on offense, turnovers which killed momentum and kept their offense off the board until a late touchdown drive. It was a tough enough job going against a tried and tested Tigers defense without the rainy conditions, but Pulphus made no excuses in his post-game evaluation. 

“We made mistakes and didn’t play our best,” he said, bluntly. “Noxubee is a great team, they played for a state championship last year and Coach Young always has them ready to play. So credit to them, but we pride ourselves on playing hard in these conditions. We just didn’t come out ready and missed assignments.”

The Falcons stayed alive last season thanks to their tough defensive performances keeping them in games, and they showed multiple times against tough opponents that they don’t roll over after falling behind. The job now is to take the next step and cut down on the mistakes that turn those close games into close losses.

“We’re so close to making that jump,” Pulphus said. “Our guys do a great job battling through adversity, and our team is built on hard work, so they just need to be able to capitalize and make plays when necessary. They did a good job tonight. We didn’t quit, and we know these tough games will get us ready for our division.”

Columbus 16, Noxubee County 28

Noxubee County (1-1) 7  0  21  7  —  35

West Point (0-2)  7  6  0  0  —  13

First quarter 

NC — KaMario Taylor 8 run (kick no good), clock 9:34

Second quarter

NC — Jadquist Clark 35 pass from Taylor (Taylor run), clock 4:00

C — Shaun Williams 48 fumble return (Williams run), clock 1:17

NC — Taylor 10 run (Dequadrion Welch pass from Taylor), clock 0:06

Fourth quarter

NC — Taylor 13 run (run failed), clock 5:02

C — Antonio O’Neal Jr. 39 pass from Jaquavious Bankhead (Swanigan pass from Bankhead), clock 1:14