SOUTH WHITLEY -ÊAfter his team's loss to Wawasee last week, Whitko coach Bryan Sprunger said, "Football is about the simple things, the basics. We are going to work on blocking, tackling and holding on to the football."

But the Wildcats had a little trouble with the last item on that list early in the first quarter of Friday night's game against Columbia City. Add that to fatigue and miscues late in the game, and the Wildcats sealed their own fate in a 36-16 loss to the Eagles.

Whitko started the game on its own 25-yard line, and after gaining six yards on the first two plays, the Wildcats fumbled the ball.

Columbia City's Trevor Shoda recovered the ball at the Whitko 40, and 10 plays later the Eagles scored their first touchdown of the game and took a 6-0 lead with 4:52 left in the first frame.

However, the Eagle lead was short-lived. The Wildcats got the ball on their own 40-yard line and began a 60-yard drive that took just 2:40 off the clock. With second-and-one, Adam Wendel connected with Alan Robbins for a 5-yard touchdown pass. Wendel tossed the pigskin to Jeff Shepherd to put the Whitko squad up 8-6.

Columbia City refused to lay down and take a beating from their county rivals. The Eagles retaliated by scoring on their first drive of the second quarter, then forcing Whitko's offense to go three-and-out.

Enter another Wildcat miscue. The snap for Whitko's punt was bad, and although Brent Goble fought to save the play, Columbia City recovered the ball on the Wildcat 14.

Columbia City scored again on the next play, and in the span of just five minutes, the Eagles had built a 22-8 lead.

"The bad snap on the punt hurt us a little," said Sprunger. "Those kinds of plays are game-killers."

Again, the Wildcats fought back. After the Wildcats moved the ball to the Eagle 8-yard line, Jeff Shepherd finished the job with a touchdown run. When Wendel connected with Alex Frantz for the conversion, Whitko was back in the thick of things, trailing Columbia City by just six points, 22-16.

The Wildcat and Eagle defenses battled through the third quarter, and the score remained the same, 22-16. However, the humid conditions and fatigue plagued the Wildcats in the final quarter of play as Columbia City scored two touchdowns to finish with the 36-16 win.

"Our defensive coaches made some good adjustments at halftime," said Columbia City coach Ron Frickey. "I really think that was the difference in the ball game. We were more effective against their run, especially on first downs."

"I think if you go back through the game, you'll see that the guys played hard," said Sprunger. "The humidity definitely had an effect on the game. When you have six guys who are going both ways on the field in these weather conditions, they're gonna cramp up. The kids scraped through the third quarter, but we just ran out of gas.

"I'm really happy with the effort the kids put into this game. They fought hard."

Whitko, now 0-2, will host Southwood Friday in its first Three Rivers Conference matchup of the season. Although the Wildcats are winless, Sprunger is optimistic about his team.

"I truly believe that we are not far from being a very good football team," he said.

COL. CITY 36, WHITKO 16

Whitko 8 8 0 0 - 16

Columbia City 6 16 0 14 - 36

W CC

First downs 10 13

Rushes/yards 38/121 37/216

Passing yards 85 117

Comp.-Att.-Int. 7-12-0 11-17-0

Total offense 206 333

Fumbles/lost 6-1 4-0

Punts/avg. 1-36 1-32

Penalties/yards 2-20 5-50

First Quarter

CC -ÊJoel Cearbaugh 1 run (Ian Delaney kick failed) 6-0 CC, 4:52Ê

W -ÊAlan Robbins 5 pass from Adam Wendel (Jeff Shepherd pass from Wendel) 8-6 W, 1:28

Second Quarter

CC -ÊCearbaugh 2 run (Cearbaugh run) 14-8 CC, 9:19

CC -ÊBrady Pratt 14 run (Pratt run) 22-8 CC, 7:35

W - Shepherd 8 run (Alex Frantz pass from Wendel) 22-16 CC, 2:01

Fourth Quarter

CC -ÊCearbaugh 22 run (Pratt run) 30-16 CC, 7:10

CC -ÊCearbaugh 20 run (Cearbaugh run failed) 36-16 CC, 2:20

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

Rushing - Whitko: Brent Goble 12-59, Jeff Shepherd 8-31, Alan Robbins 4-29, Dustin Boardman 6-20; Columbia City: Joel Cearbaugh 22-162, Brady Pratt 10-42

Passing - Whitko: Adam Wendel 7-10-85 0 int., Brad Walpole 0-2-0 0 int.; Columbia City: Aaron Parker 11-16-117 0 int., Joel Cearbaugh 0-1-0 0 int.

Receiving - Whitko -ÊAdam Hall 5-43, Alex Frantz 1-33, Jeff Shepherd 1-9; Columbia City: Tony DeWitt 5-43, Brady Pratt 2-18, Cam Lickey 2-20, Steve Lalevich 1-28, Joel Cearbaugh 1-8 [[In-content Ad]]