INDIANAPOLIS — Franklin Central was all over Columbus East in the first two minutes of the game.
That was the only time the Flashes controlled the game.
The Olympians made sure no upset was on the horizon when they took the lead in the second quarter, and they never trailed again on their way to a 41-14 football win in the Class 6A sectional semifinals Friday night.
East (8-2) now will visit Class 6A No. 1 and state championship favorite Center Grove on Friday.
[sc:text-divider text-divider-title=”Story continues below gallery” ]Click here to purchase photos from this gallery
Franklin Central stunned the Olympians in the first two minutes of the game, taking a 14-0 lead. But then the Olympians scored 41 unanswered points the rest of the game.
After the first two Flashes scores, the East defense forced five punts, a turnover on downs and an interception the rest of the game.
“For some reason, we weren’t ready to play. Either we didn’t have them ready to play, or the players weren’t ready to play, the environment, I’m not sure what it was, but it was 14-0 not even two minutes in,” East coach Bob Gaddis said. “After that, we made a couple plays, and I thought we played up to our potential after that. We were happy with the way they didn’t just quit after being down 14-0. We got the lead back, and we were in control of the football game.”
Franklin Central (1-9) took advantage on the opening possession with good blocking offensively when running back Josh Ruley ran 60 yards on the second play from scrimmage for a touchdown and a 7-0 lead after Juan Boyzo’s extra point attempt was good.
On the ensuing possession, East quarterback Malachi Parks threw an interception that put the Flashes in good field position starting at around 15-yard line. They took advantage of the turnover when Colin Badgero threw to Peyton Viewegh for a 13-yard strike to give them a 14-0 lead with 10:15 left in the first quarter.
The Olympians finally stopped the bleeding and gained momentum back when Parks found Parker Harrison for a 54-yard touchdown pass to cut the deficit to 14-7 after a Nathaniel Hedrick extra point.
Once East forced a Franklin Central punt that went it all the way to the 2-yard line, Parks made up for it when he found a big hole and dashed down the right side for 70 yards. A few plays later, Parks scrambled for 10 yards for a score to tie the game at 14-14 with 5:06 left in the first quarter.
On the Flashes’ ensuing possession, the Olympian defense forced a turnover when Chase Harrison made an interception to give the ball right back to East. The Olympians took advantage to take the lead when Parks found Parker Harrison for a 23-yard touchdown reception to go ahead 21-14 with 6:58 remaining in the first half.
East scored on its opening possession of the second half, driving down the field behind the running of Tryce Villarreal and Parks. On a third-and-goal at the 8, the Olympians used a trick play when Villarreal was handed the ball and instead of running, he passed to an open Charles Claycamp for a score to make it 27-14.
After the East defense forced another Franklin Central punt, the Olympians drove down the field once again, and the drive was capped off with a 6-yard run from Villarreal to make it 34-14 with 5:41 left in the third quarter. The Olympians added onto the lead when Parks ran it in from the right side of the field for a 6-yard touchdown to extend the lead to 41-14 with 11:54 left in the fourth quarter.
After the Flashes punted, East slowly ran the clock to finish out the game.
The focus now turns to Center Grove.
“We’ll prepare like we prepare for all of them. Obviously, they’re awfully good. We haven’t seen them on tape this year, but we saw them last year, and they were a great football team last year,” Gaddis said. “What it amounts to is that we get an opportunity to play against what everybody says is the best team in the state of Indiana, maybe one of the best teams ever. When you play against somebody good, you better bring your ‘A’ game and try to compete, and that’s what we’ll be trying to do this week.”
