Terre Haute North didn’t get Columbus North much of a threat in Friday’s Conference Indiana football game.
The Bull Dogs controlled the pace throughout the game to come away with a 41-21 homecoming victory to remain unbeaten in conference play.
With the victory, Columbus North coach Tim Bless gets his 150th victory overall as a head coach in 23 seasons, with 21 of them at the Bull Dog helm. He coached for two years at Paoli prior to his arrival in Columbus.
The Bull Dogs (3-2, 2-0) didn’t take long to get on the board on its first drive of the game. Quarterback Luke Hammons and running back Blake Huffman had solid blocking from the line to push forward, and Hammons capped off successful drive with an 8-yard run to put the Bull Dogs ahead 7-0 after the point after from Carter Ward was good.
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Columbus North got on the scoreboard again when Hammons scrambled and gave himself a bit of extra time to find Eshaan Patel for a 38-yard touchdown to give the Bull Dogs a 14-0 lead with 12.9 seconds left in the first quarter.
Early in the second quarter, the Patriots offense coughed up the ball on a lateral pass, and Royce Lofton picked up the fumble and took it to the 23-yard line to give the Bull Dogs great field position. Columbus North couldn’t take advantage of the field position offensively to add on to the lead.
As the first half was winding down, the Bull Dogs tacked on to their lead when Carter Ward kicked a 37-yard field goal as time expired to put them ahead 17-0.
Columbus North was hurt by penalties on its second possession of the second half, but Huffman went off on a big run that gave the Bull Dogs a first down. The drive was capped off with a Hammons pass to Tyler Blythe for 18 yards to extend the lead to 24-0 with 6:31 left in the third quarter.
On the ensuing possession, Terre Haute North (2-4, 0-4) didn’t have much offensively, and then a hit by the Columbus North defense caused a fumble, which the Bull Dogs recovered on the 16-yard line. Columbus North took advantage a couple plays later when Huffman ran the ball in from 7 yards for the score for a 31-0 lead.
On the Patriots’ next possession, they had their biggest drive all game offensively, but it ended when Jaxson Scruggs grabbed an interception.
The Bull Dogs offense went back to work with a Hammons run. He was pushed out of bounds by a Patriots that drew a flag, and then another Terre Haute North penalty moved the ball all the way to the 17-yard line.
The Patriots finally got on the board when Jace Russell passed to Jayson Cottrell for a 15-yard touchdown to make it 34-7 with 7:38 left in regulation. Columbus North fell asleep on the kickoff, and the Patriots recovered the onside kick to get possession again. They took advantage when Russell ran it in from 16 yards out to make it 34-14.
On the Bull Dogs’ ensuing possession, Dyllan Redmon ran it in from 59 yards to make it 41-14 with 2:54 left in the game, but the Terre Haute North scored again on a Damon Sturm 2-yard run. This time, Columbus North recovered and ran out the clock for the win.
