It’s the season opener for the Columbus Wildcats tonight when they take on the BGM Bears in a neutral site game at Muscatine High School. The Wildcats are coming off of a 4-5 season in 2024 in which they finished 4-3, fourth in Class A District 5, qualifying for the playoffs before being eliminated by Maquoketa Valley in the opening round. As a team, Columbus scored 29 points and gave up 29 points per game. The Wildcats averaged 293 yards per game, 225 on the ground and 68 through the air. Individually, Columbus returns their leading passer Trevor Phillips after a junior season going 50 of 76 through the air for 610 yards, nine touchdowns and six interceptions. The Wildcats top two targets in the pass game are both back, Tyson Kaalberg and Angel Ineichen who combined for 34 grabs, 425 yards and five touchdowns. They will have to replace their top ground gainer Riley Kaalberg who capped his career with 164 rushes, 1,505 yards and 19 touchdowns. Tyson Kaalberg is the top returner there with 32 rushes, 240 yards and four touchdowns. Top tackler Drew Totemeier returns after 50 and a half tackles with five stops for loss as a junior. Markell Zapiensz was the best for Columbus with 11 TFLs. As a defense, the Wildcats had 14 takeaways, three each for leaders Lamar Ceant and Kason Dopler. Columbus ranked in the top 10 of Class A in 10 different categories a year ago.

BGM was 4-5 overall last season, finishing third in 8-man District 7 at 3-2. The Bears were knocked out of the playoffs in the first round by Edgewood-Colesburg 92-56. BGM will make the jump back to 11-man football this fall. Last season they scored 56 points per game and gave up 36 per night on 495 yards per game, 267 through the air and 228 on the ground. Individually, on offense, Beau Burns was the man last year, with 3,883 all-purpose yards, including 2,409 with his arm on 136 of 202 throwing with 36 touchdowns and six interceptions. On the ground he had 1,474 yards on 177 carries with 25 scores. He lost his top three targets in the pass game with Tate Martin, Tucker Wright and Dakota Heishman combining on 103 catches, 1803 yards and 29 touchdowns. Defensively, the top five stoppers are gone including Martin, Wright, Landen Cooling, Brooks Davis and Griffin Berry and their total of 229 tackles, 46 and a half for loss and six sacks. Landon Hassett with 22 tackles is the leader back. The Bears forced 21 turnovers last year, with Cooling, Martin and Davis posting 14 combined. BGM landed in the top 10 of 8-man football in 26 categories. This week, Wildcat seniors Drew Totemeier, Tyson Kaalberg and Trevor Phillips talked about the keys against BGM. “We have to contain BGM’s runners and receivers, especially on the outside. They’re a quick team. Their quarterback is really good at running the ball. If we work as a team and contain wherever he decides to go we’ll be successful. Defensive backs do their job and shut down passing. Trust linebackers to do their job and stop everything else. If we do the little things we should be set for Friday.”

This is the first meeting between the two schools. You can hear all of the action live tonight on AM 1380, FM 102.5, the KCII2 App and KCIIradio.com, beginning with the Area Game of the Week Pregame Show at 6:30 and kickoff at 7p.m. Live from Muscatine Community Stadium.