Daily Newsletters
Account
Washington Evening Journal
111 North Marion Avenue
Washington, IA 52353
319-653-2191
Columbus overheats in opener against Mediapolis
Wildcats fall to Bulldogs in road trip to open season
MEDIAPOLIS — Friday night lights is back.
For Columbus football, that first taste of the bright lights came on Friday night with a road trip to Mediapolis.
It was a tough, hot night for the No. 5 (Class A) Wildcats as the 2A Bulldogs put on an impressive display on their way to a 33-7 victory.
Columbus did all they could to slow down the Mediapolis offense, but the Bulldogs were able to use a plethora of players to stay fresh on both sides of the ball.
Defensively, the Bulldogs were stifling as they gave up just one first down to Columbus through one quarter and that came on the first drive of the game.
Wildcat standout running back Kaden Amigon was held in check for much of the night. The senior back gave a valiant effort, finishing with 113 yards rushing on 26 carries with one touchdown.
Mediapolis methodically moved the ball down the field with a mix of both inside and outside runs, but it was the play action passes that put much of the points on the board early.
Bulldogs quarterback Drew Miller put Mediapolis on the board on their first drive of the game with a 17 yard touchdown pass to Chett Mohr.
Miller connected on two more passes to the end zone before the halftime whistle, along with a three-yard touchdown run by Jackson Hutcheson and by the break the Bulldogs led 26-0.
Columbus nearly put its first points on the board in the second as Amigon finally got out into space and blistered down the field for what would have been an 80 yard touchdown run, but it was negated by a holding call.
In the third, the Bulldogs controlled the clock as they ran it all the way down under five minutes with a 17 play opening drive.
The Wildcats came up big on defense, picking up a fourth down stop, but they were force to punt once again.
Mediapolis struck on its next drive to make it 33-0 with 1:10 to go in the third.
Columbus ran just four plays in the third quarter.
Amigon found the end zone from three yards out to break the scoring drought in the fourth quarter after Drew Totemeier recovered a Mediapolis fumble.
“We came here to win,” Columbus head coach David Lekwa said. “But at the end of the day, I didn’t have the boys ready. They beat us in every facet of the game. It was a combination of everything. We have a lot of young guys and guys in new positions, but we’re gonna learn from this one and continue to coach them up.”
Trevor Phillips ended with 39 passing yards for the Wildcats.
Markell Zapiensz finished with one catch for 39 yards.
Riley Kaalberg finished with eight total tackles and 1.5 tackles for a loss. Cole Storm followed with 7.5 tackles.
Columbus drops to 0-1 to begin the season. They will take on Wapello on Friday, Sept. 1. Wapello is coming off a 46-6 loss to West Burlington.
