Bedford North Lawrence probably wished the running clock had gone into effect after the first quarter because Columbus East piled on the points early with six touchdowns on its first six possessions.
After the Olympians gained the huge lead, they coasted to a 63-20 Hoosier Hills Conference football victory Friday night against the Stars.
“I thought we came out with a lot of good intensity, good focus and really executed our game plan very well on both sides of the football,” East coach Bob Gaddis said. “I thought offensively, we executed, but then we also executed pretty well on defense. It’s hard to stop the triple-option because it is hard to simulate that during practices, so our kids came out in the first couple series and did a really nice job with it.”
The Olympians (5-2, 4-0) wasted no time on their first possession when they got the ball near midfield, and after a couple of runs, quarterback Malachi Parks ran it into the end zone from 28 yards away to put them ahead 7-0 following the Nathaniel Hedrick extra point.
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On East’s next possession following a Stars punt, Parks had a run and a pass to Trey Neal that got the ball to the 18-yard line. Running back Mark McDonald did the rest with the 18-yard rushing touchdown to put the Olympians ahead 14-0 in the first quarter.
The East defense made a play on Bedford’s next possession when TJ Barkhimer made an interception to give the Olympians good field possession just inside the 20-yard line. East cashed in a few plays later, with Parks running it in from a yard away to make it 21-0.
The Stars (2-5, 2-2) finally got it past midfield and into East territory, but the Olympians defense made another play that forced a fumble, and Tyrell Bowers recovered.
On the next East possession, Xander Brotzman had a 28-yard catch, and then Tryce Villarreal ran it in for a 21-yard touchdown to extend the lead to 28-0.
The defense once again made another play for the Olympians when Elliott Koopman made an interception to put East on the 45-yard line. One play later, Parks made a perfect strike to Charles Claycamp to extend the lead to 35-0 just before the first quarter ended.
In the second quarter, following a Stars punt, McDonald ran it in from 54 yards on the first play of the drive to extend the lead to 42-0 with 10:54 to go in the half. East scored again on its next possession following a Bedford punt when Villarreal rushed seven yards for the touchdown to make it 49-0.
The Stars finally ended the shutout when Ben Cosner caught a 26-yard pass from Brye Lewis to make it 49-7.
East added another touchdown just before the first half when McDonald ran it in for a 5-yard touchdown, his third of the first half, to make it 56-7. That would eventually be the halftime score.
The Olympians then played their reserves for much of the second half with the running clock in play. Backup quarterback Ethan Duncan scored on a 34-yard run for East’s final touchdown.
“I told them before the game and after the game, if you’re trying to win a conference championship, it’s got to be your whole team that has to do it,” Gaddis said. “Those guys do a great job running the scout teams during the week, and when we get the chance to play them, we want to play them, and I thought they came in and had some fun, ran around and that’s what it’s all about.”
