SOUTH WHITLEY – A week after committing four turnovers in a 20-7 loss to Wawasee, the Whitko Wildcats dealt with more of the same as the visiting Columbia City Eagles capitalized on turnovers in a 43-13 victory Friday night in South Whitley. The game opened with an early interception as Columbia City quarterback Travis Herbst's pass was taken away by Whitko's Zach Snep just over a minute into the game. On the ensuing drive, however, the Wildcats gave the ball right back to the Eagles. "We have just got to contain, come back...get ready to go to work and climb the ladder," said Wildcats head coach Wayne Swender. "It goes back to fundamentals, but you've got to give credit to Columbia City. They've got a good team." Columbia City scored on a 13-play, 65-yard drive after Adam Neely ran it in from a yard out. Neely carried the ball 11 times for 60 yards on the drive. Columbia City’s offense seemed relentless as the Eagles scored three more times in the first half. Neely would score again from a yard out and Herbst was able to connect with Justin Bachelder and Jared Murphy each for a score. Whitko got on the board for the first time with 1:10 remaining in the second quarter as senior quarterback Alex Stoddard carried a few Eagle defenders with him en route to an 11-yard touchdown run that cut the lead to 28-6 after a failed point-after-attempt. The Wildcats' defense was able to pin Columbia City deep in their own territory and managed to get the ball back with 37 seconds remaining. Stoddard had the ball popped out by the Eagles and would recover on their 10-yard line. Stoddard appeared to have re-aggravated his ankle on that play – a week after injuring it against Wawasee – and the Wildcats were also without the services of Devin Gerding amongst others. "Right now, we're kind of banged up a bit and we're just going to keep plugging away," said Swender. "We're going to get better." Whitko received the ball to start the third quarter, but a muffed catch led to yet another turnover by the Wildcats. Neely burst for 58 yards before carrying the ball two more times to score his third touchdown on the night. He finished the game with 206 yards on 29 carries and scored three times. Tanner Hughes answered the call and marched down the field for the Wildcats with a 9 -yard rush for a touchdown to make it a 35-13 ballgame. Hughes finished with 87 yards on 12 carries. "We had a nice drive, marched down the field with the ball and we scored. We've got to be able to do that all the time. We've just got to go back to focus, fundamentals and have some intensity," said Swender. Columbia City put the game away when Herbst connected with Murphy, a Miami (OH) commit, on a 65-yard pass play one minute after Hughes' score. Next week begins the conference slates for both Whitko and Columbia City. Whitko opens Three Rivers Conference play as they host Southwood, which lost 61-21 to Oak Hill Friday. Columbia City hosts Bellmont, which defeated South Adams 41-17.
