COLUMBIA-The Lawrence County Cougars clinched the Division 7-4Afootball crown Thursday night, beating the Columbia Wildcats 38-20.The Cougars got a 199-yard, 4-touchdown performance from seniorrunning back Josh Cameron in rolling to their fourth straightdivision win.

With the win, Lawrence County improved to 6-4 overall, and 4-0in the division. Columbia, coached by Doug Norris, fell to 6-4overall, and 2-2 in Division 7-4A play.

Lawrence County still has a division game to play, next Fridaynight against Port Gibson, but the Cougars have already wrapped upthe division, and the valuable playoff seeding that comes withit.

“We had a good night,” said sixth-year Cougar coach Mike Davis.”Offensively, we had a very good night, and defensively, our guysbattled and got it done. I’m very proud of the way these guysbattled through that tough early season to get to this point.”

Lawrence County lost four of six non-division games, mostlyagainst very stiff competition, to start the season. It’s been adifferent case in division play, however. After a close, tough winagainst North Pike in the division opener, the Cougars have rolledto the division crown.

“The best thing about this team,” Davis continued, “has been theway they’ve kept a positive attitude, and kept plugging away,despite the fact that we suffered some tough losses early on.They’ve hung in there, and their efforts have paid off.”

Thursday’s game was an offensive shootout, with both teamstallying over 300 yards in total offense. One stretch in the firsthalf saw five straight possessions end in touchdowns. While Cameronwas rolling up the yards for Lawrence County, senior quarterbackDerrick Bourne was carrying Columbia on his back. Bourne rushed for229 yards on a whopping 38 carries, but the LCHS defense came upwith enough stops to help the offense get a win.

A Lawrence County fumble on the second play of the game set upBourne’s first score, a 6-yard run. Columbia led 6-0. LawrenceCounty marched right back down the field, with Trevor Havis scoringon a 24-yard run. It was not a good night for the Cougarplace-kicking team, as 3 different kicks were blocked. It was a 6-6game.

Bourne quickly passed and ran the Wildcats down the field again,hitting Tyler Randall with a 13-yard touchdown pass, a grabbing a13-6 lead for Columbia. LCHS struck back quickly, with Camerongoing 51 yards for a score. Havis’ P.A.T. knotted the game at13-13.

Moments later, a Dontez Daggins sack of Bourne produced a rarepunt, the Cougar senior Sanquillio Belton broke through to blockit. That set the Cougars up at the Columbia 10, and Cameronimmediately cashed in. LCHS led 19-13 as the extra point was againblocked.

Columbia took the second half kickoff and drove the length ofthe field to take a 20-19 lead. That was the final highlight forthe Wildcats, however. Cameron responded immediately with a 37-yardtouchdown run. On the first play of the fourth quarter, he gave theCougars a 31-20 lead his fourth touchdown of the night, a 3-yardrun.

Three plays after that, Matthew Wells put the game away with a35-yard interception return for a touchdown. Wells, who has nurseda groin injury since the fifth week of the season, ran the footballonly sparingly on offense, but played most of the game atsafety.

“This just means that we getting to keep playing football afterthe regular season is over,” Davis said. “That’s where every teamin Mississippi wants to be. We’ve got a regular season game to go,though, and we’d like to finish it on a positive note.”