Many expected an offensive shoot out Friday night as the Columbia Eagles traveled to take on the Red Bud Musketeers. The two teams did not disappoint as they combined to score 68 points and pile up 820 yards. But it was Red Bud they came up with most big plays in the 42-26 win over Columbia for the first time in recent memory.
“We have a special thing going on this year,” said Red Bud coach Dave Lucht. “Everybody has been saying that this team will be really good next year. But the seniors on this team want to make this year special and so far it has been.”
With the win, Red Bud clinched a spot in the football state playoffs as they improved to 6-2 on the season.
“We needed six wins because our playoff points would not have been enough to get us in this year,” said Lucht. The sixth win is always special in a season and getting that special win against a program like Columbia is huge. This is just a big win for us and for the entire program. This wins gives us the confidence for the rest of the season and for next year as well.”
While plenty of points were scored in the game, it was the two teams’ defenses that set the tone early.
On the first drive of the game, the Columbia offense was able to pick up two first downs before a fumble was recovered by Red Bud’s Benji VanMil.
Red Bud’s first offensive possession of the game wasn’t much better as the Columbia defense keyed on stopping Jake Hoffman’s ability to run the football. The Musketeers were forced into a three-and-out after being held to negative one yard on three plays.
The Red Bud defense stepped and forced Columbia into a three-and -out as they broke up a pass on third down to force the Eagles to punt.
It was Columbia’s defense that got the scoring started as Bill Haag intercepted a Hoffman pass on third down and returned it 47 yards for a touchdown. The extra point kick failed, and with 4:52 to play in the opening quarter, Columbia led 6-0.

Red Bud answered right back as Tyler Hubert’s five yard touchdown run was set up by a 60 yard pass play from Hoffman to Magruder. Stefan Gregson added the extra point and with 2:56 left in the first quarter, the Musketeers led 7-6.

Two plays later, Red Bud got the ball back on defense as Columbia quarterback Tanner Hall three an interception to Mitchel Cleveland. The Musketeers started their next drive from the Columbia 22 yard line.
However, Red Bud were able to gain just three yards over their next three plays and on fourth down, Hoffman’s pass was broken up as the Musketeers turned the ball over on downs.
Columbia took over possession from their own 19 yard line, but it didn’t take the Eagles long to get back into scoring position.
Kyle Breitenstein started the drive off with a 31 yard run and four plays later, Columbia had a first-and-goal from the Red Bud nine yard line.
Ben Huegle broke up a pass in the end zone to save a score on first down. The Eagles then threw an incomplete pass and Hall was stopped on third down for a gain of just three yards setting up a fourth-and-goal from the six yard line.

The Eagles went for the short field goal, but the kick was blocked and then recovered by Trenton Guebert with 8:35 left in the first half.
Fresh off the big defensive stand, the Musketeers put together one of their best drives of the night. Red Bud marched down the field 73-yards on 12 plays resulting in a three-yard touchdown run by Hoffman. Gregson added the extra point, and with 1:45 left in the half, Red Bud led 14-6.
The scoring drive was highlighted by a 20-yard run by Hubert and a 13-yard pass completion from Hoffman to Magruder.
Columbia moved the ball close to mid-field before Hoffman picked off Hall with under a minute to play  in the half.
Red Bud gained 35 yards over their next four plays as the clock expired for halftime.
“It was a real good group effort for us in the first half,” added Lucht. “The kids were upbeat for this game and they had a great week of practice to get ready for this. They played tough.”
The second half didn’t start off real well for the Musketeers as their first drive was stopped on third down as Hoffman was picked off by Breitenstein.
Clayton Revelle gave the Eagles a big lift on the ensuing drive as he carried the ball four times for 31 yards including an 11 yard touchdown run to cut the deficit to 14-12 with 6:57 left to play in the third quarter. Columbia tried to tie the game by running in the two-point conversion, but the Red Bud defense came up big to stop the attempt to keep their slim lead.
Columbia appeared to have stolen the momentum of the game, but a big kickoff return by Cleveland sparked the Red Bud offense and gave them prime starting field position at the Columbia 46 yard line.

The Musketeer offense took advantage of the short field and nine plays later Hubert was in the end zone after a four-yard touchdown run. Red Bud converted on two third downs on the drive and Hubert had 21 yards on three carriers including the score. Gregson  added the extra point and with 3:00 left in the third quarter, Red Bud led 20-12.
The Eagles put together an eight play, 41-yard drive that ran through the rest of the third quarter and early part of the fourth quarter before being stopped on fourth down by the Musketeer defense.
On the very next play from scrimmage, Hubert spun away from a couple of tackler and then raced down the sideline for a 90-yard touchdown run. Gregson added the extra point and Red Bud led 27-12 with 11:00 left in the ball game.

Red Bud held the potent Columbia offense in check on their next possession forcing a three-and-out. After a short punt, Red Bud began its next drive from the Columbia 48 yard line.
On second down, Hoffman connected with Cleveland for a 45-yard touchdown pass. Gregson added the extra point and with 10:20 left to play, Red Bud held a commanding 35-12 lead. Also on the drive, Columbia starting quarterback Hall, who also plays in the secondary, was injured while attempting to tackle Hoffman. Hall did not return to the game.
A three score lead with less than one quarter to play is usually a pretty commanding lead, but against a team like Columbia anything can happen.
“We knew we couldn’t let up, because Columbia is always dangerous,” said Lucht. “Columbia can score quickly, and they are never out of a game.”
Trailing by 23 points, the Columbia offense went almost completely aerial with their backup quarterback sophomore Alex Schlemmer. The Eagles moved the ball down the field 65 yards on nine plays as Schlemmer finished off the drive with a 10-yard touchdown pass to Wilson Baab. Schlemmer then connected with Haag on the two-point score as Columbia trailed 35-20 with 7:45 left in the game.
Columbia’s onside kick attempt was recovered by Red Bud’s Seth Heizer, but five plays later Red Bud fumbled the ball and Columbia recovered at their own 35 yard line with 4:55 remaining in the contest.
However, three plays later, Huegle picked off Schlemmer and returned the ball 30 yards to seal the win for the Musketeers. Gregson added the extra point as Red Bud’s lead increased to 42-20 with 4:03 left in the game.
Columbia didn’t give up easily and they responded with a  72-yard drive that was just seven plays and used up under two minutes of game clock. The drive was finished off by a 28-yard touchdown pass from Schlemmer to Breitenstein. The two-point conversion failed, and with 2:18 left in the game, Columbia trailed 42-26.
The Eagles then recovered the onside attempt, but ran out of time as they pushed the ball to the Red Bud three yard line before the Musketeers stopped the Eagles on three consecutive plays as time expired.
“We did so many good things tonight,” said Lucht. “Columbia gave us a test especially late in the game, but the guys held in there and picked up a big win for us,” added Lucht.
Hubert had the big night offensively for the Musketeers as he ran the ball 18 times for 170 yards, while Hoffman added 57 yards rushing on 17 attempts and completed 7 of 13 passes for 154 yards with a touchdown and two interceptions.
Magruder led the Red Bud receivers with three catches for 77 yards, while Cleveland caught two passes for 50 yards and Heizer had two receptions for 27 yards.
Red Bud will host Sparta (0-8) Friday night in the regular season finale for both squads.