Football: Columbus Lakeview runs past St. Paul

(Columbus, NE) - The St Paul Wildcats fell to the Lakeview Vikings in a fast-paced contest Friday evening by a final score of 24-7. The two teams were scoreless for almost the entirety of the first half before Columbus was able to put together a 96-yard drive with under 3 minutes to go capped off by Blake Rathbone scoring a touchdown with 3.5 seconds to go in the Half.

The Wildcats would go 3 and out on their opening possession of the 3rd quarter. Lakeview would tack on a 23-yard field goal to make it 10-0 heading into the 4th quarter. On The first play of the 4th quarter, running back Derek Line would score from 11 yards out on 4th down to extend the Viking lead to 17 following the point after touchdown attempt.

Lakeview would score their final points of the game with 5:29 to go as quarterback Clayton Thomsen would find Blake Rathbone for his 2nd touchdown of the night on a 39-yard post across the middle to make it 24-0. The Wildcat offense put together a drive late in the contest that would see Ashton Meineke score a 2-yard touchdown run with a minute to go in regulation. Meineke would go on to secure Runza MVP of the game honors with 15 carries on the ground for 75 yards and 1 touchdown.

With the loss, the Cats fall to 1-3 on the season while Lakeview is able to even their record out at 2-2. The Vikings will have Wahoo on the road next week while St. Paul will be on the road at Aurora. Pump and Pantry pregame will be at 6:30 with kickoff at 7.