Calvary Christian hopes to turn tables on Creekside

Calvary Christian will see a familiar foe when it steps on the field Friday night to play Creekside in the semifinals of the GICAA Division I-AA state playoffs.

Creekside running back Cole McCollum has rushed for more than 500 yards in the teams’ last two meetings, both Creekside wins. One of those came in the state semifinals last season.

“Cole McCollum is a very good running back who is very physical when he runs,” Calvary Christian coach Brian Osborne said. “It normally takes more than one person to tackle him. We are going to have to play with sound technique and have 11 men rally to the ball.

“We cannot focus all of our attention on him as Creekside does have other weapons including their quarterback Brenden LeClair. They have been running more read option with their QB because teams are focusing heavily on Cole. He throws well enough too to beat you.”

This will be the second straight season Calvary and Creekside are playing twice. Last year Calvary won the regular-season meeting but then lost in the playoffs.

Creekside won this year’s regular-season matchup, and Osborne is hoping his Knights can do what Creekside did last year.

“It was difficult for our team to focus last year because we had just beat them the previous week,” Osborne said. “Our mentality as a team last year was that we just needed to show up to win again and Creekside came down to Columbus on a mission to win.

“… Even though we lost to Creekside a few weeks ago, our players believe that we can win. We have 11 healthy seniors who are determined that this will not be their last week. We were very focused (Monday) at practice installing the game plan.”

Calvary Christian heads into the playoffs with a 5-5 record. Osborne increased the difficulty of the Knights’ schedule this year by playing a pair of GHSA teams and Glenwood.

“Being prepared for the playoffs was the exact reason for scheduling the tougher non-region games,” he said. “Last year, we really only played one physical football game during the regular season and when we faced adversity in the playoffs, we were not able to answer the bell.

“I wanted to change that this year. We have learned as a team not to panic when we are behind at any point in the game. We have learned to overcome adversity as we have had three seniors be lost to season-ending injuries. I believe those tougher games have our minds in the right frame as we approach Friday night.”

Community Christian is hosting Covenant in the other semifinal on Friday. The state title game is set for Nov. 11.

This story was originally published November 2, 2016 at 8:13 PM with the headline "Calvary Christian hopes to turn tables on Creekside."