Columbus East proved to be no match for Elkhart in Friday night’s football contest.
The Lions won on offense, defense and special teams to propel to a 52-28 victory over the Olympians.
On the first scoring drive for the Lions, they were faced with a third down play, but then a face mask was called by East, which extended the drive. Elkhart converted on the opportunity by finishing off the drive with a Derrick Woods 13-yard run to go ahead 7-0 with 9:16 left in the first quarter following a Rodney Gates extra point.
The Olympians responded quickly on their next drive when Mark McDonald scrambled for a 73-yard run to tie the game at 7-7. The score remained that way until the final minute of the first quarter when Donovan Johnson caught the 15-yard pass from quarterback Cameron Wiltfong to put Elkhart ahead 14-7 after the first quarter.
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In the first half, the Olympians were burned by the long passes, and it showed in the second quarter.
Wiltfong threw a 73-yard touchdown pass Tyren Mason to go ahead 20-7 with 8:40 left to play in the first half, and then on the next drive, the Olympians secondary was burned on a 56-yard pass play on a Wiltfong to Mason connection. The Lions then ran a sweep for a 20-yard gain that was just stopped of the goal line, but Woods punched it in for the 1 to extend the lead to 27-7 with 2:32 left in the second quarter.
In the second half, the Olympians found the end zone, but the only problem was, so did the Lions. After East punted on its first possession to pin the Lions deep in their own territory at the 1-yard line, a pass play brought the ball to the 15-yard line. Elkhart then showed its speed whne Mason ran past all the East defenders for the 85-yard run to go ahead 34-7.
On the ensuing possession, the Olympians got on the board when McDonald ran the ball for the 33-yard touchdown to make it 34-14.
However, every time East would score, they couldn’t get a stop on a defense. On the ensuing possession, the Lions picked up a touchdown from a Woods 1-yard to put the lead to 40-14 after the extra attempt was blocked.
East responded right back when McDonald ran it in for his third score of the game to cut it to 40-21. The Lions then responded with a touchdown of their own when Woods ran the ball for the 36-yard touchdown to go ahead 46-21.
The Olympians were about to respond again when Mark McDonald ran the ball right to the goal line on third down. On fourth McDonald tried to muscle his way to break the plane, but the Lions got the crucial stop to turn the ball over on downs.
Pinned deep in their own territory, Elkhart converted on a 44-yard pass to Johnson to get the ball close to midfield. After a couple plays pushed the ball past midfield, Woods ran the ball in for the 41-yard score to extend the lead to 52-21.
East came back on the ensuing possession to drive the ball down the field. On a fourth down play at the 41-yard line, quarterback Malachi Parks scrambled to the right side and found an open Crase Bergman for the touchdown to cut it to 52-28 after the Nathaniel Hedrick extra point.
The Olympians defense made a play when Rocco Duffy made the interception, and the ball was placed at the 15-yard line. However, the East offense was stopped on fourth down by the Elkhart defense with about four minutes left to play in the game. The Lions then ran out the clock to secure the win.
