Fifty-one weeks have passed since Columbus North quarterback Trenton Kelley was knocked out on the first drive of a sectional final loss at Center Grove with what would be discovered to be a ruptured spleen.
Friday night, Class 6A No. 6 North (8-1) will return to the scene of Kelley’s most painful and the Bull Dogs’ most tantalizing loss of the past few years when they visit the 6A No. 7 Trojans (6-3) in the first round of the football sectional.
“I’m thrilled to be able to play them again,” Kelley said. “It’s been a long year since my injury, and nothing would be better than getting a victory against them.”
Kelley threw for 2,233 yards and a school record-tying 25 touchdown passes as a junior last season. But he took a couple of hard hits on North’s first possession at Center Grove last year and had to leave the game. He was taken to the hospital and a few days later, had his spleen removed.
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Two months later, Kelley was back on the basketball court for the Bull Dogs. He has shown no ill effects from the injury, either in basketball or so far during his senior football season.
Although his numbers are down from last season — he has thrown for 1,666 yards and 10 touchdowns in eight games — Kelley has thrown the ball less often, thanks to the emergence of a running game.
“We’ve definitely done a great job of having a more balanced offense this year, and I think that’s a lot of credit to Blake Huffman at running back and our offensive line opening up the holes,” Kelley said. “It helps keep the defense a little more honest. They can’t just know we’re going to pass the ball every possession.”
Huffman, a sophomore, has run for 1,152 yards and 12 touchdowns. His 211 carries are one fewer attempt than Kelley has throwing the football.
Last year, the Trojans held North to minus-19 yards rushing on 18 carries in a 20-14 Center Grove victory.
“That’s one thing that they’ve been able to do to us over the years in most of our battles, is make us one dimensional,” North coach Tim Bless said. “We’ve had little to no success in the rushing game. We look forward to seeing the opportunity of being able to establish a ground presence and have balance to help us with an opportunity to be successful.”
The Trojans have knocked the Bull Dogs out in the sectional each of the past four years and six of the past seven years. North hasn’t beaten Center Grove since winning 23-7 in the 2007 sectional.
This year’s Trojans team opened the season with losses to 6A No. 1 Warren Central (27-15) and at 5A No. 1 New Palestine (31-9). Center Grove’s only loss since then was a 26-14 defeat at 6A No. 4 North Central in Week 5.
“They’re obviously one of the finest programs in the state of Indiana, and you play a team of that caliber, you have to play nearly flawless football,” Bless said. “We have to be as physical as we can be, and obviously, success favors the team that makes the fewest mistakes.”
The Trojans are a run-first offense. Sophomore Carson Steele has carried 242 times for 1,511 yards and 21 touchdowns. Senior quarterback Jackson Moore has completed 52 of 92 passes for 581 yards and three scores.
Steele carried 26 times for 125 yards and a touchdown in last year’s sectional final, while Gavin Matheson, now a senior, ran 12 times for 82 yards and a score. Luke Eckert, now a senior, converted two of his four field goal attempts.
“We feel like we learned a lot in that 2017 experience, and hopefully, we’re going to take that experience gleaned from 2017, take it into 2018 and have a great performance,” Bless said. “Having Trenton running the show and feeling good about the balance of our offense, both run game and throw game and how our offensive line has evolved over the season, we can’t control what Center Grove brings to the table, but we feel good about what we bring to the table.”
And Kelley is the most important piece the Bull Dogs bring.
“After that injury, my first step was getting back to playing football,” Kelley said. “But at the end of the year, just to be able to win a sectional and finally get over that hump is definitely a dream.”
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Name: Trenton Kelley
School: Columbus North
Year: Senior
Height: 6-foot-5
Weight: 205
Position: Quarterback
Key stats: 130 of 212 passing for 1,666 yards and 16 touchdowns; 52 carries for 149 yards and three scores
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