COLUMBIA CITY — When you put a fowl and a feline on the same field you expect a great fight. Fighting for the Eel River Trophy and the bragging rights for Whitley County, the Columbia City Eaglesheld off a late charge from the Whitko Wildcats Friday night in Columbia City, 34-21. On a night when Columbia City dedicated the game to Tyler Andreas, who unexpectedly lost his life on July 3, Whitko started in the hole almost immediately as junior quarterback Alex Stoddard fumbled the snap and the Eagles' Garrett Cormany recovered at the 9-yard line. On the next play, Cody Wildman punched it into the end zone to give the Eagles a 7-0 lead. However, while the score was good for the home team, it also turned out to be a loss, as Wildman suffered an ankle injury, and did not return to the game. Not to be out done, Whitko's Preston Keim later recovered a fumble at the Eagles' 14-yard line, and Stoddard scrambled for a nine-yard touchdown run two plays later. The extra point by Jake Nissley tied the game after one at 7-7. "We worked hard in practice all week long," Whitko coach Wayne Swender said. "We did a lot of soul searching and our seniors stepped up tonight. I am not disappointed in their efforts this week." The Wildcats started a long drive as the first quarter came to a close. Aided by a 50-yard run by Stoddard on a broken pass play, Whitko was at the Columbia City 6-yard line. Two plays later Stoddard scrambled around the outside and scored his second touchdown of the night giving Whitko a 14-7 lead. Columbia City was in the face of Stoddard all night long forcing him to run or force throws. Although the Eagles were constantly in the Wildcat backfield, Stoddard turned negative into positive yardage. On the night, Stoddard had 98 rushing yards on the ground to lead Whitko, and he also finished the game completing 7 of 11 passes for 67 yards and an interception. When asked about the constant pressure on Stoddard remarked, "You have to give credit to (Columbia City) coach Randy Hudgins and his defense. They came at him pretty hard all night long. We will work on it more in practice this week." Following the Stoddard score, Whitko showed it wasn't finished as it took a 21-7 lead when Ethan Nicodemus recovered the third fumble from the Eagles offense in the first half. After gaining possession of the ball, Nicodemus ran 44 yards for his first touchdown of the year and put the Wildcats in the driver's seat But just when things were looking up for the Wildcats, Columbia City woke up and used some trickery and big plays to get back into the game. On the ensuing drive, quarterback Jared Murphy became a receiver on a reverse play, allowing Connor Slavich to throw him a 45-yard pass for a touchdown. The extra point by Chris Wilson cut the lead to 21-14. Three minutes later, the Eagles tied the game as Murphy repaid Slavich with a 29-yard pass to tie the score at 21-21 at the half. In the second half, the Eagles forced the Wildcats to punt after Stoddard appeared to be driving his team down the field. Columbia City forced Whitko to punt five times in the game, including a negative-five yard drive in the early part of the third. "I was proud of our defense tonight," Swender said. "Other than a couple of big plays we did a nice job of containing them. Last week we weren't ready and they worked hard. We just have to keep getting better." The second half got worse for the Wildcats as Eagle freshman Brandon Myer picked up the slack for the loss of Wildman, running for 101 yards with 64 coming in the second half. After an uneventful third quarter Columbia City broke the tie in the fourth. With 8:50 left in the game, Murphy ran straight up the gut for a five-yard winning touchdown and a 28-21 lead. Despite falling behind, Stoddard was not done. With the help of two personal foul penalties he drove Whitko deep into Eagle territory with less than a minute to go and it appeared Whitko might make the game interesting. But the Eagles had other ideas, as Alex Fritz picked up a Wildcat fumble and returned it 80 yards for the last touchdown of the game as time expired. "We just have to keep focused and keep improving," Swender said. "We have some things to work on. With our leadership we will continue to improve."
