Throughout all of district play, Brian Rials and his Seminary Bulldogs have treated every upcoming game as the biggest of the year. There’s no denying now, though, that Friday’s matchup with Columbia stands above the rest.
Plenty of eyes will be on Seminary, as the Bulldogs play host to the Wildcats for the Region 8-3A championship. Both teams carry a perfect 4-0 record in region play into their regular season finale.
Rials’ Bulldogs (7-3) have been on a tear in recent weeks, winning six straight after starting the season 1-3. The team is of the mindset that the first month of the season prepared them to be where they’re at now.
“Our three losses, I looked it up, and those guys [Collins, Poplarville and Taylorsville] are a combined 26-2,” Rials said. “I think we competed well with all those guys. You wanna win them, but I think it prepared us for the district we’re playing in.
“We’re just playing good ball right now at the right time.”
Seminary opened district play on Sept. 28 with a convincing, 33-6 win over previously unbeaten West Marion before beating Tylertown, Wesson and the defending Class 3A champs, Jefferson Davis County.
“They believe right now that we can play with anybody,” Rials added. “We’ve proven that we can I think.”
Offensively, the Bulldogs have been led all season by running backs Marquis Crosby and Jordan Barrett. The duo has combined for 1711 rushing yards and 19 touchdowns through 10 games. Rials says Seminary’s offensive line deserves a ton of credit, too.
“We brag on our ‘fat boys’ every week because that’s why we’re able to do what we’re doing right now. They’re really coming together and opening up holes for Marquis and Jordan. That’s probably been the key, how well they’ve come along as the season has come along.”
Defensively, Seminary is allowing just 14 points per game in district play. The unit is led by senior defensive lineman Nathan Pickering, but other players have stepped up as the season has gone on.
“The defense has definitely played our butts off all season,” Pickering said. “It’s just amazing because our defense, we lost four of five starters that were seniors last year. We didn’t really expect our defense to be this good, but we’ve had young players step up and work hard in the summer.”
Now they get a chance to prove themselves even more against Columbia. Led by first-year coach Chip Bilderback, the Wildcats (8-1) have only lost once this season against Taylorsville back on Sept. 14.
Like Seminary, Columbia has rode a two running back system to offensive success this year. Kentrel Bullock and Omar Johnson have combined to rush for over 2000 yards and 26 touchdowns in 2018. Defensively, the Wildcats are holding opponents to fewer than 12 points a game.
“They [Columbia] are probably the biggest team we’ve seen all year,” Rials said. “They’ve got some really big kids. Those two backs are probably the two best running backs we’ve seen all year, too.”
Rials recognizes the similarities between the two teams ahead of the much-anticipated matchup.
“We wanna play smash mouth football, and that’s what they [Columbia] wanna do, too. It’s just gonna be a matter of who can make a play or two more. It’s gonna be a hard-fought game. I expect it to come down to the wire just like the last few weeks have for us.”
Kickoff is scheduled for 7 pm Friday night at Seminary.
