BLITZ: Could Columbia City do something that hasn’t been done in a generation?

With another convincing victory over a capable conference foe on Friday, Columbia City has placed itself firmly on course to a Week 9 showdown with Norwell.

It is winner take all, with the victor capturing the Northeast Eight championship.

But as Blitz departed from the Eagles’ 28-13 win over Leo on Friday, he began to think…that he was really cold.

But once he got warm, he began to think about something else.

This Columbia City team is capable of doing something bigger than winning a league title since 2010 when it won the old Northeast Hoosier Conference.

With another balanced effort against the Lions, Coach Brett Fox’s squad improved to 7-1 on the season. The running game was working again – with James Getts being the go-to guy this week to the tune of 113 yards and a pair of touchdowns.

But the unit that led the way against Leo is the unit that continues to be underappreciated – the defense. Leo tried time and again to get its running game going – but outside of a 33-yard burst from Max Loeffler for a touchdown – the Lions were not able to move the ball consistently.

Friday’s dub has set up the colossal showdown next week in Ossian, as the Eagles will take on undefeated Norwell.

Allow Blitz to say this nicely…Norwell will be favored. By a substantial margin.

And you know what? That’s OK. That’s how Coach Fox wants it. He wants this team to play with a chip on its shoulder, with something to prove. Blitz has continued to doubt that Columbia City could survive the final four weeks of the season, but it has beaten New Haven, East Noble and Leo by a combined score of 119-39.

But Norwell? Norwell is different. It is DOMINANT.

But let’s look ahead a bit. Yes, next week is going to steal all the headlines, but this is a Columbia City program that hasn’t won a sectional since 1993. That’s 29 years for those that have trouble with math.

Not only that, it is the only postseason title of any kind won by Columbia City football…ever. This is a program that played its inaugural season in 1922. So, there isn’t much in the way of history in terms of playoff success.

But as you look at the landscape of Sectional 19 – the Eagles are 4-0 against potential foes – including lopsided wins over Leo, New Haven and East Noble. Now, there is no doubt that each of those teams want another shot at Columbia City, but Coach Fox’s squad has shown it can handle em. Angola and Wayne aren’t pushovers either, but the Eagles are the most complete team in the sectional.

So yeah, next week is huge. At the very least, Columbia City came through for Blitz, who wanted nothing more than a bona fide conference championship game in Week 9 to close out the regular season.

But no matter what happens next week, the playoffs could be very kind to the Eagles for the first time in a long, long time.

These opinions represent those of Blitz and Outside the Huddle. No opinions expressed on Outside the Huddle represent those of any of our advertisers. Follow Blitz on Twitter at Blitz_OTH