Columbus East and Columbus North staged one of the all-time classics in their 50-game series last week.
This week, the Olympians and Bull Dogs have put that game behind them and focused on their Week 3 opponents. East hosts a new foe in Elkhart while North opens its Conference Indiana season at Southport.
"I’m really happy with the way we came out and established ourselves early," East coach Bob Gaddis said of his team’s 35-31 win at North. "You can’t have letdowns, but we finished it in the end. It did give us some confidence, and we’re going to need that this week. Elkhart is a very talented football team."
Elkhart is coming off its first game in school history. After seeing their Week 1 game canceled, the Lions, who are a brand new consolidation of Elkhart Central and Elkhart Memorial, beat Mishawaka 35-28 last week.
"I’ve never been involved in coaching a team like this where it’s two schools coming together," Gaddis said. "It’s really unique."
Elkhart is coached by Josh Shattuck, who had been the coach at Elkhart Central the past three years. Prior to that, he spent four years as the coach at Seymour.
Gaddis’ Olympian teams handled Shattuck’s Seymour squads all four of those years, but Shattuck has a much deeper talent pool at Elkhart.
"Anytime you have that many kids to draw from, they’re going to be a good football team," Gaddis said. "It would be like taking East and North and putting them together and creating a football team. They have a pretty deep talent base, and their coaching staff does a good job. For not being able to play a scrimmage and their first game, I thought they looked pretty good on tape."
The Lions had two running backs go over the 100-yard mark against Mishawaka and rushed for 403 yards as a team. Derrick Woods II carried 20 times for 153 yards and two touchdowns, and Tyren Mason had six carries for 138 yards and two scores.
Quarterback Cameron Wiltfong completed 6 of 9 passes for 52 yards.
"Everything they do in the running game, they have a pass tagged onto it," Gaddis said. "They have the ability to throw the ball on every down. They’re pretty wide open. They’re going to get into some trips, spread, even some empty (backfield) formations. They will throw it, but they’re going to try to establish the run. They do it a little bit differently than we do. They get the ball to the perimeter a lot. They’re going to try to get their athletes out in space."
East (1-1) hopes to have senior running back Mark McDonald available for the entire game. McDonald has had big first halves in each of the Olympians’ first two games, but has played sparingly in the second half both weeks because of cramping issues.
Gaddis said the East staff is trying some different things with McDonald this week. They’re trying to have him address his nutrition and things he’s drinking and monitoring his body weight.
"It’s not as hot this week, but he loses a lot of sweat at practice," Gaddis said. "We do a good job of hydration at practice. We just have to figure out how to maintain that hydration. Hopefully, we’ll get him out there for whole game. But that’s not taking anything away from Tryce Villarreal. Tryce has come in and played well. But we like it when we can have both of them in the backfield."
Meanwhile, North will be facing a Southport team that will be playing its season opener. The Cardinals have had to cancel their first two games after a player tested positive for COVID-19.
Preparing for a team that lost several key players, including its quarterback, that creates a big challenge.
"I would say the biggest challenge is just the unknown," North coach Tim Bless said. "This is their first football game, so we don’t have the film to study. Southport is a high-quality opponent. They’re in the conference championship race just about every year historically. They’re as good a team as we play all year."
The Bull Dogs know they need to get off to a better start than they did against East. North trailed 21-0 and 28-7 before rallying to take a 31-28 lead midway through the fourth quarter, only to see the Olympians drive for the game-winning touchdown with 32 seconds remaining.
"We finished well on Friday night, which is something we feel good about, but we didn’t start well," Bless said. "The message this week has been about starting fast on Friday night."
North lost a couple of defensive players to cramping and injury on that final drive last week, but hopes to have them back tonight.
"We’re a little bit banged up, but we’re hopeful," Bless said. "We’re able to play through some things. It doesn’t look like anybody’s going to be out for a major amount of time."
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Elkhart at Columbus East
Records: Columbus East 1-1, Elkhart 1-0
Game time: 7 p.m.
Last year: This is the teams’ first meeting.
Last week: East beat Columbus North 35-31; Elkhart beat Mishawaka 35-28.
Coaches: Bob Gaddis is 323-141 in his 42nd year, including 205-41 in 20th year at East. Josh Shattuck is 53-63 in his 12th year, including 1-0 in his first year at Elkhart.
Prediction: Columbus East 35, Elkhart 28
Columbus North at Southport
Records: Columbus North 1-1, Southport 0-0
Last year: Southport won 10-7
Last week: North lost to Columbus East 35-31; Southport did not play
Coaches: Tim Bless is 148-98 in his 23rd year, including 136-89 in his 21st year at North; Brandon Winters is 25-17 in his fifth year at Southport
Prediction: Columbus North 28, Southport 21
Tonight’s other games
Bedford North Lawrence at Jennings County, 7 p.m.
Brown County at Cloverdale, 7 p.m.
Oldenburg Academy at Edinburgh, 7 p.m.
Indianapolis Tindley at South Decatur, 7 p.m.
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