Columbia Football Crushed in Home Opener

The Columbia football team's first taste of life in American Division didn't go as well as the boys would've liked. In the first ever home night game in Columbia football history on Friday night, in front of a capacity crowd, East Orange had its way with the Cougars, trouncing the locals 48-0.

Things got ugly very quickly, and the game started getting away from Columbia almost instantly, with East Orange taking a 9-0 lead within the first two minutes and a 22-0 lead into the second quarter. Najee Williams had a monster first quarter for East Orange, scoring on a three yard run and then a two yarder, before intercepting a pass and returning it 45 yards down the left sideline for a touchdown.

The game was pretty much over after that. The Cougars had to abandon the run because they were so far behind, and junior starting quarterback Deion Hudson had trouble completing passes throughout the contest.

"We have to work on our pass protection, we have to work on being more physical," said new CHS head coach Eugene Kline. "That's my main focus. Improving the pass protection and run blocking up front."

After East Orange went up 22-0, the Cougars picked up just 11 first half yards and one first down on the way to being down 36-0 at the break.

The Cougars played much better defense in the second half, only allowing six points in the final two quarters, but the game was clearly out of reach, and East Orange had become contented to run the clock down.

Things didn't change much offensively for Columbia, which looked just unable to move the ball with any consistency against East Orange's defense. The Cougars ended with a net of -2 yards in the second half and did not gain more than four yards on any play in the final 24 minutes.

East Orange winning the game was not much of a surprise to those that know. East Orange entered the game ranked No.7 in the state and as one of, if not the best team in the Super Essex Conference American Division. Just from the naked eye, it appeared that the visitors were a bit bigger and a step stronger from a physical standpoint.

"They have a ton of weapons over there," Kline said. "When you stop the run, they hit you with a quick slant, or a bubble or a bubble pass. They have a lot of weapons. They're tough on defense too. When they blitz, they blitz hard."

Columbia didn't help itself out with a bevy of mental mistakes. Hudson saw the ball snapped over his head on five different occasions, each time ending in either a huge loss that stifled a drive or on a turnover. The Cougars turned the ball over four times in the loss.

There were more people in the stands for Friday's game than there were at any home game for the past two years. Perhaps it was a battle of the Oranges, perhaps it was an old rivalry renewed, but at least 200 people were turned away at the gate(according to CHS Athletics Director Dave Curtin). Even 30 minutes after the start of the game, there was a line wrapped around the corner to get in.

to be a lot of people," Kline said. "It is a bit of a rivalry game. They didn't want to lose to us and we didn't want to lose to them."

The Cougars will have to move forward quickly, as they host winless East Side next Friday night and attempt to pick up their first victory of the season.

"I told them that we have to lick our wounds and we have to bounce back," Kline said. "We will go in the film room and try and correct our mistakes."