Eastern 20, Columbia 14
High School football games are 48 minutes long. In Friday;s opener between Columbia and Eastern, the game was broken down into two seven minute segments.
The end result was an historic night for the Eastern Golden Knights, who beat Columbia for the first time in school history, 20-14.
Those five minute segments were at the beginning of the game and the end of the game.
The first seven minutes were owned by Columbia. The last seven minutes were owned by Eastern.
Senior running back Dakotah Lightfoot got the Tide off to a fast start. He returned the opening kickoff 85 yards for a score to give the Tide the early lead.
“My stomach dropped. We had lane people who got out of position,” said Eastern coach Jeff Shutter.
On Columbia’s first offensive series, Lightfoot carried the ball three times for 23 yards and Matt Kreiser making his first start found Yahya McIntyre for a 12-yard score. With 5:42 left in the first quarter, Columbia had a 14-0 lead.
Just when it looked like Columbia was going to run away with the game, things started to change.
Eastern was again forced to punt on their next offensive series, but the Tide’s Jason Combs misplayed the ball and the Knights recovered. Two plays later, the Knights were on the scoreboard as Jared Smeltzer scored from the nine.
But the Tide’s offense moved the ball to the Eastern 31 when Kreiser and center Kevin McCarty couldn’t get together on a snap and turned the ball over.
The problem existed all night.
The Tide’s regular center Bobby Schoelkopf was sidelined during the week with a foot injury.
“He did work with Kevin some over the summer, but he worked mostly with Bobby., who left practice on Tuesday with the injury,” Tide coach Jason Shoff said, adding other factors such as how Eastern’s defense played were involved.
Late in the first half, the Tide had another chance to put points on the board, but Kreiser’s pass on fourth down at the Knight 15 fell incomplete.
There wasn’t much offense the rest of the game until the final seven minutes.
That’s when Eastern trailing 14-7 capitalized on a couple of Columbia turnovers.
A mishandled center/quarterback exchange at the Eastern 46 by the Tide ended up in a game tying score for the Golden Knights.
Led by Smeltzer, who rushed for 119 yards against the Tide, Eastern pounded the ball downfield. They tied the game at 14-14 when Andy Siple scored from the six.
After forcing the Tide to punt. the Knights went back on offense. Just when it looked like the game might be headed to overtime, Eastern went into its bag of tricks.
In the second half, the Knights only tried three passes. On first down from the Tide 32, Smeltzer took a pitch, carried right, pulled up and found Ryan Yohe alone in the Tide secondary for a 32-yard score. With 49 seconds left, Eastern led the game 20-14.
Columbia had two other chances to pull out the win, but turned the ball over.
Coaches’ comments
Eastern coach Shutter said he thought in the second half of the game, the Knights’ offensive line took over the game.
“Our offensive line took control in the second half. We got a pretty good feel for what they were doing,” Shutter said.
“We same play about 25 times in the second half,” the Eastern coach said.
The win was Eastern’s second in the last two years.
“These kids have been through adversity the last two years and a win will help the kids understand the things you do over the summer will work,” Shutter said.
“A win will make practice easier,” he said.
Columbia coach Shoff was disappointed in his team’s effort.
“We had a million chances to win this football game,” Shoff said.
“We didn’t have a good attitude all of camp and it showed in a game,” Shoff said.
As for positives in the win, Shoff said there were a few.
“I saw a positive in the running game when we had everybody in and doing their job,” Shoff said.
“Matt (Kreiser, first-year quarterback) did a good job throwing the ball,” Shoff said.
After getting torched by McIntyre in the first half, Eastern double teamed the talent Columbia wide receiver, and the Tide’s other receivers didn’t come through.
“We can still come out of this and be a 9-1 football team and we put that challenge to the kids,” Shoff said.
Statistical notes
Lightfoot was the team’s leading rusher with 111 yards on 20 attempts. With catching one pass and returning two kicks, the fleet footed Lightfoot had more than 200 yards in total offense.
McIntyre caught six passes for 87 yards.
Kreiser was 8-15-3 for 102 yards. He connected on five of his first seven passes.
Defensively, the Tide gave up 140 yards on the ground.
Lightfoot was also the team’s leading tackler with six solo stops.
McCarty recorded the team’s lone sack.
Streak Buster II
Not only did Columbia’s 14-game winning streak over Eastern end, but so too did another streak that dates back to 1993 when the Tide lost its season opener to Marian Catholic.
NO J.V.
