The Columbus Wildcat football team bullied the Van Buren Warriors Friday night in a 29-12 win in Keosauqua. Columbus led 6-0 after one, tacked on 16 more in the second to hold a 22-0 advantage at half, went up 29-6 after three and held off the Warriors in the fourth. Wildcat head coach Dave Lekwa spoke on the KCII Radio Coaches Corner about his team’s success week two. “We definitely had a nice night on defense. We were stout all night. We had a lot of negative plays, tackles for loss. Had a couple of interceptions as well, one of which Lamar Ceant returned 55 yards for a touchdown. We ended up with four takeaways. We have some good athletes on our back end. I thought our coverage took a step forward and our tackling went well. Gabe Zuniga had three field goals, a pair of 33-yarders and a 25-yarder. First few drives, we were able to move the ball very well and punch it in. We ended up with just shy of 360 total yards. It just feels like we left some points out there. We need to turn those drives from three points into six. Trevor (Phillips) was very efficient at quarterback. Tip the cap to Elliot Wessley. He had a hard-fought game at middle linebacker and offensively he led us in receiving. Angel Ineichen and Tyson Kaalberg gave us two 100-yard rushers.”

Columbus won total yards 356-291, including 240-192 on the ground and 116-99 through the air. The Wildcats won turnovers 4-2. Trevor Phillips was an efficient 11 of 13 throwing for 116 yards a touchdown and an interception. His top target was Elliot Wessley with six catches for 89 yards and a touchdown. On the ground, Angel Ineichen ran for 117 yards on 17 carries with a touchdown. Gabe Zuniga drilled three field goals with a long of 33. L amar Ceant had a pick six, Fritz Massillion had an interception. Ronaldo Villegas and Fritz Figaro each recovered a fumble. Wessley had a team best 10 tackles, three for loss. Columbus is now 1-1 on the year and travels to Danville Friday.