NAMPA — Nampa coach Scott Wooldridge might not have liked the predictions before the game, but he could laugh about it afterwards.

As the public address announcer introduced the Bulldog seniors for their final home football game Friday night, a few picked their favorite moment as "a win over Columbia on Senior Night."

Nampa lived up to the predictions, using six turnovers and an unstoppable run game to rout Columbia 41-6 in a battle for a 4A playoff berth.

"I'm not big — people always ask me, 'You going to win?'" Wooldridge said, admitting the pregame predictions made him a bit uneasy. "I'm not going to say no, but I'm not going to say yes.

"It's good to be confident but not cocky."

Still in the playoff race, the Wildcats (4-5, 3-4 4A SIC) started the night confident, taking the opening drive 68 yards for a quick 6-0 lead after a Doug Christoph halfback pass to John Arslanian for a 25-yard touchdown.

Arslanian's brother, Jake, then appeared to make a big play defensively on Nampa's first drive, outwrestling Josh Seward for a pass. Arslanian came away with the ball, but falling to the field, lost control and the officials ruled it incomplete.

"Obviously, that would have been a nice turn for us, but it wasn't the game," Columbia coach Derek Mertz said.

Instead, six turnovers by the Wildcats cost them the game.

The first giveaway came after an 18-yard Mahonri Bostrom touchdown run put Nampa (6-3, 5-2 4A SIC)  ahead 7-6, as Jared White came up with the first of four Bulldog interceptions.

Columbia's defense held, briefly stopping Nampa's momentum only to see Bostrom jump on a loose ball after the Wildcats fumbled the ensuing punt.

"When he dropped it, that was bad news for (them)," Bostrom said.

And good news for Nampa as Hayden Wright capped the 26-yard drive with a 1-yard touchdown run, giving the Bulldogs a 14-6 edge at the break.

Putting the game away

Down just one score headed into the second half, Columbia still had hope, even after a 2-yard Wright run put Nampa ahead 21-6 early in the third.

But turnovers buried the Wildcats. On Columbia's fifth play of the quarter, Nampa's Torrin Cook picked off a pass. A Bostrom touchdown run made it 28-6.

Then Casey Scott recovered a fumble on the Wildcat kickoff return, setting up the Bulldogs once again, and Wright's 11-yard TD scamper with 10:29 to play iced the win.

"You have two back-to-back turnovers and that's pretty frustrating," Mertz said.

"You talk about five plays in the third quarter, it's hard to mount an offensive attack when you have five plays."

Bostrom carries the load

Boasting a back with 1,503 rushing yards, the Bulldogs weren't afraid to use their best weapon Friday — Bostrom.

The senior added to his 4A SIC-leading run total with 285 yards on 35 carries in the win, with Nampa throwing just three passes and handing off to other players just 16 times. He now has 1,788 yards in nine games.

Bostrom quickly gave credit to the Bulldog line of Daniel Campos, Tim Olmsted, Ruben Martinez, Oscar Diaz, Mike Boyd and Tim McCutchan.

"Just big push up front and just getting through the hole," he said of his big rushing game. "That's all it is is just a big push up front."

Next up

Nampa (6-3, 5-2) earns the third seed from District III and heads to Twin Falls for a first-round playoff game next weekend against the same Bruins team the Bulldogs beat 28-14 to start the season.

"It's a brand new season and they've gone through there conference and came out No. 1 in their conference, so we've got to go out and do it again," Wooldridge said, looking ahead.

As for the Wildcats, the loss ends a successful season just short of being a surprise playoff team.

"This group of kids were not expected to do very well by most of those in the community ... but they had a lot of potential, they worked hard and they nearly did something incredible," Mertz said.