BLOOMINGTON — For the first three minutes of Friday night’s game, it looked like Columbus North was going to take complete control.
The final 45 minutes told a different story. Bloomington North went on the attack in all three phases of the game to hand the Bull Dogs a 27-7 loss in a battle for first place in Conference Indiana.
On the opening kickoff, Columbus North’s Hunter Huser returned it all the way to the Cougar 20-yard line. With great field position, Blake Huffman carried the ball four times during the drive, and Royce Lofton punched it in from the 1 to give the Bull Dogs a 7-0 lead with 9:10 to go in the first quarter.
The game would remain a stalemate until late in the second quarter when special teams played a factor. The Bull Dogs bobbled a fair catch call, and the Cougars were able to recover. Bloomington North took advantage when Cade Laughman caught a 9-yard touchdown pass from Reese Lozano to tie the game at 7-7.
“Special teams has been big for us this year, and it was big again for us to start the game, but unfortunately we gave them a short field on an error,” North coach Tim Bless said. “They got on the board, and from that point on, they just controlled the momentum.”
After Columbus North (4-4, 2-2) punted with just over a minute left, Bloomington North (6-2, 3-1) went the length of the field, working the sideline on five straight passing plays. The drive was capped off with a Cody Mikulich 2-yard run to give the Cougars a 14-7 lead with 20 seconds left in the first half.
After both teams punted to start the second half, the special teams once again would prove costly for Columbus North. On a fair catch from Bloomington North, a penalty was called to give the Cougars great field position. They took advantage once again when Kyle Trilling kicked a 35-yard field goal to extend the lead to 17-7 with 2:52 left in the third quarter.
On the Bull Dogs first possession of the fourth quarter, they would fumble the ball with 8:44 left in the game to again give Bloomington North the ball back in excellent field position. The Cougars took advantage, with Laughman catching his second touchdown pass of the game from Lozano from 15 yards out to extend the lead to 24-7.
With the Bull Dogs in a passing situation, quarterback Luke Hammons was picked off by Matt Freel with 7:25 left in the game. Trilling then kicked his second field goal of the night from 26-yards out to put the icing on the cake with 6:05 left in the game.
Columbus North now has two conference losses, and with Southport defeating Terre Haute South on Friday, the Bull Dogs are officially out of the running for the conference championship. Bloomington North and Southport will play for the title on Friday. The Bull Dogs will focus their attention to a home matchup with Terre Haute South, which will be senior night.
“We talked about it postgame, and give credit to Bloomington North. They are a hard-fighting team and played a good game,” Bless said. “Next week is senior night. Conference Indiana hopes and dreams were squashed on this field tonight. We’re going to be ready to play our best football against Terre Haute South.”
