Columbus. Forget the explorer. (He had his due last week). For those of us in Football World the very word just seems to breathe football, whether in Wisconsin, Ohio or Georgia. In this, the ninth and penultimate game of the 2022 season, NGM made the trek to Columbus (WI) and had a chance to experience what it's like to play the #2 ranked team in the state. Once in a rare while a game is over before it begins, and that's what it felt like tonight. At 56-14, it was never close.

NGM received the opening kickoff and on the first play from scrimmage, promptly fumbled. The Cardinal's superstar Colton Brunell recovered and took it to the house. With 19 seconds off the clock it was 7-0 Columbus. I use "superstar" sparingly, but here it applies. Brunell, with sights set in this game of setting the Columbus all-time rushing record (he did at 3,980 yards), would be the only Redbird to touch the ball in the quarter, getting 12 carries and scoring three more touchdowns...mind you, just in the first quarter. He'd score another in the second before retiring early for the evening, taking Columbus to a 49-0 commanding lead at halftime. P.S. This kid is only a junior!

We can take some solace and claim that NGM "won" the second half, 14-7. OK, so it was against the reserves, but the highlights are where you find them. Midway through the third, QB Max Marty pitched to Ethan Friedrich on an apparent sweep, only to have Friedrich heave a strike to a wide open Cade Thayer for a 60-yard touchdown. The try for 2 came up short.

At 8:27 in the fourth it was Lawrence Vasquez breaking five tackles on his way to a 72-yard touchdown run. I swear this young man must have some Alan "The Horse" Ameche in his blood (Google it, young people) with his upright and aggressive running style. This was the best run of the year from scrimmage for NGM. It was followed by the best 2-point conversion of the year when NGM lined up 9 players right of center, making senior center Max Parman a legitimate receiver. QB Marty played it perfectly, luring all the defenders to the right and creating a state of obvious confusion. This left Parman completely alone for an easy toss and added 2 points to the NGM column. The chicanery was so complete as to even confuse the referees, who, in a state of some bewilderment, threw a flag. After lengthy deliberation the crew finally arrived at adjudication and removed the "penalty", allowing Parman's jubilant (yet restrained) celebration to stand. The Cards would close out the scoring with their last touchdown of the evening at 4:29 to play. Final score, 56-14.

There was a very real and touching highlight that will not show up in any statistic. It came in the last several minutes of the game when NGM freshman QB Grady Johnson led his fellow freshmen and other reserves into the fray. They hit the field with obvious and almost infectious enthusiasm - and then had a brief show of success moving the ball. The score was irrelevant at this point, especially to these young ball players so happy just to get a crack at some Varsity level play. Genuine enthusiasm on display....isn't that what high school sports are all about?

Numbers: Columbus had 357 yards of total offense, with 276 on the ground. (Colton Brunell tallied 201 of those yards...all in the first half). NGM had a respectable 201 yards of total offense, admittedly most coming on two plays in the second half. Max Marty entered the game needing 153 passing yards to set an NGM season record. He recorded 74.

Next week NGM closes out the season with a trip to play Southwestern in Hazel Green. Game time 7:00 p.m. One last road trip...you can do it!