The Columbia Raiders have had to navigate through some early season adversity.

Starting quarterback Andrew Champagne left the Raiders’ Week 1 game with an injury and missed the team’s next two games, while starting running back Joe Governale wasn’t available to play in Week 3.

After receiving bad news for three straight weeks, Columbia finally received some good news in Week 4.

Both players were able to play and helped lead the Raiders to a 30-12 home win over the Wellington Dukes on Sept. 18. After starting the season 0-2, Columbia has bounced back and evened its record at 2-2. The Raiders have outscored their last two opponents, 73-18.

With Champagne and Governale out, the Raiders had a pair of players step up in their absence. Backup quarterback and sophomore Carter Kalamasz filled in for Champagne in Weeks 1 through 3, and Lucas McKee converted from center to running back for the team’s Week 3 matchup with Oberlin.

The pair impressed with Kalamasz nearly setting a school passing record with 404 yards passing and three touchdowns in a Week 2 loss to Keystone and McKee rushing for 184 yards and three TDs in a Week 3 win over Oberlin.

Columbia coach Jason Ward is pleased with the depth that his team now has at both quarterback and running back. 

“We’ve got multiple guys that can come in and make plays and help us move the football,” Ward said. “At quarterback, its definitely unprecedented for our program to have two varsity ready guys that we can count on no matter what. Their skill sets are very similar.”

With injuries occurring at any time, the depth that the Raiders have at those two positions will be key going forward.

“It’s nice because they are both still kind of beat up so we’re playing whoever is the healthier quarterback at this point,” Ward said. “We can use the other one in an emergency and that’s something that not a lot of teams have.

“At running back, getting Joe (Governale) back is huge but knowing that Joe’s carries aren’t going to get up into the 30s is really nice. Now we know Lucas (McKee) can help rest Joe.”