Despite its 0-2 start, Columbus East football hasn’t been without a few bright spots.
First and foremost has been the play of the Olympians defense. Although they’ve given up 28 points each in losses to Class 5A No. 5 Whiteland and Columbus North, some of those touchdowns have come after the opposing offenses were given short fields.
Rocco Duffy has been one of the leaders of that East defense through the first two games. The senior safety has a takeaway in each game and ranks second on the team with nine solo tackles.
“I know our first couple of games haven’t been good, but I know that we are a new team and I know we’re still learning and getting better,” Duffy said. “Like coach (Eddie Vogel) said, we have two games under our belt, so there’s no excuse. I think if we just work hard and put our mind to it, then we can get it done.”
Duffy had a fumble recovery in the first half of the season-opener at Whiteland. He intercepted a pass late in Saturday’s loss to North.
“He’s athletic, and he’s been around the ball a lot,” Vogel said. “He was one of our backup safeties last year, so he saw some time under the lights. So he knows what it takes. I’ve been really pleased with how physical he’s been. He’s done a great job in coverage. He’s around the football a lot, and that’s what our safeties have to do in our defense.”
The 6-foot-3, 175-pound Duffy led the Olympians defense with nine tackles on Saturday.
“I see the ball pop, and I try to fly at it and get them stopped,” Duffy said.
Through his four years in the East program, Duffy has bounced between cornerback and safety. After playing corner as a freshman and safety as a sophomore, he started last year’s season opener at corner. But then he moved to safety and was a backup safety the rest of the season.
Now, Duffy is the starting free safety.
“I like it,” he said. “I enjoy it a lot, but it definitely takes a lot more work starting than just kind going through practice when you know you’re not going to start or play as much.”
Prior to the season, Duffy was one of two seniors selected to be among the four team captains.
“He’s one of our captains that represents our team, so I think that’s a big honor,” Vogel said. “He’s provided that leadership. Guys can lead in a bunch of different ways. One of them is by example, and Rocco comes to practice and works hard every day and helps kind of direct traffic back there for our secondary. So he’s definitely shown some leadership.”
The Olympians will look for their first win of the season on Friday when they open Hoosier Hills Conference play at Seymour. East has won 17 consecutive outright HHC titles and 96 straight conference games.
“I know we’re going to try to keep our conference streak and then hopefully just make it as far as we can in sectional,” Duffy said. “And I’m going to try to get as many tackles and as many interceptions as I can and just make big plays.”
