FORT BENNING, Ga., (Oct. 30, 2013) -- For the fourth consecutive year, the Doughboy Bowl trophy will reside at Fort Benning after the Doughboys beat Columbus State University Cougars 42-31 Thursday during Doughboy Bowl IV at A.J. McClung Memorial Stadium.
The Doughboys got off to a slow start on their first possession, with the first set of downs ending in an interception by the Cougars.
On the Cougars' ensuing possession, the Doughboys' special teams scored the first touchdown by blocking a punt with Orell Richmond of 3rd Squadron, 16th Cavalry, picking up the ball and returning it for the score. With the successful extra point, the Doughboys led 7-0.
The Cougars struck back in the second quarter on a 25-yard pass, but missed the extra point to cut the Doughboys lead to 7-6 and took a 13-7 lead with 2:33 remaining in the first half on a 5-yard touchdown run.
With the ensuing kickoff return, the Doughboys set up shop on their own 42-yard line, but after four plays had only moved the ball to the Cougars' 47-yard line. Facing third-and-10 with 50 seconds remaining in the half, Charles Bingham of E Company, 1st Battalion, 507th (Airborne) Parachute Infantry Regiment, hit Matt Stewart of D Company, 2nd Battalion, 69th Armor Regiment, who broke tackles and weaved his way down the field for the score. With the successful point after, the Doughboys took a 14-13 lead.
The Cougars caught a break on the Doughboys' first possession of the second half by recovering a bad snap that sailed over the head of Doughboys' quarterback Adam Gallagher of D Company, 1st Battalion, 29th Infantry Regiment.
Starting from the Doughboys' 15-yard line, the Cougars moved to the 5-yard line on their first play. The Doughboys' defense rose to the occasion by stuffing three consecutive at the 3-yard line to force a Cougar field goal attempt. The 20-yard attempt was good and the Cougars were back in front 16-14 with 10:47 remaining in the third quarter.
It was the last time the Cougars would lead in the game.
It only took the Doughboys five plays to retake the lead on their ensuing possession, scoring on a Bingham 10-yard run with 9:40 remaining in the third quarter. The point after was good and the Doughboys led 21-16.
On the Cougars' next possession, the Doughboys blocked their second punt of the game, setting up the offense on the Cougars' 7-yard line. Three plays later, Earl Wilson of the office of the Staff Judge Advocate, scored from 1 yard out. The point after was good and with 7:06 remaining in the third quarter, the Doughboys led 28-16.
The Cougars bounced right back on their next possession, moving 57 yards in five plays and scoring on a 25-yard run to move to within five points of the Doughboys at 28-23.
But, the Doughboys answered the score with a score of their own to extend their lead to 35-23 on a seven-play, 73-yard drive that culminated on a 12-yard touchdown run by Bingham with 3:59 remaining in the third quarter.
The Doughboys extended their lead to 42-23 with 4:52 remaining in the fourth quarter following a 11-play drive capped by a 9-yard pass from Gallagher to Jessie Lawson of A Company, 203rd Brigade Support Battalion.
Columbus State added two more scores in the final three minutes of the game, scoring on an intentional Doughboys safety and a late touchdown pass with 46 seconds left in the game to round out the scoring.
Doughboys' coach Jason Gibson said he was a little nervous going into the game because it has special meaning.
"I was a little nervous going in because we have had the trophy since the beginning," he said. "I didn't want to lose it, but I knew CSU had a lot of talent. I knew some of their players and their quarterback was as good as we had played all year long.
"We hadn't played so well the past few games, but we have a core group of guys and I just knew if we stuck to the plan we had put together we had a really good chance to keep the trophy."
Gibson said he had the opportunity to look at film to prepare for the game, so he game-planed specifically for their passing attack, as well as make an adjustment on special teams, specifically on punt defense.
"This was the best defensive game we played," he said. "Offensively, if we could have just capitalized on the passing game we could have really separated ourselves … it just wasn't there and I had to make some adjustments at halftime and it worked for us.
"I put that punt block specific for that team. We saw some things on film and we revamped our punt block team … I put in a punt block that I didn't think they would be able to block and we came out on the very first punt and they do it. I did the very same thing with the punt return that I did with the defense all week. We walked through that punt return … our exact assignments, our exact steps … we walked through everything over and over and over, and said 'this is how it is going to happen.' And, it worked."
Offensively, for the second consecutive game, Bingham started the game at quarterback, which Gibson said was to get the ball in the hands of one of his playmakers, then brought Gallagher in at quarterback to start the second half.
"Bo is our best player," he said. "And, your best player needs to touch the ball every play. We made the change back to Gallagher because we needed to run the ball and Bo is our best runner and I felt he gave us a bigger threat by handling the ball or faking him the ball and handing the ball to No. 10, Earl Wilson. Adam did a very good job of throwing the screen and the slant, which he always does very well."
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