Columbia’s Donavan Bieber rushed for 202 yards at two touchdowns at Mascoutah on Friday night.

The high school football season got off to a thrilling start for one local team on Friday night. Not so for two others.

Columbia used some late-game heroics to win 36-35 at Mascoutah. Meanwhile, Waterloo fell 23-7 at Herrin and Dupo lost 48-38 at home to Wesclin.

In Mascoutah, Londyn Little’s 92-yard kickoff return touchdown and the ensuing point after kick gave the Eagles a one-point lead with 1:16 remaining in the contest. A Mascoutah rally in the game’s final minute was thwarted by a blocked 45-yard field goal and the Eagles were victorious.

Trailing 17-14 early in the third quarter, Donavan Bieber ripped off a 73-yard TD run to put the Eagles up 21-17. Bieber added a 17-yard TD run later in the same quarter. He finished with 202 yards rushing on the night.

A botched Mascoutah punt led to a safety to end the third quarter.

Columbia quarterback Nic Horner connected with Blake Wagner for a 34-yard TD pass play to start the scoring for the Eagles in the first quarter. Ronnie Hunsaker added a short TD run for Columbia, which hosts Waterloo next week.

Things started off well for Waterloo at Herrin on Friday. A touchdown pass from Graham Baker to Jake Wade led to a 7-3 halftime lead for the Bulldogs.

But the Herrin defense put the clamps on Waterloo’s running game in the second half en route to a 23-7 victory for the Tigers.

Herrin’s defense picked off a pass from Baker early in the third quarter and turned that into a touchdown a few plays later, shifting the momentum in the home team’s favor.

Waterloo running back Dalton Viglasky, who rushed for more than 1,000 yards last season, was limited to just 25 yards on 11 carries. Herrin held Waterloo to just 104 yards rushing as a team.

In the debut of new head coach Joe Day, who had served as an assistant at Vianney in St. Louis, the Dupo Tigers dropped a hard-fought 48-38 contest at home to Wesclin. The Tigers trailed 21-18 at halftime.