There was no junior varsity game played between the two schools. That was scheduled to be played on Saturday morning.
The end result was an historic night for the Eastern Golden Knights, who beat Columbia for the first time in school history, 20-14.
Those five minute segments were at the beginning of the game and the end of the game.
The first seven minutes were owned by Columbia. The last seven minutes were owned by Eastern.
Senior running back Dakotah Lightfoot got the Tide off to a fast start. He returned the opening kickoff 85 yards for a score to give the Tide the early lead.
“My stomach dropped. We had lane people who got out of position,” said Eastern coach Jeff Shutter.
On Columbia’s first offensive series, Lightfoot carried the ball three times for 23 yards and Matt Kreiser making his first start found Yahya McIntyre for a 12-yard score. With 5:42 left in the first quarter, Columbia had a 14-0 lead.
Just when it looked like Columbia was going to run away with the game, things started to change.
Eastern was again forced to punt on their next offensive series, but the Tide’s Jason Combs misplayed the ball and the Knights recovered. Two plays later, the Knights were on the scoreboard as Jared Smeltzer scored from the nine.
But the Tide’s offense moved the ball to the Eastern 31 when Kreiser and center Kevin McCarty couldn’t get together on a snap and turned the ball over.
The problem existed all night.
The Tide’s regular center Bobby Schoelkopf was sidelined during the week with a foot injury.
“He did work with Kevin some over the summer, but he worked mostly with Bobby., who left practice on Tuesday with the injury,” Tide coach Jason Shoff said, adding other factors such as how Eastern’s defense played were involved.
Late in the first half, the Tide had another chance to put points on the board, but Kreiser’s pass on fourth down at the Knight 15 fell incomplete.
There wasn’t much offense the rest of the game until the final seven minutes.
That’s when Eastern trailing 14-7 capitalized on a couple of Columbia turnovers.
A mishandled center/quarterback exchange at the Eastern 46 by the Tide ended up in a game tying score for the Golden Knights.
Led by Smeltzer, who rushed for 119 yards against the Tide, Eastern pounded the ball downfield. They tied the game at 14-14 when Andy Siple scored from the six.
After forcing the Tide to punt. the Knights went back on offense. Just when it looked like the game might be headed to overtime, Eastern went into its bag of tricks.
In the second half, the Knights only tried three passes. On first down from the Tide 32, Smeltzer took a pitch, carried right, pulled up and found Ryan Yohe alone in the Tide secondary for a 32-yard score. With 49 seconds left, Eastern led the game 20-14.
Columbia had two other chances to pull out the win, but turned the ball over.
Coaches’ comments
Eastern coach Shutter said he thought in the second half of the game, the Knights’ offensive line took over the game.
“Our offensive line took control in the second half. We got a pretty good feel for what they were doing,” Shutter said.
“We same play about 25 times in the second half,” the Eastern coach said.
The win was Eastern’s second in the last two years.
“These kids have been through adversity the last two years and a win will help the kids understand the things you do over the summer will work,” Shutter said.
“A win will make practice easier,” he said.
Columbia coach Shoff was disappointed in his team’s effort.
“We had a million chances to win this football game,” Shoff said.
“We didn’t have a good attitude all of camp and it showed in a game,” Shoff said.
As for positives in the win, Shoff said there were a few.
“I saw a positive in the running game when we had everybody in and doing their job,” Shoff said.
“Matt (Kreiser, first-year quarterback) did a good job throwing the ball,” Shoff said.
After getting torched by McIntyre in the first half, Eastern double teamed the talent Columbia wide receiver, and the Tide’s other receivers didn’t come through.
“We can still come out of this and be a 9-1 football team and we put that challenge to the kids,” Shoff said.
Statistical notes
Lightfoot was the team’s leading rusher with 111 yards on 20 attempts. With catching one pass and returning two kicks, the fleet footed Lightfoot had more than 200 yards in total offense.
McIntyre caught six passes for 87 yards.
Kreiser was 8-15-3 for 102 yards. He connected on five of his first seven passes.
Defensively, the Tide gave up 140 yards on the ground.
Lightfoot was also the team’s leading tackler with six solo stops.
McCarty recorded the team’s lone sack.
Streak Buster II
Not only did Columbia’s 14-game winning streak over Eastern end, but so too did another streak that dates back to 1993 when the Tide lost its season opener to Marian Catholic.
NO J.V.
There was no junior varsity game played between the two schools. That was scheduled to be played on Saturday morning.
Labels: Columbia football, opener
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