The Columbus Wildcats were beaten 42-19 by Mediapolis Friday in their first game of a new football season. A fast start by Mepo would ultimately do Columbus in, as the Bulldogs led 21-0 after a quarter of play and would lead the rest of the night.

The Wildcats would make some plays later in the game on offense. Quarterback Trevor Phillips completed a pair of long passes to junior Tyson Kaalberg for touchdowns and finished 6 of 10 throwing the ball for 130 yards.

Tyson Kaalberg’s two TD catches covered 108 yards, while senior running back Riley Kaalberg had 128 yards and a score on 14 rushing attempts. Riley Kaalberg also led the Columbus defense with 10-and-a-half total tackles.

The Wildcats will try to get their first win of 2024 when they next play this coming Friday against Wapello. You can catch Columbus football in the KCII Area Game of the Week starting with pregame coverage Friday night at 6:30 exclusively streaming on KCIIradio.com.