Columbia football players reach for a loose ball during a game at home against Freeburg earlier this season. (Alan Dooley photo)

The Columbia and Waterloo football teams both ended the regular season with losses Friday night. The Eagles live to play another week, however, while the Bulldogs put the wraps on a winless 2018 campaign.

Columbia (7-2) fell 36-28 at home on senior night to the Jerseyville Panthers (5-4), who needed a victory to qualify for the playoffs.

Jerseyville took a 20-14 advantage into the third quarter following a back-and-forth first half. The Panthers went up 35-14 early in the fourth quarter before the Horner twins — quarterback Nic and wide receiver Sam — connected on touchdowns of 20 and 39 yards to make it close late.

Nic Horner finished with a pair of TD throws and a TD run for the Eagles. Ronnie Hunsaker scored the other TD on a short run in the first half.

Columbia learned Saturday night that it will host Freeburg (7-2) in the first round of the Class 4A playoffs. The game takes place 2 p.m. Saturday at CHS, and will be a rematch of a Sept. 28 contest won by the Eagles in thrilling fashion, 38-34.

In Breese, Waterloo fell behind 21-0 at Mater Dei and trailed 41-14 before eventually losing by the score of 55-27. The Bulldogs ended their season at 0-9. The last time the program finished 0-9 was 1999, which was head coach Steve Sergesketter’s final season. Dan Rose has coached the Bulldogs ever since.

Senior running back Dalton Viglasky closed out a stellar Bulldogs football career with TD runs of 18, 43 and 32. Tyson Roedl added a 30-yard TD score for Waterloo.

In other local football action, Red Bud ended its season with a 20-19 loss to Sparta and Dupo ended its 2018 campaign with a 20-0 loss at Madison on Saturday afternoon.