The Columbia Eagles will be playing at home against the Breese Central Cougars at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. Given that the pair suffered a loss in their last game, they both have a little extra motivation heading into this matchup.
Columbia missed an extra point against Salem on Friday and it came back to haunt them. Columbia was just a hair shy of victory and fell 27-26 to Salem.
Columbia's defeat shouldn't obscure the performances of Mason Voegele, who threw for 161 yards and three touchdowns while completing 75% of his passes, and Dalton Rainwater who picked up 59 receiving yards and two touchdowns.
Meanwhile, after a string of five wins, Breese Central's good fortune finally ran out on Friday. They were the victim of a rough 52-28 loss at the hands of Roxana. Breese Central was down 52-22 at the end of the third quarter, which was just too much to recover from.
Even though the team lost, they still came through with several impressive performances. One of the most dominant came from Preston Baker, who threw for 255 yards and two touchdowns, and also punched in a touchdown on the ground. Griffen Becker was another key contributor, picking up 114 receiving yards and two touchdowns.
Columbia's defeat was their fifth straight on the road (dating back to last season), which dropped their overall record down to 1-6. Admittedly, the team was facing some tough opposition over that stretch, including 7-0 Roxana and 9-3 Murphysboro [Co-op] (their opponents had an average overall winning percentage of 66.4% over those games). As for Breese Central, their loss on Friday dropped their record down to 5-2.
Columbia barely slipped by Breese Central in their previous meeting back in October of 2022, winning 28-27. Will Columbia repeat their success, or does Breese Central have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.
