Jared Eichelberger rumbled for 187 yards on 19 carries against Louisa-Muscatine as Columbus Community put on a 51-6 homecoming shellacking on its area rival.
The Wildcats (3-2, 1-2) came out with a mission, rolling up a 20-0 first quarter lead and was up 39-0 before L-M earned its first and only touchdown with 14 seconds left to play in the first half.
Eichelberger, who had 146 of his yards on the ground in the first half, accounted for three Wildcat touchdowns on runs of 13, 18 and 10 yards. He rolled up bunches of yards – the lowest amount of yardage Eichelberger garnered were a pair of eight-yard gainers.
Columbus’ also benefited from a pair of interceptions by senior defensive back Tony Marin. He picked off L-M quarterback Tug McCleery at the end of the first quarter and again to start the third quarter. He has five picks on the season.
The Falcons’ Buck Newcomb was also intercepted late in the fourth quarter by Jacob Hartsock. The Falcons also fumbled away the ball as Columbus’ Scott Tompkins recovered.
Wildcat quarterback Austin Conaway opened the scoring at 7:13 on a four-yard run after Eichelberger did the lion’s share of the work. He carried the ball six times for 46 yards in Columbus’ opening drive. Conaway completed 2-of-6 passes for 40 more yards.
In addition to Eichelberger’s workman-like effort, the Wildcats also got a pair of big plays from Tyler Stewart. Stewart took the ball from the Columbus 33-yard-line on third down and 12 and went all the way for the score. He carried just two times for 96 yards.
After Lucas Kemp completed a long 45-yard bomb to Brode Hills late in the fourth quarter, McCleery completed an 11-yard touchdown pass to Caleb Bemis for the Falcons’ first score in three games. On the two-point conversion attempt, McCleery had to be helped off the field. However, he returned in the second half. The injury turned out to be a slight tweak of the hamstring.
After Eichelberger’s third touchdown run with 7:59 remaining in the third quarter, Columbus substituted freely. The Wildcats finished the game with 427 yards on the ground and 467 yards total.