Week two is here for the Columbus Wildcat football team as they hit the road for a contest against the Van Buren Warriors. Columbus dropped their opener on a neutral field in Muscatine to BGM last Friday 47-14. The ‘Cats trailed just 19-14 at half, but did not gain a first down after the break, while the Bears piled up 28 straight points. BGM outgained Columbus 636-227 in total, including 518 to 130 rushing. The Wildcats won the turnover battle 2-1. Individual leaders were Trevor Phillips at 14 of 23 passing for 97 yards with an interception. Lamar Ceant and Tyson Kaalberg each made five catches for a total of 97 yards. Angel Ineichen had a big day on the ground with 18 rushes for 122 yards and a pair of scores. Top tackler was Elliot Wessley with seven stops. Kason Dopler recovered a fumble and Ceant intercepted a pass.
Van Buren is 0-1 after a 28-8 loss at Central Lee. The Warriors were outgained 252-244 in total, losing the rush total 208-165, but winning passing 79-44. Van Buren lost the turnover battle 4-1. Individual Warrior leaders included Will Cocherell four of 15 passing for 79 yards a touchdown and interception. His top target was Jace Duncan with two grabs for 58 yards, Ethan Cochenour caught the touchdown. The run game had Kayden Simmons with 17 carries for 93 yards. On defense, Simmons piled up eight stops, five for loss. Cochenour had a takeaway with a fumble. This week, Wildcat head coach Dave Lekwa talked with KCII Sports about what his team needs to do well week two to have success. He said, “We had a number of guys in week one playing hard, we just came up against a really good team, that right now we just didn’t have an answer for. We’ve definitely got worked to do and that’s the positive we’re going to pull from that game. We have to film to look at. It will show the things we’re falling short on so we’re ready to start the district schedule.”
These two teams have split their last four meetings, but the Wildcats have won the last two years by a combined 109-21 score. Action starts Friday at 7p.m. In Keosauqua.