Columbus opens season with 9-6 OT victory

COLUMBUS JUNCTION — Columbus beat Louisa-Muscatine 9-6 Friday in a hard-hitting county rivalry brawl.

The Wildcats’ Yahir Ayala connected on a 27-yard walk-off field goal in overtime for the victory.

Andy Gonzalez had 146 yards rushing for Columbus. Jeff Hoback tied the game with a 14-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter.

The contest was hard fought with neither football team able to sustain momentum. At one point, the Louisa-Muscatine bench cleared and skirmishes broke out in several places on the field. The end result: one Columbus player was ejected and offsetting unsportsmanlike conduct penalties were assessed.

Louisa-Muscatine’s only touchdown came with no time left on the clock at the end of the first half. Out of timeouts, the Falcons caught a break when the officials stopped the clock with 7 seconds remaining, allowing the team to line up for a last play, resulting in a touchdown pass.

“There was some confusion with the official on that side regarding timeouts,” Columbus head coach David Lekwa said. “It obviously cost us right there. ... It certainly wasn’t beneficial for us.”

Lekwa was happy with the win but sees room for improvement especially in conditioning.

“We had a lot of cramping. We had a lot of injuries,” he said.

Yet there was an upside. Much of the second string saw playing time, and the coach says they did well.

“That’s not always easy the first game. A lot of times that second group is not as comfortable out there as the first group,” Lekwa said. He was happy “just having younger guys go in there and perform well.”

In the week ahead, the team will work to fine tune the team’s performance even though “overall I’m proud of the boys.”

“It’s Week 1, Game 1, certainly a lot of things were sloppy,” Lekwa said. “That’s just what Week 1 is.”