High school football: Columbia's Joe Governale has a night to remember in win over Wellington

COLUMBIA STATION — If Columbia senior Joe Governale ever writes his autobiography, an entire chapter might be devoted to Friday night. Moments after being crowned Columbia's 2020 Homecoming King, Governale scored a pair of first-quarter touchdowns to spark the Raiders to a 30-12 Lorain County League win over Wellington. "We struggled a little bit at home this season but it was great to come back, especially at homecoming and get the ''W' for the community and make everybody happy," Governale said. Governale capped off Columbia's opening eight-play, 74-yard drive with an 18-yard touchdown run, which he followed up with a 2-point conversion to give the Raiders (2-2, 2-2 LCL) an early 8-0 lead. With 1:46 remaining in the opening period, Governale scored again, this time from 4 yards out, to make the score 14-0. Governale, who also added a second 2-point conversion later in the game, finished the night with 112 yards on 22 carries. "We've really found our footing, I guess you could say. We have a lot of weapons and we've finally figured out to put them to use," Governale said. "We've found that glue to bond everything together." Junior wide receiver Owen Menge was the leader of the Raiders passing game with four catches for 100 yards and two touchdowns. However, Menge's biggest play of the night came on defense when he intercepted a pass from Wellington quarterback Jaydon Skinner late in the second quarter to give the Raiders a chance to build on their 14-0 lead before the half. On the next play, quarterback Andrew Champagne connected with Menge streaking down the far sideline for a 26-yard touchdown that extended the lead to 22-0. The tandem connected on a 41-yard scoring pass in the third period as the Raiders took a 30-0 lead. "This win was huge," Menge said. "(Wellington) is a rival and it was homecoming so we had to get a win. It was our first win at home. We had to give the seniors one more win at home. We didn't want them to leave Columbia without a win on their home field in their senior year." Columbia, which has outscored its last two opponents 73-18 after starting the year 0-2, showed off its depth on the offensive side of the ball as Champagne and sophomore Carter Kalamasz both saw time at quarterback and Lucas McKee, who started the year at center, shared the carries with Governale, getting 51 yards on 10 carries. "We've been blessed with Andrew and Carter at quarterback," Columbia coach Jason Ward said. "Lucas McKee has done a good job the last couple weeks of being our hammer and Joe (Governale) runs really hard and is really physical. We have some talented skilled (position) depth." "It's been hard with some of the injuries we've dealt with but we're starting to put it together," Ward added. "We've got a team that knows it has a lot of room to grow." Wellington (1-3, 1-3) finally got its offense in gear late in the game as Skinner connected with Caleb Teague and Ty Moore on fourth-quarter touchdown passes. "We had a rough start, not the way you wanna come out," Wellington coach Rob Howells said. "But give all the credit to Columbia. They are a well-coached program. In the second half we came out and ran the football and did things a little differently and had more success. "With the way things are and the crazy times, we've got to be happy playing football. To be able to play under these great lights on Friday night we've got to be proud and build momentum and be ready for the Week 7 and playoffs and see what we can do." Contact Todd Shapiro at 329-7135 or ctsports@chroniclet.com. Columbia 30, Wellington 12 Wellington 0 0 0 12 — 12Columbia 14 8 8 0 — 30ScoringC — Joe Governale, 18 run (Governale run)C — Governale, 4 run (run fail)C — Owen Menge, 26 pass from Andrew Champagne (Governale run)C — Menge, 41 pass from Champagne (Menge run)W — Caleb Teague, 18 pass from Jayden Skinner (kick blocked) W — Ty Moore 5, pass from Skinner (kick blocked) Team statistics W CFirst downs 11 18— by rushing 6 13— by passing 5 5— by penalty 0 0Yards rushing 130 185Yards passing 80 131Total offense 210 316Passes att./comp. 15/8 9/7Intercepted by 1 1Fumbles/lost 1/1 3/0Penalties/yards 4/20 7/68Individual statisticsRUSHING — (W) Jayden Skinner 9-55, Luke McCellan 12-35, Nate Patfield 2-29, Kaleb Taylor 7-11. (C) Joe Governale 22-112, Lucas McKee 10-51, Owen Menge 3-33, Alec Campana 1-(-1), Carter Kalamasz 2-(-5), Marco Cirigliano 2-(-5).PASSING — (W) Skinner 8-15-80-2-1. (C) Anfdrew Champagne 5-5-106-2-0, Kalamasz 2.-4-25-0-0 RECEIVING — (W) Jon Brasee 2-39, McCellan 2-23, Caleb Teague 2-17, Ty Moore 1-5. (C) Menge 4-100, Cody Davis 2-21, Tom Reljin 1-10.