Football Preview: Breese Central Cougars vs. Columbia Eagles
Breese Central is on a ten-game streak of home wins (dating back to last season), while Columbia is on a four-game streak of away wins (also dating back to last season): one of those streaks is about to end. The Breese Central Cougars will host the Columbia Eagles at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. Both squads will be entering this one on the heels of a big victory.
Last Friday, Breese Central blew past Roxana, posting a 35-6 victory at home.
Meanwhile, Columbia was fully in charge on Friday, breezing past Salem 38-8 at home. Given the Eagles' advantage in MaxPreps' Illinois football rankings (they are ranked 135th, while the Wildcats are ranked 318th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Jase Nelson continued his habit of posting crazy stat lines, rushing for 173 yards and three touchdowns while picking up 8.7 yards per carry. Those 173 rushing yards gave him a new career-high.
He was just one part of a punishing run game: Columbia was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 387 rushing yards. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now rushed for at least 152 rushing yards in five consecutive games.
Columbia didn't go easy on the quarterback and picked off two passes before the game was over. In fact, those interceptions all came courtesy of defensive juggernaut Mason Voegele.
Breese Central's win bumped their record up to 7-0. As for Columbia, they have been performing well recently as they've won four of their last five matches, which provided a nice bump to their 5-2 record this season.
Breese Central took their victory against Columbia in their previous matchup back in October of 2023 by a conclusive 33-13. Will Breese Central repeat their success, or does Columbia have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
