COLUMBIA – Revenge was sweet for the Brookhaven Academy CougarsFriday night. Brookhaven Academy used an impressive game from theirgreedy defense to defeat the Columbia Academy Cougars 21-7. BAavenged a 28-22 defeat suffered at the hands of Columbia Academylast year and also got its first District 4-AA win of theseason.

The game was a defensive struggle as both teams had troubleputting drives together. Columbia had five turnovers, includingfour interceptions. On Columbia’s second drive of the game thequarterback Larry Stogner was picked off by BA senior defensiveback Chad Lagrone. Lagrone’s pick set BA up at their own 35.

From there the BA Cougars would get their ground game rolling,first off of a 20-yard gain by Lagrone and then a 13-yard run byAdam Smith. On BA’s next run, senior quarterback Ben Davis dashedin from 33 yards out for the game’s first touchdown. Smith’s PATwas good and BA led 7-0 with 10:03 left in the half.

The score would stay at 7-0 throughout the remainder of thehalf, as both teams would struggle on offense.

BA started the second half with another take-away on Columbia’ssecond drive as junior cornerback Will Rushing picked off a CApass. Rushing got 8 yards on the interception return and set BA’sCougars up on their own 48.

Brookhaven would need only 5 plays to get their next score ofthe night. On 3rd down, junior running back Ryan Nix picked up abig first and took the ball to the Columbia 20. Davis then movedthe ball on a run to the 9. On the next play Adam Smith took thecarry around the left end and scored. Smith’s PAT was successfuland BA led 14-0 with 4:52 left in the 3rd quarter.

CA’s next drive would be their best of the night. Thehomestanding Cougars got a crucial 4th down conversion deep in BAterritory. The Columbia drive culminated with a 3-yard touchdownrun by Cole Price. After Jeremy Miller’s PAT the BA lead was 14-7with 8:36 left in the game.

Brookhaven would use the next drive to close the door onColumbia’s comeback attempt. Senior running back Jeffrey Waycasterwould take a Davis handoff and sprint to the end zone from 54 yardsout. After Smith’s PAT kick, Brookhaven led 21-7 with 6:19 left inthe game.

Columbia would get no more chances to score as Lagrone andRushing each gained their second interceptions of the night on thenext two CA drives.

“Our kids did a good job of just playing hard tonight andgetting the win,” said BA coach Ray Ishee. “Our defense gave upsome yards tonight but the guys did a good job of keeping them outof the end zone.”

Senior linebacker Blake Killingsworth led the Brookhaven defensewith 12 tackles. Junior linebacker Tyler Lofton collected 8tackles, as did Lagrone.

The BA ground game would rack up 256 yards on 33 carries. Smithwho gained 93 yards and 1 touchdown on 14 rushes led BA’s offense.Waycaster picked up 1 TD and 56 yards on 3 rushes and Nix gained 49yards on 7 carries.

Davis was 1-3 passing for 9 yards. BA (4-0,1-0) is on the roadthis week as the Cougars play at Rebul Academy in Learned.

STATISTICS

BA

CA

First Downs

8

14

Rushes-Yards

33-256

542-161

Passing Yards

9

68

Total Yards

265

329

Passes 1-5-0

4-18-4

Fumbles-Lost

2-0

1-1

Punts-Average

6-34

5-29

Penalties-Yards

6-60

3-20

Columbia Academy

0

7

7

7 – 21

Brookhaven Academy

0

0

0

7 – 7

SECOND QUARTER

BA – Davis 33 run (Smith kick)

THIRD QUARTER

BA – A. Smith 9 run (Smith kick)

FOURTH QUARTER

CA – Price 3 run (Miller kick)

BA – Waycaster 54 run (Smith kick)