In high school football action from Friday night, two of three local squads were victorious. 

Waterloo (5-2) won 43-14 in the “Battle of the Bulldogs” at Highland in a key Mississippi Valley Conference clash.

The scoring started with a 79-yard touchdown pass from Waterloo senior quarterback Conrad Lindhorst to Owen Niebruegge with just less than six minutes left in the first quarter.

Following a 32-yard field goal by Waterloo’s Colten Rowe to start the second quarter, Highland finally got on the board courtesy of a long TD pass.

Waterloo led 10-7 at halftime.

The third quarter was the “Derez Sayles Show” for Waterloo. He scored on runs of eight and five to put the orange-and-black Bulldogs up comfortably.

In the fourth quarter, Highland scored on a short TD run. That was followed by a 17-yard TD pass from Lindhorst to Tyler Theobald. Sayles then ripped off a 20-yard TD run.

The final scoring of the night came on a “pick six” interception TD return by Waterloo’s Cannon Richard.

Niebruegge rushed for 100 yards in addition to his 79 yards receiving. Sayles had 91 yards on the ground in addition to his three TDs.

In addition to Richards’ interception score, he had two sacks on the night. 

Waterloo hosts Triad (4-3) this Friday.

Columbia (6-1) won a defensive battle at Salem, 7-6.

The Wildcats got their home crowd cheering with a TD late in the first quarter, but missed the extra point attempt. 

The score would remain 6-0 into the fourth quarter. That’s when Columbia senior running back Jase Nelson ran it in from four yards out early in the frame. Aven Janik converted on the extra point to put the Eagles up 7-6.

Columbia finished with just 52 yards rushing and 65 yards receiving on the night.

The Eagles are now playing without the services of key senior Keegan Thompson, who was an integral part of both the offense and defense.

Next up is a home game against state-ranked Breese Central on Friday.

Dupo (6-1) finally fell from the ranks of the unbeaten in a thriller at Chester, 38-37. 

The Tigers scored with just 1.4 seconds remaining and opted to go for the two-point conversion rather than an extra-point kick to tie. The two-point pass attempt was knocked away, however.

Dupo, one of the state’s top-ranked Class 1A squads, ran for just 24 yards on the night against a tough Class 2A team.

Senior quarterback Deegan Prater was 16-for-31 passing for 316 yards, three TDs and three interceptions for Dupo.

The top receivers for the Tigers on this night were Brrayden Esterlein with three catches for 95 yards and Thinh Staggs with eight catches for 92 yards.

Ethan Nelson led Dupo’s defense with eight tackles and five assists.

The Tigers will try to get back in the win column this Friday as they host Sparta.