It’s a road trip for the Columbus Wildcat football team tonight when they invade Danville to meet the Bears. Columbus stands at 1-1 this year. They dropped their opener to BGM, but rebounded to beat Van Buren Week two 29-12 with touchdowns each from Trevor Phillips, Angel Ineichen, Elliot Wessley and Lamar Ceant, three field goals from Dante Zuniga and takeaways from Ronaldo Villegas, Fritz Figaro, Ceant and Fritz Massillon. This year, the Wildcats score 22 points per game and give up 30 on 292 yards per night, 185 on the ground and 107 through the air. Individually, Phillips is 25 of 36 throwing for 213 yards, a touchdown and two interceptions. He’s connected with Wessley 10 times for 89 yards and a score. Angel Ineichen leads the ground game with 35 carries 239 yards and three scores. Wessley’s 17 tackles lead the defense as do his three stops for loss. The Wildcats have five takeaways this year, two for Ceant and Massillon.

Danville is also 1-1 after a split with a win over Louisa-Muscatine and a loss to West Burlington Notre Dame. The Bears blasted the Falcon’s last week 48-0 with Dillan Mason throwing for three scores and Byers Nealy running for three on a night where they piled up more than 400 yards of offense and forced two turnovers. This year the Bears average 31 points per game and give up 10 with 341 total yards per game, 218 rushing and 123 passing per night. Individually, Mason is 16 of 25 through the air on the year for 247 yards, three touchdowns and two interceptions. His top target is Trevor Yaley with four catches for 71 yards and a touchdown. Drake Biesler has two touchdown catches. Rushing, Nealey is at 30 carries 188 yards and three scores. Mason has two touchdowns and Mattix Furnald one. Tate Sherwood is the tackles leader with 18, four sacks and four TFLs. The Bears have four takeaways, Biesler two. This week, Columbus head coach Dave Lekwa talked about the keys for his team week three. “We just really have to focus on some of these little things that we’re doing and some of these small habits that we need to correct. Danville is a heck of a team. Coach Thompson does an excellent job down there with those guys. They got us last year. It’s going to be another long road trip for us. Five straight Fridays on the road. It’s a district game, it’s a big week. We have to buckle down and have a big week of practice to prepare.”

The Bears won this matchup a year ago 31-24. Action starts tonight at 7p.m. At Danville High School.