COLUMBIA — On a frigid night in South Mississippi, Franklin County and Columbia engaged in an old fashioned defensive struggle in the Class 5A South State semifinals.

The game was scoreless for three quarters before Franklin County’s Alex Smith scored on a 16-yard run with just over 11 minutes remaining in the game.

That would be all the Bulldogs would need, as they held on for a 7-0 win that put them in their third consecutive South State championship game.

“We just gutted it out,” Franklin County coach Trent Hammond said. “It was a defensive game where we had to hang with them toe to toe, like Ali and Frazier or something like that. It was definitely worth the $7 that people paid to get into this one.”

Columbia had its best scoring opportunity on its first drive of the game, as the Wildcats had a 14-play drive that spanned 5:39 and saw the Wildcats march 46 yards to the Bulldog 19-yard line.

The drive featured a pair of fourth-down conversions by running backs Sidney Riley and Derrick Bourne near mid-field to keep the drive alive.

But on third-and-10 from the Franklin County 19-yard line, Columbia quarterback Jeremy Peters had his pass intercepted by by Tevin Thomas.

Columbia head coach Doug Norris said his team’s opening drive was what hurt the most.

“It was our best drive of the night,” he said. “And in a game like this, you’ve got to take advantage of the opportunities you have. We had good field position a couple of more times and didn’t get it in.”

For all the good things each team’s defense did, the offenses seemed to be sputtering much of the night.

After Columbia (10-3) turned the ball over on the first drive, Franklin County (12-1) returned the favor by fumbling the ball on a second-and-goal from the Columbia 7-yard line. The ball was recovered by Columbia’s Lionel Galloway, but four plays later, the Wildcats were forced to punt back to Franklin County.

“From my point of view, the first series was good,” Columbia quarterback Jeremy Peters said. “After that it seemed like (Franklin County’s) nose guard was crashing everything. We couldn’t get a pass off or a run.”

Following each team’s first two possessions, neither team was able to put

together a drive of more than seven plays.

“We talked to our guys all week that it was going to be a tough ball game,”

Hammond said. “We knew that every inch was going to be fought for. Their

defense is as good as I’ve seen. Our kids just stayed in the fight and did

what they had to do.”

Franklin County running back Damien Burnett led the Bulldogs offensively,

carrying the ball 24 times for 157 yards.

“We wanted to come out and play hard,” he said. “We knew we had to step up

and play ball. In the end, we pulled it out.”

Norris said despite the loss, he is proud of his team.

“I’m just extremely proud of these kids,” he said. “The kids are hurting

right now, and there’s not much to say to them really. But I’m extremely

proud of the way they played this year.”

Columbia’s season ends with the loss, while Franklin County will take on

Tylertown on Friday in the South State finals.