By Stan Caldwell/Sports Writer

COLUMBIA — It will be a long, bitter winter for Poplarville, as the Hornets ponder the what-ifs and the might-have-beens from a game they let slip through their fingers.

The Hornets did just about everything they needed to do to beat undefeated Columbia Friday night in the Class 4A South State finals at Walter Payton Field. They ran the ball effectively, controlled the clock and their defense played inspired.

But the Wildcats somehow found a way, turning a goal-line stand into a game-winning touchdown drive in the final minutes, denying Poplarville a chance to play for a second consecutive state championship in a 20-14 decision.

Instead, it will be Columbia (14-0) that will battle Kosciusko next Friday in the Mississippi Gridiron Classic at Starkville. It will be the Wildcats’ third trip to the state finals in the past five seasons. The Hornets finished their season 8-5.

“We had too many penalties on offense,” said Poplarville coach Jay Beech. “That’s pretty much it. Too many penalties on offense. We had first-and-goal with a chance to go up by nine, and we had a false start that backed us up. We did that too many times.”

Poplarville lost despite dominating in total offense, number of plays, first downs and time of possession.

The Hornets 18 first downs to nine for Columbia, they ran 64 plays to 28 for the Wildcats, with 365 yards of offense – all on the ground – and had the ball for 34 minutes, 18 seconds to just 13:42 for Columbia.

But Columbia made the most of the time it had the football, rushing for 183 yards on just 22 carries, an average of 8.3 yards per run.

“Everybody was flying around, doing a good job on defense,” said junior defensive end Sam Lejuene. “But then I missed a tackle and they took it for a touchdown. That was horrible, and they only won by one score. We made some plays, but not enough.”

It was the death of a thousand cuts that helped stop Poplarville on offense, with 10 penalties for 60 yards, most of them either false starts or delay of game calls, plus two ill-timed holding calls.

As they have all season, the Hornets leaned on junior Tylan Keys, and once again, Keys was sensational, running the ball 44 times for 317 yards and both Poplarville touchdowns. Unofficially, he finished the year with 3,286 yards rushing and 45 TDs.

“I’ve got to give all the glory to God, man.” Said Keys. “We didn’t come out victorious tonight, but we played our hearts out. That’s all that matters.”

Instead of deferring after winning the pregame coin toss, the Hornets took the ball and that decision proved correct. Poplarville drove 74 yards on 10 plays with the opening kickoff for a touchdown.

Keys converted a fourth-and-1 from the Hornet 35-yard line with a 5-yard run, then a third-and-8 with a 53-yard scamper to the Columbia 3, and two play later, he cashed in yet another third down with a 1-yard run for the score.

“We all laid it on the line tonight, all of us, to try to go back (to state),” said Beech. “I’ve been so proud of (Ty) these last three years. We’ve relied on him all year, but we just couldn’t quite get over the hump.”

Columbia answered right back with a touchdown drive, going 62 yards on just six plays, overcoming a holding call that wiped out a touchdown, with a 43-yard scoring pass from senior quarterback Clydarrien Peters to senior Tra Lewis.

However, the PAT kick failed, and the Hornets maintained a 7-6 lead.

“The ability of our kids to not quit was key for us,” said Columbia coach Chip Bilderback.

“I thought we played great defensively. They’re a really tough offense, and they have a phenomenal player. So to hold them to 14 points was a testament to our defense, because they’re a really good football team.”

Poplarville had chances to score on its next three possessions, each time driving deep in Wildcat territory.

After the Columbia score, the Hornets had a first down at the Wildcat 22, but a delay walked them back five yards, and sophomore quarterback Trac Smith came up a yard short on fourth down at the 18-yard line.

A three-and-out and a short punt followed, giving Poplarville the ball at the plus-39, and Keys ripped off a 24-yard run on the first play of the drive to the Columbia 15.

But the Hornets lost 4 yards on the next play, then a holding call wiped out an 18-yard run that would have made it first-and-goal at the 1-yard line. A false start a sack and a delay made for an impossible fourth-and-30.

Still, Poplarville got another three-and-out, and marched as far as the Wildcat 13 in the waning seconds of the first half. But junior Jaxon Schultz’s 30-yard field-goal attempt was blocked with three seconds left in the period.

“We just got after them a little better than we did the first time (a 49-28 loss on October 30),” said Beech. “Coach (Chris) Dewease put together a great game plan on defense this time, we executed at a high level. The defense played well enough to win tonight.”

Those three points would have come in handy in the second half, as the Wildcats wasted no time taking the lead on the first possession of the second half.

Junior Christian Expose took the opening kickoff of the third quarter 49 yards to the Poplarville 20-yard line, and on third-and-7, Peters picked his way through the Hornet defense for a 17-yard touchdown run.

This time, the two-point conversion failed, but the Wildcats had a 12-7 lead.

It took Keys just 62 seconds to give Poplarville its lead back. Starting at their own 35, the Keys ran for 7 yards, then Smith carried for 8 yards to midfield. From there Keys burst up the middle and dashed untouched for a 50-yard score. The PAT kick made it 14-12.

Schultz then got on top of a well-executed onside kick, the Hornets picked up right where they left off.

With the ball already in Wildcat territory at the 44-yard line, Keys converted one fourth down, but not the second, turning the ball over on downs at the Columbia 22.

Peters opened the Columbia drive with a 42-yard run, but after a holding call, junior linebacker Lennox Beech knocked a pass into the air and held on for an interception and possession for Poplarville at the Columbia 42.

The Hornets had a golden chance then to put the Wildcats in serious jeopardy, and they milked it for as much as they could, grinding out 15 plays and eating up more than eight minutes off the clock.

Keys converted a third down with an 11-yard run, then two fourth downs, a 6-yard run to the Wildcat 12, then a 3-yard plunge that just did pick up the first down at the Columbia 2.

But a false start walked the Hornet back five yards, then Keys had to jump on a fumbled snap for a 2-yard loss, wiping out a 2-yard gain on first down. Back at the 7-yard line, Smith picked up 2 yards, but Keys came up 2 yards short on fourth down.

“They just stopped us down there,” said Keys. “I guess we just didn’t work hard enough. But we’re going to get back at it next year.”

Columbia’s game-winning drive started inauspiciously with a false start, but once the ball was snapped, Lewis broke through for an 18-yard run to ignite the nine-play, 98-yard drive.

After Lewis converted a fourth-and-inches from the Hornet 37 with a 6-yard run, Peters dashed up the middle for a 31-yard touchdown run. Lewis carried the two-point conversion to take a 20-14 lead with 2:40 to play.

“I don’t have a clue what happened on that (first) play,” said Lejeune. “All I know is I didn’t play a good game and we lost.”

With no time outs, Poplarville drove to near midfield, but a last-second desperation pass fell well short as time expired.