FLOYDS KNOBS — Columbus East ran the table in the Hoosier Hills Conference during the regular season and put an exclamation point on its dominance by outscoring three conference foes by a combined 133 points in sectional play.
The East duo of Josh Major and Jamon Hogan helped put the sectional championship game away early at Floyd Central by scoring all five of the Olympians’ six touchdowns in the 42-14 victory Friday.
“When the new sectional came out, and it was all conference schools, it was concerning at that time because playing somebody twice is really hard, especially if your kids beat them the way we beat them in the regular season,” East coach Bob Gaddis said. “I thought our kids handled it really well, and we played good football three weeks in a row.”
The Olympians (11-1) beat Seymour and Bedford North Lawrence in the first two rounds.
Major said the goal was to make sure they had a good start to the Floyd Central game, and Hogan took care of that with a 31-yard run on the first play. Major ended the drive with another 31-yard run for a score just four plays later.
Major scored all three of East’s first quarter touchdowns. His two other scores came on runs from two and seven yards out.
He connected with Hogan for an 18-yard touchdown pass in the second quarter, and Hogan also had a 4-yard run to put East up 35-0 at halftime.
“I thought, especially in the first six minutes of the game, we really came out and dominated the game.” Major said.
The Highlanders (9-3) managed to get on the board with a 57-yard run and a 58-yard pass, but was not enough to pose a threat to the Olympians lead. Jaedin Miller had East’s only second half score on a 2-yard run.
Johan Wichman grabbed his team-leading sixth interception of the season and helped the defense play a solid game. East stopped the Highlanders on four of their five fourth-down attempts, forcing Floyd Central to go 0 for 4 on in the first half.
“(Defensive coordinator Eddie) Vogel and our defensive staff did a nice job of preparing our kids,” Gaddis said. “We were pretty physical … (Wichman) has been playing really well for us. He is playing with a lot of confidence now, and we count on him to go against the other team’s best guy.”
Major finished with 130 rushing yards with three rushing and a passing touchdown. Hogan had 153 yards with one rushing and a receiving touchdown.
