BLOOMINGTON — Traffic congestion that forced a 30-minute delay to the start of the game had no effect on the Columbus North Bull Dogs, who drove the scoreboard up in a hurry against Bloomington North.
After the Cougars scored on the opening possession of the game, the Bull Dogs put up 34 unanswered points and went on to rout the Cougars 51-11 in the Conference Indiana opener.
“Bloomington North had a great game plan and made some big plays early,” North coach Tim Bless said. “Our offense had an answer though and we got our traction.”
It was the Triston Perry-to-Jaylen Flemmons show in the first half. The duo combined for two touchdown connections. Their first came from 24 yards out to cut to lead to 8-6.
After the Cougars (0-3, 0-1) punted on the second possession, the special teams of the Class 6A No. 9 Bull Dogs (3-0, 1-0) chipped in. Harley Huser returned the punt 80 yards for a touchdown to give them a 13-8 lead.
“It was a long, deep punt, and I had time to field it and the corner was wide open,” Huser said. “It was just me and one guy to beat. I have to give props to the guys that did a great job blocking for me.”
On the next Bull Dogs possession, they chewed up a lot of clock by going to Mitchell Burton. The drive was capped off by a 4-yard pass to Flemmons for the touchdown.
“Our wideouts are really good, and Triston can hit anybody,” Flemmons said. “If you give a quarterback like him much time, he will make a play. Triston has improved his game a lot over the last year.”
On their final possession of the first half, Burton caught a screen pass and ran it 47 yards for the touchdown to make it 34-8. This was Burton’s first touchdown catch of the season.
In the second half, Trey Vincent got in on the action, going 59 yards for a touchdown and a 41-8 lead. Cortez Bandy added a rushing touchdown from 12 yards out to increase the lead 51-8. The Cougars added a field goal late in the second half.
