High school football: Marco Cirigliano rushes for 308 yards in Columbia win

COLUMBIA STATION — Lorain County's next great running back had his breakout performance Friday night. Columbia sophomore Marco Cirigliano shredded the Independence defense for 308 yards and four first-half touchdowns as the Raiders routed the Blue Devils 47-10 in a non-league game. On Columbia's first possession, a 54-yard completion from Andrew Champagne to Cody Davis set up the Raiders at the Blue Devils 11. Cirigliano took it from there with an 8-yard run followed by a 3-yard touchdown run to make it 6-0. The next time Columbia got the ball Cirigliano did it all himself, finding a seam in the defense and sprinting 65 yards to make it 13-0 with 6:08 remaining in the opening quarter. "I was so confident coming into this game," Cirigliano said. "I knew we had a great line. They did their part and it all just came together for me." By the time the bands took the field at halftime, Cirigliano had 186 yards and four touchdowns and Columbia led 27-10. Owen Menge scored less than three minutes into the third quarter on an 18-yard run to make it 34-10. Cirigliano wasn't done yet. He broke free on a run of 35 yards, followed by a 61-yard sprint that nearly resulted in his fifth TD before he took a seat on the bench to watch fellow running backs Tom Reljin and Elliott Hart score fourth-quarter touchdowns to allow the Raiders to end the night with a running clock to the delight of their home fans. "We prepared for this game so much and did so much film study. I feel like we really earned this win," Cirigliano said. "It's such a great feeling to get off to a good start. We think we're a good team and this is what we expect to do." Champagne had an easy night under center for the Raiders, going 5-for-11 for 131, with Davis on the receiving end of three of those passes for 101 yards, as Columbia did most of the work on the ground with 453 yards. After losing its opening game each of the last two years, Columbia made a statement against an Independence team that returns many of the key figures from last year's 6-2 team. "I saw a lot of fire from our guys tonight," Columbia coach Jason Ward said. "We talk a lot about seizing the moment to generate momentum and that's what we did. "It was nice to open up at home coming off of the COVID year and see a full student section. It was a great crowd and we're just happy we were able to seize that moment." Columbia's defense allowed Independence quarterback Michael Tommer to complete a number of long passes in the first half, but the Raiders bucked down in the final two quarters to hold the Blue Devils to two second-half first downs and just 31 yards of offense. Tommer had the only Independence touchdown with a 25-yard run in the second quarter. Ward wasn't surprised by what he saw from Cirigliano on opening night. "I've been saying Marco is a star in the making," Ward said. "He's really got everything you need as a running back. He's only a sophomore, he's put in a lot work and we're really excited to get good things from him tonight and hopefully in the future." The kicking Washburn family put the exclamation point on the win, as junior kicker Frank Washburn went 4-for-5 on PAT attempts and his sister Rachel, a sophomore, went 1-for-2 in her fourth-quarter extra-point kicks. Contact Todd Shapiro at 329-7135 or ctsports@chroniclet.com.