COLUMBUS
When it rains, it pours.
And for the Roncalli football team, the rain brought another loss.
Class 6A No. 5 Columbus North remained unbeaten, nipping the winless Rebels, 9-7, Friday evening.
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Roncalli had a chance with 3:30 left in the game, but the Rebels were stopped on fourth-and-1 at the North 42-yard line, after which the Bull Dogs ran out the clock.
Columbus North (4-0) used its ball control late and its stingy defense — and some luck — to beat the Rebels for the first time in the fourth all-time meeting between the schools.
And nothing’s been easy for Roncalli (0-4), which was on the road for the third time in the first four games and has lost its four games by a total of 25 points.
“It’s been a tough four game stretch,” Roncalli coach Scott Marsh said. “We had some good defense, but hats off to (Columbus North), so did they.
The Rebels made a an opening-drive statement with a 17-play, 77-yard march that took nearly eight minutes. The drive culminated with sophomore Baron Huebler running in from the 3.
It seemed the Rebels’ defense fed off the offensive run, limiting the Bull Dogs to a paltry 8 yards in the first quarter.
Columbus North, though, came alive in the second quarter on both offense and defense. The Bull Dogs stopped Roncalli on its two possessions, and gambled on offense and hit the jackpot.
On a fourth-and-7, quarterback Trenton Kelley hit Blake Huffman for 16 yards to the Rebel 13. Two plays later, Huffman ran into the end zone and a Spencer Rivera kick tied the game at 7-7, which is how it went into the second half.
Defensively, the Rebels were to the task, but it was a wild snap on offense that gave the North the lead when the ball sailed over quarterback Cole Beckman’s head. Beckman managed to recover the ball, but he was tackled in the end zone.
The Rebels did throw a scare into the Columbus North fans by crossing midfield late, but it ended when senior Elijah Mahan was stopped cold by the Bull Dog defense on fourth-and-1.
Roncalli still could have gotten the ball back with less than two minutes to go, but North rolled the dice themselves and Huffman got the first down on a fourth-and-3.
“That happens,” Marsh said. “I’m still proud of our guys.”
Roncalli returns home next Friday to try and get that elusive win against 2A No. 1 Indianapolis Scecina.
