It poured in more ways than one.
Much like the rainstorm that never let up, neither did St. Augustine in the first half, which poured on the points to blow out Columbia in the teams’ District 3-4A opener on Wednesday night. The Class 4A No. 2 Yellow Jackets scored on four of their six drives and led 27-0 at halftime before walking away with a 27-6 victory over the Tigers on a muddy field at Tiger Stadium.
Quarterback Locklan Hewlett, a South Florida commit, led the charge with 272 yards on 18-of-27 passing with three touchdowns, two of those going to UCF commit Carl Jenkins Jr. as part of his five-reception, 68-yard night. Four-star commit Somourian Wingo led St. Augustine with eight catches for 84 yards, while Trenton Jones caught five passes for a game-high 120 yards that included a 58-yard touchdown.
The win puts St. Augustine (4-1, 1-0) in the driver’s seat in the district considering that Clay and Ridgeview are a combined 1-8. It would take those two schools pulling off massive upsets against SAHS for Columbia (2-4, 0-1) to even have a shot at the district crown.
“A lot of credit to St. Augustine and the squad they have over there,” Columbia head coach Brian Allen said. “They came out under these circumstances and played better than we did on this field tonight.”
It was a subpar season debut for sophomore quarterback Xavier Collins, who returned from an MCL sprain suffered in training camp. He was picked off twice in the first half, which led to two SAHS touchdowns, and he finished the night with only 53 yards on 8-of-19 passing with a 7-yard touchdown pass to Kyren Caldwell in the third quarter.
Even that pass was nearly intercepted, deflecting off the hands of Darrell Jenkins and landing in the hands of Caldwell, who walked into the end zone untouched.
“It probably wasn’t an ideal way to come back when you’ve been gone for five weeks under these circumstances,” Allen said of Collins. “I definitely believe that was part of the problem tonight, but he’ll only get better as we keep moving forward and him getting reps.”
Running back Trendell Anderson marched the Yellow Jackets down the field on their opening drive of the game with 48 yards on four carries — part of his 70 rushing yards on the night — before Hewlett tossed a 1-yard TD to Carl Jenkins Jr. on 3rd-and-goal. Collins was then intercepted by Darrell Jenkins on Columbia’s third possession of the game and Hewlett made him pay two plays later, connecting with Jones for a 58-yard touchdown to make it 14-0.
Collins was picked again just two plays into the Tigers’ next series by Christian Coleman, who returned it to the CHS 15-yard line. Anderson punched in a 1-yard TD five plays later on 3rd-and-goal to extend the lead to 20-0.
The Tigers then went 3-and-out and a short punt gave the Yellow Jackets a short field at the CHS 46. St. Augustine took advantage of it too, scoring again on third down when Carl Jenkins Jr. caught a quick pass from Hewlett on 3rd-and-6 and made two defenders miss before running down the sideline for a 42-yard score to put his team up 27-0 midway through the second quarter.
Columbia’s defense played without safety/linebacker Da’jon Brown due to an injury last week, but did have linebacker Chris Jordan back from his high-ankle sprain. Defensive tackle Caden Bolstein did leave the game late with a knee injury though and will need further evaluation.
“We do got some injuries but I’m not going to put it on that,” Columbia defensive lineman Terry Henry said. “I feel like we really just didn’t come to play how we should’ve in the first half.”
While St. Augustine moved the ball with ease in the first half, the CHS offense struggled to move the ball for most of the night like it has all season. While freshman running back Jerome Horne was the lone bright spot with 111 yards on 15 carries, the rest of the unit finished with only 51 yards.
The Tigers were just 1 of 9 on third-down conversions and 1 of 3 on fourth-down attempts. Despite how well Horne ran the ball, Allen says CHS was forced into throwing more due to being so far behind.
“When you’re down, as well as Horne played tonight and the things he was able to do on the ground, that’s not going to get you back in the game as fast as you need to so you’re trying to get scores faster,” Allen said. “I think (Horne is) a bright note from the offensive side. That kid is going to be special as we continue to build this thing back. He’s going to be a key factor at the running back position and that receiver room is going to be fine and I think our quarterback room is going to be fine. We just got to keep getting better this year and again, I believe the future is bright. Right now we’re taking some bumps and bruises as we go along.”
Columbia is running out of time to turn its season around. When the first FHSAA rankings were released this week, the Tigers were ranked ninth in Region 1-4A and one spot out of the final playoff berth.
Wednesday’s loss won’t help CHS make up ground nor will most of its remaining schedule. The only team remaining on the schedule that’s a definite playoff team that will help the Tigers’ rating is Class 2A No. 5 Bolles, which hosts the Tigers next Friday at 7:30 p.m.
It’s as close to a must-win game as there is for Columbia, which has never missed the playoffs in the previous 11 seasons under Allen.
“We’ve got to win, we’ve got to win out,” Allen said. “Tonight was one of those games where you determined your own fate. This was one of the best teams not only in our district but in the state. You determined your own fate tonight. Now we put our fate in others’ hands. We still have to go out and win our football games, but then you have to put your faith in what other teams that you’ve played and how they continue to finish their opponents. We definitely understand. I didn’t want that in this situation, but on a Wednesday night in these conditions, St. Augustine came out and played better than we did in this short week.”