It wil be ‘Cats and Dogs Friday in Columbus Junction when the Wildcats welcome the Highland Huskies. Two close games, two different outcomes for the two squads in week one as Columbus enjoyed an emotional overtime win 9-6 on a walkoff 27 yard field goal from Yahir Ayala in their opener to top rival Louisa-Muscatine. On the otherside the Huskies suffered a 24-12 setback at the hands of East Buchanan in Riverside. The Wildcats were led in week one by Andrew Gonzalez with 23 carries for 146 yards as they rolled up 258 on the ground against the Falcon defense. Jeff Hoback added a rushing score, Cole Storm had 8.5 tackles and an interception. This week, head coach Dave Lekwa talked about the win. “You couldn’t have scripted a better ending. Week one, our country rival L-M. I felt our secondary did an excellent job. We also had some pretty good pressure up front. Cole Storm had a hell of a game. Trent Hoback played a lot of linebacker for us and had an excellent night. Dyson Jewel, Jerry Orozco, were also in the middle of that linebacking corp.  Luis Cruz, Bryan Miranda, Colby Frost, and Logan Bright.  Yahir Ayala hasn’t been out in a few years. Not only does he hit the walk-off field goal in overtime but it was his first ever varsity kick. The 27-yard field goal was straight through. It was as pretty as you could get. The players were going nuts. Our crowd which was very good was going crazy. It’s one of those moments that as a player, coach or fan, you want to be a part of.”

In the Huskies loss to the Bucs, they surrendered 374 yards of total offense, 351 of that on the ground. Highland finished with 266 yards of offense of their own including 185 on the ground. Connor Grinstead led Highland with 152 yards and a touchdown on 14 carries. He was two of 11 through the air for 83 yards, a touchdown and two interceptions. His scoring pass went to Logan Bonebrake. Grinstead also led the Highland defense with 10 tackles. Luke Miller and Trevor McFarland recovered fumbles while Brenton Bonebrake picked off a pass. This week, Highland head coach Scott Morel talked about the work his team is doing to improve. “The biggest thing we need to do is cut down on penalties. Those things have to stop. We have to make sure that everyone is focused. Execute, execute, execute. That’s the biggest thing on both sides of the ball. Make sure we know our assignments. We did a great job in the second half of moving the ball. It’s just that we kept shooting ourselves in the foot.”

These two teams met in 2020 with Columbus taking a 49-27 win. Action starts Friday at 7p.m. at Columbus High School.