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Columbia receiver Jaylen Cooper gets tackled on a kickoff return by a Buchholz defender on Thursday night. (BRENT KUYKENDALL/Lake City Reporter)
GAINESVILLE — Buchholz could have bought real estate on Columbia’s side of the field.
The Bobcats spent most the first half there. They took advantage of good field position time and time again, thanks in part to two Tigers fumbles, to build a big halftime lead that was more than enough of a cushion to cruise in the teams’ season opener Thursday night.
Leading the charge was UF commit Creed Whittemore, who scored two touchdowns and finished with 115 yards through the air and 81 yards ground that included a 66-yard touchdown run. Buchholz’s defense matched his effort too, forcing four turnovers total to help take down Columbia 31-14 on a muddy, uneven turf in the rain at Citizen’s Field.
The Bobcats took every snap on other side of midfield in the first quarter and scored the game’s first 10 points, eventually taking a 24-7 lead into the break. They outgained the Tigers 316-143.
“We weren’t aggressive, we weren’t physical,” Columbia head coach Demetric Jackson said. “Offensively and defensively we weren’t physical at the point of attack. And we had turnovers. In the first half we had turnovers and gave them great field position. Those are things we’ve gotta do better.”
Columbia quarterback Tyler Jefferson finished with just 25 rushing yards on 19 carries, while completing 4 of 8 passes for 85 yards that included a late 75-yard bomb to receiver Bynton Edge with the game well in hand.
Jefferson also lost a fumble and threw an interception. That fumble gave the Bobcats the ball at the CHS 45-yard line but a bad snap over Whittemore’s head pushed them out of field goal range, allowing the Tigers to force a punt.
But Columbia’s offense turned around and went 3-and-out to hand Buchholz good field position again. The Bobcats settled for a 27-yard field goal by Reed Rousseau, which led to Jaylen Cooper fumbling the ensuing kickoff to hand the ball right back.
That set up a 1-yard TD dive by Whittemore to put Buchholz up 10-0 early in the second quarter.
“To have those first two possessions and the turn around and fumble on the kickoff return after they scored was tough for our defense because they wore out,” Jackson said. “That’s what we wanted to do. We wanted to eat up the clock, just pick up a few yards. We’ll take some shots and try to hit it deep but we want to eat up the clock and keep our defense on the sideline. We just didn’t do it.”
A poor start offensively even led to Jackson turning to backup quarterback Evan Umstead, who immediately led a 6-play, 72-yard drive that ended with a 26-yard touchdown pass to receiver Dailyn Bradley to cut Buchholz’s lead to 10-7.
Jackson said he always planned to give Umstead a series, even with the sluggish start by Jefferson.
“We had already made up in our mind that we were going to go Evan early on,” Jackson said. “We were going to try and get him in in the second quarter just to kind of calm Tyler down a little bit and see. Evan had a good week of practice so I wanted to get him some reps early on. The fumble was bad and we had two possessions where we couldn’t get anything, so I thought it was a good time to give Evan a chance and see what he could do.”
But Columbia’s defense allowed Whittemore to get free for his 66-yard touchdown run two plays into the next series to put Buchholz up 17-7. After nearly getting intercepted on the first two throws of the next drive, Umstead finally did on the third when he threw a pick-6 to Jacarree Kelly that was returned 24 yards for a 24-7 lead.
“That pick-6 deflated us,” Jackson said.
Whittemore had the Bobcats on the verge of a 31-7 lead right before the half but he threw an interception to Kani Fulton in the end zone.
That gave the Tigers a pulse. They came out on their first series of the second half and drove down to the BHS 36-yard line. But Jefferson was sacked by Thomas Weinhardt on a 3rd-and-12 to knock Columbia out of field goal range.
Jefferson was sacked three times total, with Kendall Jackson and Weinhardt each picking up a sack and a half despite Buchholz rushing only three defenders for most of the night.
The Bobcats later went up 31-7 early in the fourth quarter on Whittemore’s 39-yard touchdown to Jaren Hamilton. Donny Hiebert had a late interception on a pass from Jefferson where Bradley fell down with a cramp on the route.
“What bothers me is they were rushing three guys and dropping eight and we still couldn’t get protection,” Jackson said. “Yeah their defensive ends are good but we had two guys on them and both of them were blocking air. We covered that. We knew their secondary struggled. We wanted to eat up the clock and run the ball a little bit with our quarterback but we just couldn’t.”
SCARY MOMENT
Players, coaches and fans scattered with 4:33 left in the game after they heard what they thought were gun shots nearby. A fight had broken out in the stands where police were forced to use a taser to break it up.
No gunshots were actually fired and the game resumed shortly after.
UP NEXT
Columbia travels to Union County next Friday for a 7:30 p.m. kickoff.