Columbus North had trouble moving the ball all night Friday in its Conference Indiana opener against Southport.
So when star running back Blake Huffman went out with an ankle injury early in the second half, things didn’t look good for the Bull Dogs.
Thanks to a valiant defensive effort, North hung in against the Cardinals and got the game to overtime. But after the Bull Dogs didn’t score on its first overtime possession, Southport won it on a 19-yard field goal from Colbi Cochrell.
“(Defense) is definitely the bright point of tonight’s performance,” North coach Tim Bless said. “Defense had given up points and yardage for two weeks and really bowed up tonight and found a way to play their best football game of the year. Unfortunately, they gave up just a little bit too much at the end. But we’ll continue to push on (this) morning with the goal of becoming a better football team Week 4 than we were Week 3.”
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The Bull Dogs (1-2, 0-1) lost their main offensive weapon when Huffman went down. The junior, who came in ranked fifth in the state in rushing following a 44-carry, 251-yard, four-touchdown performance in last week’s win at Columbus East, appeared to injure the ankle on a punt return in the first half.
Huffman wasn’t as effective as he was last week and ran for 34 yards and a touchdown on 14 carries in the first half. He carried for two yards on the first play of North’s second possession of the second half before limping off. Huffman returned and carried for two yards on the first play of the third second-half possession, but appeared to be in more pain and did not return.
Meanwhile, North also lost starting left tackle JJ Montgomery and center Isaac Woodruff to injuries during the game.
“Give credit to the Southport defensive staff and their players because they had a really good plan and limited our production,” Bless said. “When your dude goes down, and arguably our best offensive lineman goes down, we’re playing without two starters. I’m not making excuses — Southport won the football game fair and square — and just kind of in a battle of circumstances, it was a tough night for us.”
Still, the game was tied 7-7 heading to overtime after the Bull Dogs missed field goals of 37 and 34 yards, and the Cardinals missed a 32-yarder in the final six minutes or regulation.
North, which got some big runs from quarterback Luke Hammons and backup running back Daveed Jolley and a tight end pass from Mitchel Collier to Hunter Huser to get in field goal range on their last two possessions of regulation, got the ball first in overtime. But after Hammons ran for three yards on first down and Jolley ran for one on second, setting up third-and-goal from the 6, Jolley couldn’t handle a pitchout, and the Cardinals recovered.
Southport’s Gage Nelson then ran nine yards on first down, putting the Cardinals at the 1-yard-line. The Bull Dogs then stopped quarterback Ryan Lezon for no gain and threw Nelson for a 1-yard-loss before Cocherell came on to kick the game-winning field goal.
“It was very disappointing because I was so pleased with our kids effort,” Bless said. “We fought and fought for how ever minutes past 48 minutes when you play in overtime.”
Lezon put Southport on the board less than five minutes in the game when he kept it for 68 yards and a touchdown. North then punted, but the Cardinals muffed the catch, and Jolley recovered at the 19. After a personal foul penalty, Huffman went nine yards for the score to tie the game.
But that would be Huffman’s second-longest run of the night before leaving with the injury.
“That’s the old adage that you just have to count on the next man up, and counting on them to come in and keep productivity going, which I think by and large, we did. Our productivity was limited to begin with, and I don’t know that it changed a whole lot at that point.”
