Wildcats win wild opener

WAYLAND ? Don?t give up.

That was the message that seemed to define the Columbus football team on Friday night.

The Wildcats used that mantra to push themselves through a number of trying situations in the season-opener against WACO, but things looked bleak as time wound down.

WACO had strung together an impressive drive in the final 4:30 of the ballgame, capping off the drive with the fifth Bryce Achen touchdown of the night as Columbus took a 38-36 lead with 27 seconds left.

Turns out, that was a little too much time for the Wildcats to strike.

?I saw some heads down, but we had to keep the guys going,? Columbus junior quarterback Carter Colby said. ?(Our leaders) came off the field and got us pumped up. I had faith the whole time, and you have to believe to win.?

The kickoff went out of bounds, putting Columbus at its own 35-yard line. The play-call on the first play of the drive seemed simple enough: Put the fastest player on the field at wide receiver, and let him run.

?Coach always tells me to look through my routes, and my No. 1 go-to guy is Mauricio,? Colby said. ?He has 4.4 speed, and I saw him open and threw it as far as I could. It was a great play by Mauricio.?

Senior Mauricio Ramirez slipped himself past the entire WACO defense, and after he found the ball, the Warriors didn?t have a chance to catch him.

?My coach told me to go out wide, and he put his trust in me,? Ramirez said. ?I gave it my all and didn?t stop running after I caught the ball.?

That 65-yard touchdown pass capped off an exciting opener, which saw Columbus (1-0) defeat WACO (0-1) 43-38.

?This is the first time we?ve been through adversity in the last 10 years, and been able to do a good job overcoming it,? Columbus head coach Jeff Martin said. ?We were in a hole right away, and it would have been easy to get down, but we kept fighting. It was a great team effort tonight.?

For the Warriors, the focus will remain on staying positive, as an emotional loss could be hard to shake.

?We have to stay positive and keep working,? Warrior head coach Chad Edeker said. ?This is similar to last year?s situation. We lost a couple of games that we had a shot of winning, and if we could have won them, it would have turned the season around. This was a big one for us to get, but we?ll stay positive all week.?

WACO couldn?t have had a better start to the game, as a 65-yard pass from sophomore quarterback Jackson Roth to freshman Colton Horak set up Achen?s first touchdown of the night.

After forcing a 3-and-out, the Warriors only needed six plays for Achen (193 yards rushing) to find the end zone again, giving WACO a 14-0 first-quarter lead.

The WACO defense came up big again, forcing a turnover on downs, but a red zone interception gave Columbus new life.

The Wildcats, led by Ramirez (238 rushing yards), drove the ball down the field and the senior running back punched it in after nine plays, before WACO answered with a 24-yard touchdown run by Achen.

That?s when things started to get a little crazy.

After trading an interception and a missed field goal, Columbus threw it deep on a second and long. Colby?s pass was intended for Devon Young, who missed the diving attempt. However, Young?s had hit the ball up, and fellow receiver Ricky Briones was in the right place to make a play.

?I didn?t think the ball was going to come to me,? Briones said. ?I saw the ball and cut in to make the catch, and I thought Devon had it, but once I felt it, I took off running. I?ve never ran that fast before. It pumped us up quite a lot. We were ready to come out to play in the second half.?

A bad snap for the Warriors in the second half gave Columbus the ball at the 1-yard line, setting up a Wildcat touchdown to give them a 21-20 lead, but WACO wasn?t done.

Achen picked up his fourth touchdown of the night, before Gabe Black scored on the Warriors? next possession with 6:59 left and a 32-21 lead.

Columbus? big-play ability came out in the next drive, as Ramirez scampered for a 65-yard touchdown run which was capped off by a successful two-point conversion.

?Our skill kids are as good as anybody?s, and we didn?t play especially sharp tonight,? Martin said. ?Give WACO credit, they played really well, but our skill players can make plays. We can score from anywhere on the field, and we have about four or five kids that can do that.?

The Wildcats gambled and picked up the ensuing onside kick, and after a 30-yard run by Ramirez, Colby sneaked into the end zone to give the Wildcats the lead with 4:29 to play.

WACO drove down and scored before Ramirez answered in the next play to give Columbus the victory.

?(The win) is going to give us a lot of momentum,? Ramirez said. ?Hopefully we carry that into practice on Monday, because if we don?t (stop), I guarantee more wins.?

Columbus will take on New London on the road next week, while WACO will travel to face BGM on Friday.