MONTICELLO-The Lawrence County Cougars defeated the Columbia Wildcats 15-7 in Division 7-4A high school football action Friday night, at LCHS. The Cougars dominated the first half, clawing out a 15-0 lead, overcame a major special teams miscue and held off Columbia’s late rally attempt.

With the win, Jaymie Palmer’s Cougars improved to 6-4 overall, assuring LCHS of its first winning or .500 season since going 6-6 in 2010. Columbia, led by sideline veteran Walter Denton, fell to 3-6 on the campaign.

The win also kept Lawrence County in the thick of the Division 7-4A playoff race. The Cougars improved to 2-2, while Columbia fell to 2-2 in the division. Depending on the results of this week’s games, the Cougars can finish anywhere from second to fifth in the division. The top four division teams qualify for the 4A playoffs. LCHS concludes the regular season at Purvis on Friday.

Against Columbia, Lawrence County dominated the first half with a ball control offense. The Cougars’ first possession produced an 11-play, 72-yard drive that used up six minutes of clock time. LCHS took the lead on a 29-yard touchdown run by Quitten Brown. The extra point attempt was no good.

The Cougars had to punt on their next possession but produced another long, time-consuming drive for their third offensive series. LCHS finally scored on a fake field goal, with holder Duke Tanksley flipping the ball forward to T-Tez Cole, who scored on what was officially a 1-yard touchdown pass. A mishandled connection between snapper and holder foiled another extra-point attempt. The Cougars led 12-0 with 5:18 left in the half.

Three plays later, Cole recovered a Columbia fumble. That set up Joshua Stephens’ 25-yard field goal on the final play of the first half, making it a 15-0 game.

While the Lawrence County offense was piling up yards and points, the Cougar defense limited Columbia to just one first down and 11 yards of total offense in the first half. The Cougars’ ball control offense aided the defense, keeping explosive Wildcat quarterback C.J. Newsome off the field. LCHS maintained football possession for almost 34 minutes in the 48-minute game.

Columbia got back into the game at the start of the second half, thanks to its defense and special teams. The Wildcat defense forced Lawrence County into a three-and-out punt. Facing a fourth down at the LCHS 47, the punt snap went awry. A mad scramble for the football ensued, with the ball being batted all the way to the goal line. It was recovered by the Wildcats’ Fredrick Peters. Osiel Garcia’s extra point cut Lawrence County’s lead to 15-7.

There would be no more scoring, despite some lengthy drives by both teams. First, Columbia, powered by the incredibly elusive legs of Newsome, drove all the way to the LCHS 13, only to lose a fumble. Lawrence County’s Willie Earl Bryant recovered.

The Cougars than took off on a 16-play epic, aided by a roughing-the-kicker penalty on a punt. Despite taking more than 10 minutes off the clock, Lawrence County got stuffed on a fourth-and-one attempt at the Columbia 30-yard line.

The Cougar defense stuffed Columbia after that, but the LCHS offense failed to put the game away, fumbling the football away at the Wildcat 14-yard line, after a lengthy pass completion.

Trailing 15-7, C.J. Newsome and the Wildcats got the football back with 1:21 left in the game. Cougar fans got to see why LCHS tried so hard to keep Newsome off the field. First, he avoided a sack and ran for 38 yards. Later, on fourth-and-14, Newsome made an incredible run that would have gotten Columbia into the red zone in the waning seconds. However, a blocking-below-the-waist penalty ended the drama.

Lawrence County outgained Columbia 278-187 in total offense. Four different Cougars rushed for 45 yards or more, led by Quitten Brown, who gained 87 yards on 23 carries. Newsome produced almost all of Columbia’s offense. He rushed for 128 yards on 13 carries.