Columbia football easily wins opener, 62-0

The Columbia Eagles football team, ranked 10th in the state in Class 4A, opened its season on the road Friday against East Alton-Wood River, rolling to a 62-0 victory.

The Eagles have won their conference title the last two seasons and would love nothing more than to win it for a third straight year.

Columbia jumped out to an early lead on a 75-yard touchdown run by Lou Isringhaus. The extra point attempt was no good, and the Eagles led 6-0.

The Eagles found the end zone again three minutes later on a 6-yard run by new starting quarterback Jacob Hill. Columbia went for the two-point conversion and Hill found Drew Huebner in the end zone to put Columbia up 14-0.

Hill would connect two more times in the opening quarter, finding Brenden Wilhelm for a 27-yard touchdown and Chris Wagner for a 15-yard touchdown as the Eagles opened up a 26-0 lead.

Columbia continued to pour it on in the second quarter. The Eagles scored three more times on runs by Lamont Reed, Kenny Fields and Isringhaus to open up a 46-0 lead at halftime.

The Eagles added a safety and a 65-yard kick-off return in the third quarter and a 46-yard interception return by Andrew Locke in the fourth quarter, as the Eagles cruised to victory.

“Overall, we played well on both sides of the ball, won the turnover battle, and the special teams battle,” Columbia head coach Scott Horner said after the game.

Hill didn’t throw a lot of passes in the game, but had a very productive night, going 5-for-6 for 108 yards and two TDs. Hill also ran for a touchdown.

Isringhaus (8 rushes for 111 yards, 2 TDs) led a balanced Columbia rushing attack that put up 240 yards on the ground.

Reed led Columbia receivers with three catches for 66 yards and added two punt returns for 70 yards.

Columbia hosts Monroe County rival Waterloo this Friday on the turf CHS field.

Kickoff is set for 7 p.m.

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Corey Saathoff

Corey is the editor of the Republic-Times. He has worked at the newspaper since 2004, and currently resides in Columbia. He is also the principal singer-songwriter and plays guitar in St. Louis area country-rock band The Trophy Mules.
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