Blue Downs White in Spring Football Game

This weekend, Columbia experienced another spring game with a quarterback on the sideline. Sophomore transfer Shane Kelly, who spent the season as backup quarterback, injured his knee last week and did not participate in Saturday’s annual Blue and White spring game.

“It’s not a situation where he has to have surgery,” Columbia head coach Norries Wilson said. “We didn’t need him for today, and he’ll be ready to go—barring any other injury—on the 20th [of September].”

Sophomore quarterback M.A. Olawale played with the first-team offense for most of the day, with freshmen Paul Havas and Cory Claire splitting time with the second team offense. Olawale led the Blue team to a 14-7 victory over the White team to extend the Blue team’s win streak to two years.

The teams were divided into the first-team offense and second-team defense—the Blue team—against the first-team defense and second-team offense—the White team. But injuries during spring practices meant that the Lions did not have enough defensive linemen to split into first team and second team. As a result, the defensive linemen wore old Columbia light blue home jerseys and played for the defenses of both the Blue and the White teams.

“It was tough on the D-line,” said Wilson. “But I thought the kids came out and competed.”

The Blue offense worked to get sophomore receiver Austin Knowlin involved in ways other than catching the ball, and he ran two end-arounds and a reverse. Knowlin was brought down for a loss after the first end-around but gained 20 yards on the reverse.

Knowlin had only two catches for 15 yards, with both coming on the Blue team’s first scoring drive. He hauled down the Blue’s first touchdown in double coverage after the referees called back a touchdown because of an illegal touching penalty.

Olawale showcased his speed during the game, rushing for a team-leading 82 yards. The sophomore used his feet to keep drives alive while also going 13-for-25 for 101 yards. Sophomore spur Andy Shalbrack intercepted Olawale in the first half, and returned it six yards before Knowlin brought him down.

“Millie [Olawale] did some things good,” Wilson said. “There’s still some things he has to work on.”

For the White team, Havas and Clare split time at quarterback. Wilson said Clare was one of the most improved players through the spring, and the freshman went 7-for-12 for 40 yards and connected with junior Cody Steele for a touchdown. Havas went 8-for-18 for 94 yards, but Craig Hamilton intercepted a pass in the endzone that could have potentially tied the game.

“Clare and Havas, you know, came out and tried to compete,” Wilson said. “Overall it wasn’t a bad day for them, just a chance for them to come out and have fun.”

Clare played one down for the Blue team after Olawale went off the field with what looked like a leg cramp. On first and goal, sophomore Pete Stoll walked into the end zone for what would be the winning touchdown.

“Cory really progressed from the end of the season last year to spring practice,” Wilson said. “And he did a lot of impressive things at practice this spring.”

Both teams relied heavily on running backs Ray Rangel and Jordan Davis. Davis led the White team in rushing with 110 yards—his 46-yard run in the second half set up the White team’s only touchdown. Rangel finished with 77 yards for the Blue team, and led the team in receptions with four. He also fumbled the ball in the fourth quarter and junior Phil Mitchell recovered for the White team.

“Jordan Davis, I thought he ran the ball pretty good,” Wilson said. “I thought Ray did some good things, until he put the ball on the ground.”

As for the starting quarterback come fall, Wilson gave no indication that he was leaning towards any one player but did say that Olawale progressed in spring practice and that Kelly did things “he didn’t think he was capable of doing.”

“I don’t care who plays, whoever’s going to handle it,” Wilson said. “You got to get three guys ready to go. You got to have your starter, your backup and your backup for your backup. So we’re going to try and get three guys ready to go for that first game.”