By James Pence and Ted Schultz | The Republic
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A year ago, only parents and siblings were in the stands at Columbus North and Columbus East games.
Those fans could sometimes hear coaches giving out plays and quarterbacks making audibles before the snap. Students and casual fans had to rely on livestreaming, radio or updates on social media last year to keep up with football and other sporting events because of COVID-19 restrictions.
The annual football rivalry between Columbus North and Columbus East was a whole lot different than that on Saturday morning. This year, there were no restrictions on attendance, and the excitement and atmosphere was back in full swing at East’s Stafford Field, as well as at the BCSC Soccer Complex for Wednesday night’s North-East girls soccer game and Saturday night’s North-East boys soccer contest.
“Mentally for the kids, so much of the high school experience is going to games, being there with your friends, doing things like that,” East athletics director Pete Huse said. “So to be part of it, to have the kids back, to just have the fans back, for our kids to be able to play in front of a crowd is just nice to have that support.”
Huse estimated about 5,000 fans showed up Saturday morning, when the Bull Dogs beat the Olympians 28-0 on the gridiron. He was expecting an even larger crowd on Friday night before the game had to be postponed because of lightning.
“It was amazing,” said senior wide receiver Keegan Castetter, who scored North’s three first-half touchdowns. “I would have loved to have seen what it was like Friday night. But it’s much bigger than last year. It’s crazy to have all of our fans back. It’s amazing.”
Bull Dogs senior quarterback Luke Hammons was making his third start in an East-North game and picked up his second win at Stafford Field. Although Saturday’s crowd didn’t match the estimated 7,000 that attended in 2019, it was appreciated, nonetheless.
“I’m glad that we showed up this morning,” said Hammons, who threw for two touchdowns and ran for another. “I didn’t know if we’d have a big crowd, but the student section showed up and was loud, and we had a lot of fun.”
North coach Tim Bless was happy for his team, not only for the victory, but that the players were able to celebrate it with so many of their classmates and other friends and family.
“You should have seen how disappointed our kids were (Friday) night when I told them that we have to go home, that the game was postponed, because they were so excited to get to play in front of a huge crowd that everybody grows up dreaming about in this North-East rivalry here in Columbus,” Bless said. “So it was so gratifying that, ‘OK, we come back Saturday morning, and there’s still a loud, raucous crowd supporting us,’ because these kids out on the field for both schools so deserved it.”
