Week two notebook

Injury update
Junior linebacker/tight end Seth Lefever played just defense on Friday after suffering a back bruise last week against Eastern.

The two halfs
Against the Bobcats, Columbia moved the ball at will in the first half. The rushed the ball for 95 yards and passed for 97 more yards. In the second half, the Tide had 64 yards passing, 63 on one play and just six yards rushing. They also had one first down and punted five times.

Burke has big game
Michael Burke IV had 159 yards receiving and three scores. He also returned one kickoff for 31 yards. He has five touchdows for the season.

First turnovers
Columbia had its first turnover of the season when Tyler Harrison was picked off int he first half. They also forced their first turnover, recovering a fumble after a score. The biggest turnover they didn't get was late in the game when Aaron Greene coughed up the football on a late run, but recovered his own fumble.

The difference in the game
Points after touchdowns decided this one. Columbia was one of four, while Northeastern converted all four chances.
Junior High falls
Columbia dropped its first ninth grade game of the season to Northeastern, 14-6 on Wednesday.

Rally falls short

Columbia's bid for its second win of the 2010 football season fell a little short Friday night.
On the turf at Northeastern, the host Bobcats scored 24 straight points to rally to beat the Tide, 32-26.
It was one the Tide left get away.

\Coach Michael Burke III’s team used its ground game on their first possession to move 68 yards in 13 plays to score. That came with 4:47 left in the first quarter on a 1-yard sneak by quarterback Tyler Harrison. Twelve of the 13 plays on the drive were runs by either Harrison, Dominic Trout or DJ Wells. A big play on the drive was a 21-yard pass from Harrison to Michael Burke IV late in the drive. The PAT was blocked and the Tide led 6-0.
It got better on the ensuing kickoff. The Bobcats mis-handled the kickoff as Columbia recovered at the Bobcat 31. Five plays and a couple of penalties later, the Tide scored again on a 15-yard [ass from Harrison to Burke. Again, the Tide couldn’t convert the PAT, but still led 12-0 with three minutes left in the first quarter.
On their next possession, the Tide drove to the Northeastern 11 early in the second quarter before running out of downs.
The Bobcats got back into the game when they picked off a Harrison pass with 7:30 left in the first half. That led to the first of four touchdowns by Aaron Greene, who scored on a 16-yard sprint. The Bobcats, unlike the Tide converted the two-point PAT and trailed 12-8.
Once again the Tide put another late first half score on the board on a 15-yard pass from Harrison to Burke with 25 seconds left in the half. Columbia led 18-8 after not converting the PAT for the third time in the half.
Even without making the extra points, the Tide was in control of the game.
That all started to change on the Bobcats’ first possession of the second half.

Greene, who rushed for 226 yards in the game, was tough to bring down for the Tide. Northeastern pulled within two points on Greene’s 2-yard run with 6:19 left in the third quarter. The two-point PAT was converted and all the sudden it was 18-16, still in favor of the Tide.
As easy as the Tide was moving the football in the first half, they struggled in the second half.
After two possessions, the Tide had minus 14 yards in the second half.
Northeastern finally took the lead three minutes into the fourth quarter on a 1-yard run by Greene, 24-18 and with under two minutes left, the Bobcats took even more control on Greene’s fourth score of the game. NE converted the two-point PAT and led 32-18.
The Tide finally got some momentum in the final minutes when Harrison and Burke combined for a 63-yard score with 53 seconds left. This time the Tide converted the PAT as Harrison found Wells for the conversion to make it 32-26.

All Columbia needed to do was recover the onsides kick and get an attempt to win the game. They didn’t and the Bobcats ran out the clock.

Tide players in college

A couple of Columbia graduates are off to solid starts for their respective college football teams.
Ben Guiles had his second straight 100-yard rushing game at Lebanon Valley in the Duutchmen's 17-14 loss to Grove City.
The Valley, who is 0-2, saw Guiles rush for 154 yards and two scores. He also caught four passes for 58 yards.
Another Columbia grad Yahya McIntyre is also a member of the LVC team, but did not play Saturday.
At Kutztown, Colby Tuell caught four passes for 35 yards in KU's 35-14 win over Mercyhurst.
The previous week, Tuell caught five passes for 86 yards and a TD.
KU is 2-0.
Brandon Felus is a member of the Juniata team.