When Columbus North and Columbus East captured outright conference football titles on Friday night, they accomplished the feat in the same year for the first time ever.
The only other time both schools won or shared conference titles in the same season came in 2004, when the Bull Dogs shared the Conference Indiana crown with Lawrence Central. That year, the Olympians began a string of 15 consecutive Hoosier Hills Conference titles.
East also won or shared HHC titles in 1978, 1979, 1983, 1984, 1986, 1989, 1990 and 1994. North (and previously Columbus High School) won or shared South Central Indiana Conference titles in 1942, 1945, 1952, 1959, 1961, 1963, 1964, 1965, 1975 and 1988.
Not only did both the Bull Dogs and Olympians finish unbeaten in their respective conferences this season, their junior varsity and freshman teams did, as well. North’s varsity, JV and freshmen all went 8-1 overall and 5-0 in Conference Indiana.
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“This is definitely uncharted territory for all three levels to be conference champions,” North varsity coach Tim Bless said. “We’re very proud of our kids for their accomplishment. We had a very productive offseason, and now they’re reaped the fruit of their labor.”
Meanwhile, the East JV went 5-0 in the HHC and the freshmen went 5-0-1 in the conference with a tie against Jeffersonville. The Olympians started the season with 35 freshmen and ended with 32, eight of which never had played football before.
“I was really happy with the freshmen,” East varsity coach Bob Gaddis said. “I think they really developed as the year went on. Our philosophy is, we play a lot of kids at that level, and we did, and they won. That’s still something that we emphasize with our young kids — that we want to start winning our conference early.”
Gaddis is Colts Coach of Week
Gaddis was honored Wednesday morning as this week’s Indianapolis Colts Coach of the Week.
Each week, 10 coaches from around the state are nominated, and one is selected. Gaddis, who received the honor for the first time, guided Columbus East to a 58-48 win at Bedford North Lawrence that gave the Olympians their 15th consecutive Hoosier Hills Conference title.
“It’s a team award,” Gaddis told his team and a few other East athletes who attended a ceremony at the school. “It’s a recognition of what you guys accomplished and the guys before you accomplished, and we’re just very fortunate that the Indianapolis Colts do what they do for Indiana High School athletics.”
Mike Prior, Colts youth football commissioner, was on hand to present Gaddis with a Colts hat. The school receives $2,000 grant from NFL Foundation and Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield.
Gaddis also will be invited to watch the Colts practice in December and will be honored their Dec. 16 game against the Dallas Cowboys.
“We like to honor high school coaches for all the hard work and dedication they put forth for you guys, the student-athletes, not only on the field, but off the field, too,” Prior said. “They’re trying to better you guys for life after football.”
Prior played for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Colts and Green Bay Packers during his 14-year NFL career and went to the Super Bowl twice with the Packers, winning Super Bowl 31 after the 1996 season. On Wednesday, he spoke to the East team and the other athletes in attendance for about 10 minutes.
North aims for semistate titles
The Columbus North boys and girls cross-country teams hope to challenge for titles at Saturday’s Brown County Semistate, while the Jennings County boys and girls and Columbus East girls will shoot for a top-six finish that would put them in the state finals.
The No. 13 Bull Dogs, who have captured sectional and regional titles the past two weeks, are one of three ranked teams in the semistate boys field. No. 4 Bloomington South and No. 8 Bloomington North beat them in the Conference Indiana meet.
“We put in some work, and we’ve closed the gap on (Bloomington South),” Columbus North boys coach Danny Fisher said. “We’re going to go for it and give them the best race we can, and we know we’ll get their best and Bloomington North’s best. This is why we train all summer and all fall — to line up and toe the line against the best in the state and give them our best shot.”
The Bull Dog girls are ranked No. 19. They figure to battle with No. 12 Bloomington North, No. 16 Floyd Central and No. 21 Bloomington South.
Columbus North ran to sectional and regional titles without sophomore No. 2 runner Mackenzie Barnett who has been out with a calf injury. But Barrett started running again this week and hopes to be able to compete on Saturday.
“It will be pretty stacked with four (teams) up front,” Columbus North girls coach Rick Sluder said. “I really think if we run well, we’ll be in that top six, and our goal is to compete with those two Bloomington schools. Our goal is to put ourselves in position and then challenge for that top spot.”
Along with the North, Jennings and East girls teams, Brown County will have Emelia Koester running as an individual. Besides the North and Jennings boys teams, East’s Garrett McGaha, Brown County’s Jackson McPheeters and Marino Dolph and Trinity Lutheran’s AJ Goecker will compete.
The girls race will begin at 11:30 a.m. Saturday at Eagle Park, followed by the boys race at 12:15 p.m.
North holding wrestling callout
New Columbus North coach Matt Joyce will have a callout meeting before school at 7:15 a.m. Wednesday in the athletic conference room.
Joyce also will be in the athletic conference room during both lunch periods Wednesday to talk with prospective wrestlers who did not attend the morning session.
Ted Schultz is sports editor for The Republic. He can be reached at [email protected] or 812-379-5628.
