The Cougar football team is proving that it can win in many different ways. Over the last three weeks, Columbia had trampled the competition to the tune of a 103-29 combined score, an average margin of victory of nearly 25 points per contest. During Saturday afternoon’s 13-7 win over winless Shabazz High School at the Underhill Sports Complex for Columbia’s home opener, the Cougars proved that they can win ugly too.
“They’re very athletic, they’re very well coached. They’re not an 0-3 team. They’ve lost three games now by a touchdown each game,” said Columbia Head Coach Dave Curtin. “We knew it would be a game.”
In a game earmarked by a multitude of Cougar and Bulldog penalties, the locals relied on the defense, which delivered resoundingly. Columbia held the Bulldogs to 124 total yards, including only five in the second quarter and 48 in the fourth, 34 of which came on Shabazz’s lone touchdown pass. Shabazz managed just three first downs, and allowed penalties to kill way too many drives.
“The defense has been great all year. I mean we’ve only given up now, 36 points in four games. That’s pretty good,” Curtin said. “They played their hearts out and that’s all you can ask of your team.”
After quarterback Jahkwei Fairley found Khalaf Shareef wide-open in the end zone in the fourth quarter to cut Columbia’s 13-point lead to six, the Cougars had one mission: kill the clock. With 7:49 remaining and a Shabazz run defense which had some success against Columbia throughout the contest, it seemed that the Cougar defense might be called on once again. But Columbia’s offensive line and rushing attack had other ideas.
“The last seven minutes, they kept their class and dignity. These guys, I’m very proud of them, they get caught up in stupid stuff. But then each week, they become young men more and more,” Curtin said. “They don’t want to lose. They refuse to lose. They realized the game was on the line and it was time to kick ass.”
The Cougars used every second of the clock on 14 plays, picking up 38 rushing yards on the drive.
Columbia got on the scoreboard in the second quarter on a 12-play, 56-yard drive, when Denzell Nieves found the hole from two-yards out and punched it home with 3:17 left to play in the half. The drive chewed up more than seven minutes of game time, paving the way for Columbia to dominate the time of possession battle. In total, Shabazz held the ball for only 15:29 of the contest, as compared to Columbia, which controlled the rock for 32:31, including all but 4:59 of the second half.
For Columbia’s second score, Demetrius Cooper found senior wide-out Claude Thomas with 22.7 seconds left in the third quarter on a 27-yard bomb into the right side of the end zone to go up 13-0.
Had it not been for penalties, the Bulldogs might have been able to pull this one out. In total, the visitors were hit with flags nine times in the game for a total of 65 yards, 55 of which came in the first half. Add that to the interceptions by Nieves and Cole Dilley, and the Bulldogs faced an uphill battle all game long.
At 4-0, the Cougars have now matched their best record in recent history, the 4-0 start to the 1993 season. The next Cougar team they’ll be chasing down is the 1951 squad, which went undefeated at 9-0 and was the No. 1 team in the state.
“I’m just very proud of them,” Curtin said of his team. “They’re great kids and they play their tails off.”
The Cougars are in action next Friday night at Millburn High School.
