Columbia falls 0-5 against brutal schedule. ‘These games will pay dividends.’
Columbia coach Greg Barnett challenged his team with one of the toughest schedules in the state, so it was not overly surprising that the Eagles had more than they could handle against Kell in a nonregion game Friday in Marietta.
Kell’s Moonie Gipson ran for 76 yards and two touchdowns on nine carries and caught an 83-yard touchdown pass, and Kaleb Narcisse was 12-of-13 passing for 254 yards and two touchdowns and ran for a score in the Longhorns’ 48-0 victory.
Kell improved to 4-2 and will have a week off before beginning play in Region 6-4A at fourth-ranked Blessed Trinity on Oct. 3.
For Columbia, it was the fifth loss in five games this season against some of the big names in Georgia high school football. The streak began with losses to Class 4A No. 3 Cartersville and Class 6A No. 3 Carrollton. Then came losses to two fellow Class 2A schools — Douglass, which had its best season in five years in 2024, and sixth-ranked Callaway — followed by the loss to Kell. Those five teams are a combined 21-6 through the first half of the regular season, and Columbia went on the road to face all of them.
It won’t get any easier next week, when the Eagles complete the nonregion portion of their schedule with a trip to Class 6A No. 4 Douglas County.
“We just scheduled it tough,” Barnett said. “We didn’t think the ball would swing this way, but it’s all about getting better for the back end. I believe in my kids. I think we’ve prepared well. The scores are not showing it, but they are getting better. I’ve been saying it all year long that these games will pay dividends when we go into our region and into the playoffs.”
Playing against the same schedule last season, Columbia started 0-6 but rolled through its four-game Region 6-2A schedule — no game was closer than 32 points — to capture the school’s first region championship since 1981. The Eagles went on to win a playoff game before being eliminated by Pierce County 31-24 in the second round.
Columbia is projected by the Maxwell Ratings to win the region title again this year, and Barnett is optimistic that the early struggles will again pay off down the road.
“The plans were in place when the schedules were made,” Barnett said. “We talked about it with the coaches and parents. A lot of our guys say they want to go to college and play on the next level, and in order to get there you have to play against specific teams and get yourselves out there. Everything that we want is still out there in front of us, so we’re going to keep at it.”
Columbia was no match for Kell on either side of the ball Friday night. The Longhorns’ offense put up 313 yards in the first half in building a 34-0 lead and finished the game with 465 yards — 288 passing and 177 rushing. Kell also kept the ball for all but one play of the fourth quarter, which was played with a running clock.
Kell’s defense was just as dominant, limiting Columbia to 30 yards passing, 13 yards rushing and three first downs, one that came on a penalty. Columbia went three-and-out on its first four possessions, and when it got the ball back for its fifth, Kell had a 28-0 lead midway through the second quarter.
“They’re tough,” Kell coach Bobby May said of the Eagles. “They’ve got some good athletes, their quarterback (junior Czar Daniels) is a good athlete. They have a couple of defensive players that are tough, and they’ve played a really tough schedule so they’re going to be ready for their region play. Coach Barnett’s a good friend of mine, and he’s not scared to play any competition.”
Columbia will begin region play on Oct. 3 against South Atlanta, followed by games against Miller Grove (Oct. 10), Redan (Oct. 24) and Salem (Oct. 31).
“We’ve been doing good things the last few years,” said Barnett, who is 32-26 in six seasons at a program that had five consecutive losing seasons before he took over in 2020. “We’ve been building. It’s just unfortunate that the scores haven’t been showing, but we’re going to keep at it. Region play will get here soon, and hopefully things will turn around and swing our way.”
About the Author
Chip Saye is a former writer and editor at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and remains a regular contributor to the AJC. In 2009 he helped start Georgia High School Football Daily. He previously worked for the Athens Banner-Herald, Anderson (S.C.) Independent-Mail and Gwinnett Daily News.
