Terrance Dixon’s big night leads Columbus past Westover

Columbus High’s Terrance Dixon scored on a 67-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter to lead the Blue Devils past Westover 40-29 on Friday night at Hugh Mills Stadium.

The win gives Columbus a 3-4 record overall. It is 2-2 in Region 1-4A, part of a six-way tie for second place behind Cairo, which is 4-0. Westover is also in that logjam at second place.

A costly roughing-the-kicker penalty against Westover in the third quarter extended Columbus’ first drive of the second half. The Blue Devils eventually scored on a 21-yard touchdown by Ty Lucas. The extra point failed, leaving Columbus with a 27-21 lead with 4:24 left in the third.

Westover was pushed back into its own end zone on the next possession and the punt was returned 32 yards to the Patriots’ 3. Westover’s defense held and forced a field goal as took a 30-21 lead with 11:58 left in the game.

After the teams traded possessions, Westover scored as Greg Marshall found Cam Hill for a 39-yard touchdown pass. A successful 2-point conversion by the same duo made it a 30-29 game with 8:17 left to play.

But Columbus would fire right back with Dixon breaking free for his long TD run. After the PAT, the Blue Devils were ahead for good at 37-29. They would later get a 20-yard field goal to put the game on ice at 40-29 with 37 seconds left.

Columbus scored first on a 20-yard run by Dixon. The successful point after made it 7-0 with 5:49 left in the first quarter.

The Blue Devils seemingly took control of the game in the second quarter after a 3-yard touchdown run by Caleb Bailey to make it a 14-7 game. Later in the second, Columbus got the ball back and Dixon scooted up the field for a 76-yard touchdown. The Blue Devils went up 21-7 with the 6:31 left in the half.

Westover got two late scores, however, to tie the game at 21-21 at intermission.

This story was originally published October 15, 2016 at 12:08 AM with the headline "Terrance Dixon’s big night leads Columbus past Westover."