By CURTIS ROCKWELL/Sports Director

COLUMBIA — There was nothing sweet in store for defending Class 4A state champion Poplarville upon its arrival here at Walter Payton Field Thursday night.
In a battle for the Region 7-4A title, home-standing Columbia thumped the Hornets 49-28 to finish off a 4-0 slate in league play and secure the title. The win pushed the Wildcats to 10-0 overall and dropped PHS to 5-4 in the regular season finale for both teams and 2-2 in the region race.

Columbia running back Tra Lewis ran for 167 yards and four touchdowns in the winning effort, including a 32-yard scoring run just over mid-way through the fourth period to seal the deal after the Hornets had cut the deficit to 41-28.

“We just gotta go back to work once the playoffs begin,” PHS head coach Jay Beech said. “Win a bunch of games and see if we can play them again. we just didn’t make enough plays. We had some opportunities, it just didn’t happen and we needed to make them all to win the game.”

The Wildcats led almost entirely throughout the game, including by the final three touchdown advantage on three separate occasions in the second half.
Columbia quarterback Darrien Peters chipped in a pair of touchdown runs as well as a pair of two point conversions. The Wildcats set the tone early, blocking a punt to end Poplarville’s first possession of the game and Columbia’s Brayden Thornhill scooped up the ball and took it in for the touchdown to make it 6-0.

Poplarville standout running back Ty Keys and Hornet newly found threat at quarterback Trac Smith helped keep their team in the game, as Keys ran for 212 yards and two touchdowns and Smith not only threw a touchdown pass to Keys but he hauled in one from keys as well.

Keys ripped off a 64-yard scoring scamper in the first half to give PHS its only brief lead of the game at 7-6 on the first play from scrimmage after the blocked punt. He also added a 54-yard touchdown dash in the second half.

Not many other Class 4A teams in South Mississippi can lay claim to an advantage in a series over PHS since Jay Beech took over as head coach of the Hornets in 2014, but Columbia can as the Wildcats have doubled up on the Hornets 4-2 in six game since the 2016 season.

The loss denies Poplarville a home playoff date to open the Class 4A South State playoffs for the first time in 10 years and for just the second time in 12 years under Beech.
The decision left Columbia as the top seed in the region for playoff purposes, while McComb finished second and Poplarville third with South Pike fourth.