#HSFT21 Stop #60 — Columbus Falcons
COLUMBUS, Miss. (WCBI) — It’s been a minute since the Columbus Falcons have finished a football season with a winning record. Four seasons to be exact.
However, that doesn’t mean that the Falcons feel a winning season is out of reach.
“One thing we’re doing is taking it day-by-day,” Columbus head football coach Josh Pulphus said. “We don’t worry about our opponent. We worry about ourselves. We try to be the best Columbus Falcon football team this day.”
“The coaches push us hard,” senior safety Elijah Short said. ” We push each other hard. We got to get better and better each day.”
In his second year as head coach, Pulphus and the Falcons finished the season with a 2-8 overall record. However, that final tally doesn’t necessarily tell the whole story.
“One of the good things we had last year was the ability to not quit. The odds were against us. We started fall camp towards the beginning of the season, but our guys continued to fight, fight, fight, and we just came up short,” Pulphus said.
With the 2021 season ahead, the Falcons are focused on trying to finish off more games. Five games on Columbus’ 2020 schedule were decided by one touchdown or less.
“We were so close so many times last year. We felt as if we had made a play here, made a play there that the record outcome would’ve been 10-times different,” Pulphus said.
“Communication. Communication. Able to know what everybody else has to do. Stay together and winning as one on the field,” senior LB/RB Quincy Lavender said.
The Falcons will return a solid defensive team this year while the offense will look a tad younger. Columbus has to replace former quarterback Ethan Conner who racked up over 2,500 yards of total offense in 2020.
The Falcons found the team’s new lead man in Omari Williams who will replace Conner under center this season.
“OJ did a great job and he took the reigns. We’re proud of him just taking ownership. He understands he’s not Ethan Conner, but we’re not asking him to be Ethan Conner,” Pulphus said.
“I feel good,” Williams said. “I think I can handle it.”
The Falcons have a tough test to kick off the season. Columbus will face Starkville inside the Hive on August 27th.
“In order to be the best you have to go against the best,” Pulphus said.
“It ain’t going to be easy but we’re prepared. We’re prepared,” Lavender said.
