Louisville was still on cloud nine when they went down the road to Columbus on Friday night to matchup with a Class 6A team.
The victory over the reigning, three-time Class 5A state champions of West Point the week before was still fresh on the minds of the Wildcats, but coach Tyrone Shorter was a little worried that they might let that win linger. Some early bumps in the road against the Falcons wasn’t really a problem as they cruised past Columbus 32-6 and moved to 2-1 on the year.
“Coming off a big win like we did, you’re playing against an 0-2 team. You’re playing with teenage kids and they take teams likely sometimes,” Shorter said. “We just have to play our style of game and play our football. We’ve got
LHS had 332 yards of offense in the game and didn’t surrender a point until the Falcons scored a garbage time touchdown in the final seconds. Drea Shumaker was 9-of-14 for 124 yards but the Wildcats did most of their damage on the ground.
They were led by Michael Foster who rumbled for 141 yards on 15 carries averaging nearly a first down per rush. He also had a touchdown in the win. Only two receivers were used by Shumaker as Kaleb Mosley had another big game with seven catches for 66 yards and David Haynes had two catches for 58 yards.
Defensively, Shorter was proud of the effort of linebacker Kristian Hopkins who had 16 tackles and Tyrell Thames had two interceptions.
The Wildcats began the game nicely with a fumble recovery from Jamarcus Eiland but they couldn’t finish things off and Roper Stoots hit a 30-yard field goal for the 3-0 lead less than three minutes into the game.
Late in the first quarter, the Wildcats would cash in. Michael Foster converted a third and long by marching the ball inside the 5 yard line and Shumaker finished it off with a 2-yard run to make it 10-0 after a quarter.
The only other score of the half came on a big 30-yard run from Foster to make it 17-0. Shorter expected more out of his team against Columbus in the first half but he understands how things go sometimes, especially after big wins.
It wasn’t until the fourth quarter that Louisville would put points on the board again. That was when Thames came through with his pick six and 60-yard run back for the score and a 2-point conversion made it 25-0. Freshman Jaden Triplett would close it out for the Wildcats as he had a 36-yard touchdown and Columbus got its one score on a touchdown with 10 seconds left.
Now that the trap game against Columbus is finished, the Wildcats have its final big non-conference test as they have to travel to Starkville on Friday night. Shorter wasn’t shocked with how the Jackets’ game against West Point came out on Friday as the Green Wave followed up their loss against Louisville by upsetting SHS 38-28.
“I knew that was going to be a really good game. I told my coaches that it would go down to the wire and whoever made the least amount of mistakes would win,” Shorter said. “The only thing I was surprised by was West Point had the rushing yards they did.”
This week is a renewal of a rivalry that started back in the 1930’s and Starkville holds a 44-26-4 record in the series over that time.
Shorter has his own personal background with Starkville coach Chris Jones as his former coach at Noxubee County and coaching against him over the last few years with the Tigers. He’s excited to go up against his friend and to get the rivalry back under way.
“I did my research and I know the rivalry between the two schools goes way back,” Shorter said. “We’re excited to play Starkville in a big-time football game. There are certain games that should be played in this area and this is one of them. I know that coaching staff and they know us. it’s a big game and one of those that will prepare you for division in a few weeks.”
