WEST POINT — West Point senior cornerback Jeffrey Drake knew what his team needed Monday at practice.
“I just wanted to remind the young guys we are a good team and we can still be a great team,” Drake said. “Some of the sophomores were a little shocked last week. We just had to come out and keep working. It was important to keep the heads up.”
The heads were up, the rushing game was churning out yards, and West Point returned to the win column Friday with a 13-3 victory against Columbus at Hamblin Stadium.
West Point opened the season with a 46-7 victory against Louisville. In the following game, West Point was held to 131 yards of offense in a 16-0 home loss to Starkville.
With a sophomore at quarterback and the team’s top tailback also a sophomore, West Point coach Chris Chambless reached out to his seniors in — Drake in particular — at the start of the week.
“With a young team, you have to worry about the mental makeup,” Chambless said. “We have a chance to be a great football team. However, this team is going to need a little more guidance than usual. I talked to Jeffrey about helping set the tone in practice. We talked about staying positive and keeping a great attitude.
“This team has had a great attitude throughout the fall and the first couple of weeks of the season. However, you could tell the confidence level was shaken a little bit (against Starkville). The seniors really stepped up and led us and kept us going in the right direction.”
West Point (2-1) rushed for 272 yards against Columbus. Sophomore Marcus Murphy drew his third start at quarterback. Murphy was 2 of 7 for 16 yards. However, he rushed 20 times for a team-high 141 rushing yards and had an 82-yard touchdown in the second quarter. Classmate Chris Calvert added 17 carries for 123 yards. He had a 57-yard touchdown in the third quarter.
“We started off a little slow, but we had to pick each other up,” Calvert said. “We had some simple mistakes, but we could fix them. Our coaches always tell us to keep playing and to never quit. The line really blocked well. It was a big relief after we scored that first touchdown.
“Getting a touchdown before the half was good. We were thinking we weren’t going to do it, but it really picked up the tempo for the entire game when he scored.”
Columbus (2-2) opened the game with an 80-yard kickoff return by Kiren Sharp. The West Point defense held Columbus to no yards and forced a 27-yard field goal by Chris Taylor. Less than one minute into the game, Columbus had its offensive output for the night.
From there, West Point stayed true to its identity and continued to run the ball. Facing a third-and-10 from its 12-yard line, Murphy broke two tackles at the line of scrimmage and scored with 6 minutes, 15 seconds left in the half to give West Point a 6-3 lead.
Calvert reversed his field three times on his touchdown with 6:06 left in the third quarter to put the game away.
“We are going to run the football. There is no secret to that,” Chambless said. “The kids stayed patient and were rewarded with that. We weren’t as disciplined as you would have liked (11 penalties for 76 yards), but the defensive effort was great and made up for that.
“We had some outstanding individual efforts on defense and did a great job of holding (the Columbus) running game in check.”
A week after rushing for 396 yards against New Hope, Columbus had 30 carries for 95 yards.
“We go hard for four quarters,” Drake said. “We are still working hard in the weight room, too. I knew we couldn’t get down from that one loss. We had to get back up and get better to beat (Columbus).
“After we struggled to score last week, we knew how important it was to play well on defense. They have some powerful (Class) 6A running backs. It was our job to stop them, and we held them way below their averages.”
The West Point defense stood tallest in the fourth quarter when it turned Columbus away twice on downs inside its West Point 15. William Ivy, Terrence Cherry, Keonta Hampton, and Tony Rush helped put the finishing touches on Columbus’ bid to win for a second-straight time at Hamblin Stadium.
The Green Wave continue to grow up on offense. With a game against Noxubee County set for Friday, it is safe to say West Point will be challenged by three of the best defensive lines in the state on consecutive Fridays.
“It is really a great challenge for our kids,” Chambless said. “Three games where the opponent has a lot of size and speed along the defensive line. It won’t do anything but get us better. The kids learned a lot from last week and put that knowledge to good use this week.
“We have a chance to be a special football team. We just have to make sure everybody stays within themselves to get us there.”
The attitude at practice Monday should again be high.
“Jeffrey and the rest of the seniors did a great job of getting us hyped for this game,” Calvert said. “Everything came easy the first week, but we knew it wouldn’t be that way all the time. We just had to stay humbled and keep working. This was a good win to help remind us of what we can do.”
Follow Dispatch sports writer Scott Walters on Twitter @dispatchscott
Scott was sports editor for The Dispatch.
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