The Cougar football team may have lost a chance at being the first ever Liberty Division champ, losing 15-12 at West Essex High School Saturday afternoon. The loss snapped an eight-game win streak for Columbia and dropped them to second place in the division, behind the Knights.
Their streak had to end at some point, but the Cougars may look back at this game and say “we should’ve won that one.”
A missed extra point and two-point conversion, some untimely turnovers and a second half dominated by the West Essex Knights, led to the Columbia loss.
“It doesn’t hurt,” Cougar head coach Dave Curtin said of the loss. “We’re still going to be in the playoffs, we’ll still reach our goal and reach our destination. What doesn’t kill you makes you better.”
With 2:17 left to play in the third quarter, and the Cougars clinging to a 12-7 lead, the Knights took control of the ball at their own 33 and began a methodical, clock-eating drive, which turned out to be the winning one. Overcoming a third and 25 and a fourth down conversion, the Knights marched in for a 67-yard, 13 play drive, which ate up nearly five minutes. After the two point conversion, West Essex was ahead for good.
Columbia ran just seven more offensive plays in the nine plus minutes remaining in the contest. Demetrius Cooper was intercepted on the ensuing drive and Columbia never got the ball back again. With 4:43 left, the Knights picked up two first downs to run the clock out and seal the win.
Columbia’s offense could not stay on the field in the second half and in contrast, its defense couldn’t get off of it. West Essex ran 35 second half offensive plays, while the Cougars ran just 14.
Also, after holding the Knights to just 29 yards on the ground in the opening half and 53 total yards, West Essex rumbled for 148 rushing yards in the third and fourth quarters.
On the other side of the ball, the Cougars’ offense was not as sharp as it had been in weeks past. Junior running back and co-captain Denzel Nieves ran for 75 yards and a score in the first half, but was held to 11 yards in the second half and dropped a key fumble.
“They stopped our offense. We couldn’t move the ball,” Curtin said. “In the second half our offense stalled, and then we wore down on defense and they started moving the ball on us.”
It looked as though Columbia would have a good chance at scoring, after the Cougar defense had stopped West Essex fullback John Locascio on fourth and one, to give the ball back to its offense at the Knight 38-yard line. Nieves fumbled the ball on Columbia’s first play of the drive, though the Knights did not score as a result of it.
The game kicked off with some fireworks. Columbia’s D.J. Roberts took the opening kickoff 89 yards, setting up the Cougars with a first and goal at the two. After Cooper got in with a QB sneak, the extra point was missed, leaving Columbia with just a 6-0 lead.
Mike Cimilluca of West Essex returned the ensuing kickoff 80 yards for a Knight touchdown, putting the home team up 7-6, after the extra point, giving the Cougars their first deficit all season long.
In the second quarter, Nieves punched in a five yard touchdown run up the gut, with 11:13 left to play in the half. The earlier missed extra point forced the Cougars to go for two, which they missed, and instead of 14, the locals had just 12.
“Our special teams killed us,” Curtin said. “The kickoff we gave them and then we couldn’t make the extra point. That has hurt us all year.”
Columbia still has an outside shot at splitting the Liberty Division title with West Essex, should the Knights lose on the road against Barringer, and the Cougars defeat Belleville at Underhill next week. Columbia is now 7-1, West Essex improved to 6-2.
