The Poplarville Hornets took home another win against Columbia High School’s Wildcats.
Maintaining their winning streak, the Hornets approach the end their regular season with a 44-14 victory against the now 1-8 Wildcats.
In the first quarter, the Hornets defense maintained its strength, preventing the Wildcat offense from crossing the 50-yard line.
“Our defense played really well again,” Poplarville Head Coach Jay Beech said. “Ever since we’ve started district play they’ve been really consistent, getting better and better every week, and again tonight they did it again.”
After several penalties on both sides, Poplarville sacked Columbia’s quarterback in the end zone. Austin Bolton followed it up with the first touchdown with 4:09 left in the first quarter, and then bringing in another touchdown with just under two minutes left.
Poplarville’s defense continued to dominate in the second quarter, maintaining possession of the ball time and time again.
Poplarville’s Austin Carter caught a touchdown pass, gaining six more points with 8:46 left in the second quarter.
Jesse Pernell ran in a touchdown with 3:29 left in the half, bringing the score to 30-0.
As time ran out in the first half, Poplarville’s Tyson Holston caught and ran a 40-yard interception after Colombia called a time out, adding four seconds back to the clock.
Colombia started fighting back in third quarter, with Antonio James running in their first touchdown with 7:51 left, but failed their attempt at a two-point conversion.
Roosevelt Raine scored for Poplarville with just under a minute left in the quarter.
As Colombia took possession of the ball, Poplarville’s DJ Travis nabbed an interception in the fourth quarter with 10 minutes left in the game, leading Raine to run in their final touchdown.
The Wildcats pushed back when Daquan Ball ran more than 30 yards to the end zone and the team pulled off a two-point conversation, ending the game 44-14.
“There was really nothing on the line tonight…we were already seeded where we were going to be so we really did a good job of coming out and ignoring the circumstances and playing our best,” Beech said. “Colombia’s got a fine football team, they’ve got a lot of injuries but they’ll be back.”
Next week, the Hornet’s will face Pass Christian at home for their last game of the regular season before heading to the district playoffs.