HUNTSVILLE, Ala. – Cullman made the trip to Milton Frank Stadium Thursday night for a regional showdown against Columbia and the Bearcats left with a 48-0 win over the Eagles and their second region win of the season. After coming back to defeat Decatur at home a week ago, Cullman had to turn around on a short week for another road test against a struggling Columbia squad and the difference in the two teams was clear from the first snap.
The Eagles were held to just 40 yards of total offense and were plagued by fumbled snaps and penalties throughout the game. On the other sideline, the Bearcats collected 221 yards on the ground, 175 in the first half, and the two quarterbacks combined to complete six of seven passes for 72 yards and two touchdowns.
Max Dueland started the game and finished two for two with 37 yards and a touchdown pass to Isaiah Jones. J.T. Blackwood played the rest of the night and completed four of his five passes for 24 yards and a touchdown pass to Brayden Scroggins. Both quarterbacks found the end zone with their legs as well. Jaylen Hughey led all rushers with 75 yards on just two carries, one of which was a 61-yard touchdown run and Jamar Kay finished just behind him with 56 yards and a touchdown on nine carries. Running back Jayden Sullins found the end zone once as well and posted 14 yards on four carries. Noah Key was one of the go-to ball carriers in the second half for Cullman, finishing the night with 24 yards on seven carries.
Bearcats Head Coach Oscar Glasscock thought it took some time for them to settle into the game but was happy to see some intensity from his guys as the game went on. Glasscock’s message to his team tonight was to work on improving themselves each week regardless of who is on the other side of the field.
“It took us a while to get going but once we did, I thought we played with some enthusiasm and we try to tell our kids to play to a standard. We’re not worried about who we play,” Glasscock said. “It’s not about them it’s about us and there’s a certain standard and certain way we’re going to conduct ourselves and the opponent doesn’t matter. I feel like we got that message as the game wore on and especially in the second half, I thought our older guys were cheering on the young guys and we were able to get everybody in, so I was happy about that.”
Glasscock was pleased overall with how his team performed while working through some injuries and expressed his sentiments for the Eagles and some of the problems they are dealing with this season as well.
“Well we’re a pretty beat up football team right now,” Glasscock said. “We had five starters out and we’ve lost a couple of them to season-ending injuries so there were a lot of moving parts, a lot of guys kind of filling new positions and overall I thought it was a decent job. I felt like we kind of played a little bit to the level of the competition we’re playing. Columbia is in a tough spot right now; their head coach resigned on Tuesday, had an interim coach tonight and I believe their middle school coach is taking over Monday, so my heart goes out to them because they’re really struggling right now.”
Columbia received the opening kickoff and after moving the chains a couple of times, were forced to punt it away. A mishandled snap led to a Bearcats recovery and on the first play of the ensuing possession, Dueland found Jones for a 26-yard touchdown that made it 7-0 early. A turnover on downs ended the next Columbia possession and after working their way down to the 1-yard line, Dueland punched it in to stretch the ‘Cats lead to 14-0.
The Eagles fumbled on the following kickoff return and Cullman took possession once again at the Columbia 26-yard line. Just a few snaps later, Sullins found the end zone from 15 yards out to make it a 21-0 game at the end of the first quarter. Bearcats safety Dustin Speake intercepted a pass on the Cullman sideline on the next possession and one play later, Hughey took it 61 yards to extend the lead to 28-0 early in the second quarter. A fumble led to another Bearcats possession later in the quarter and to cap off a time-consuming drive, Blackwood found Scroggins for a 12-yard touchdown and a 35-0 advantage going into the halftime break.
The teams agreed to run a hot clock for the final two quarters, but Cullman was still able to find the end zone a couple more times and get everyone on the sideline into the game. Speake’s second interception of the game set the Bearcats up with the ball on the Eagles’ 20-yard line and that possession was capped off by a 1-yard touchdown dive by Blackwood, but the missed extra point made it 41-0. Jamar Kay ran one in from 5 yards out to bring the score to 48-0 midway through the fourth and Blackwood finished the game in victory formation on the next Cullman possession.
The Bearcats are now 2-2 on the season, 2-0 in the region, and returning home to take on Albertville in Oliver Woodard Stadium next week.
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