East scores 4 touchdowns, must work on pass defense

MARTINSVILLE — If Columbus East is going to have the same type of dominating season it has enjoyed the past 15 years, the Olympians will have to fix a few flaws from Friday night’s scrimmage.

East gave up three long touchdown passes and four scoring passes overall at Martinsville. Although scores weren’t kept on the scoreboard, each team finished with four TDs.

“We’re not happy about giving up touchdowns anytime,” East coach Bob Gaddis said. “It’s not OK, but that’s why you have these scrimmages. When you come into a scrimmage, you want to evaluate some things, and we give everybody an opportunity to play. It’s really hard to tell until you look at some stuff on tape.”

The Artesians had the ball first for 15 plays beginning from their own 35. They scored on a 29-yard pass on their 12th play.

The Olympians scored twice on their series of 15 plays. Josh Major ran 42 yards on a quarterback draw on the fourth play, and after returning to their own 35, they moved the ball to the 1, where Jaedin Miller took it in on the 11th play.

Both teams then had the ball for 10 plays beginning at midfield. Martinsville scored on a 5-yard pass on its seventh play. East struck on its first play when Major hit tight end Tyler Thomas, who broke a tackle at the 30 and raced to the end zone for a 50-yard score.

The teams concluded the varsity portion of the scrimmage with each team having 12 plays beginning at the opponent’s 35. The Artesians scored on an 18-yard pass on their second play, and after returning to the 35, they struck for a 37-yard scoring pass on the final play.

The Olympians’ final touchdown came when Miller went in from 4 yards out on the seventh play of its final series.

“Obviously, we’re not accustomed to giving up long touchdown passes,” Gaddis said. “I think that’s something we can fix. Besides that, we’ll take a look and see how physical we were, see how we executed and we’ll go back to work.”

Gaddis said the coaching staff scripted all the plays coming into the game. East rushed for 139 yards on 28 carries, and Major completed all four of his passes for 94 yards.

Major finished with 75 yards rushing on eight carries, while Jamon Hogan had 33 yards on eight carries. Thomas caught two passes for 61 yards.

“At times, we were pretty good,” Gaddis said. “We have a lot of newcomers in there, and I think they got better as the night went on. We didn’t prepare at all against their defensive front, and they were twisting and stunting every down. That’s going to happen during the year, but you’re going to prepare for what you see.”

The Olympians open the regular season Friday at Bloomington North.