Columbus North’s Tyler Blythe, right, is tackled by Columbus East’s Brennan Cowan during the annual rivalry football game between the two schools at Columbus North High School in Columbus, Ind., Friday, Aug. 26, 2022.
Mike Wolanin | The Republic
A slow first half for both teams turned into a fast second half for one of them Friday night.
Columbus North scored 29 unanswered points in the second half to break open a close game and claim a 39-6 victory against Columbus East in the annual crosstown showdown.
“It feels amazing,” said North senior running back Tyler Blythe, who ran for two touchdowns and threw for one. “It’s one of the biggest rivalries I think in Indiana. The energy was there. The crowd was there. We prepared all week, and we did everything that we could have. We executed everywhere.”
The victory gave first-year Bull Dogs coach Logan Haston his first win as a head coach.
“It’s absolutely amazing,” Haston said. “I’m so proud of our kids. We know what this game is and what means to this community and Columbus North High School, and our kids just laid it on the line. It didn’t start the way we wanted to, but we kind of settled into the game and really played well.”
After both teams went three-and-out on their opening series, the Bull Dogs (1-1) fumbled, and East’s Devon Tekulve recovered at the North 4-yard line. But a couple of penalties backed up the Olympians, and they had to settle for a 30-yard field goal from Nathaniel Hedrick.
The Bull Dogs then drive to the East 6, but were backed up by a penalty and missed a field goal. But North got the ball back and drove for a 6-yard touchdown run by Tyler Blythe, giving the Bull Dogs their first lead of the season.
The Olympians again drove inside the 10-yard-line, but had to again settle for a Hedrick field goal, this time from 25 yards. That cut the lead to 7-6 with 3:21 left in the first half.
North then put together a drive that took the remainder of the first half. It ended with a 24-yard field goal from Osian Guest that gave the Bull Dogs a 10-6 lead at the break.
North limited East to 25 total yards (19 rushing, six passing) and two first downs in the first half.
The Bull Dogs broke the game open in the third quarter. On their first possession, Zac Horn hit Damon Edwards for a 14-yard touchdown.
North got the ball back on a Jabari Collins interception. Blythe took a flanker screen and threw a 49-yard scoring pass for Cooper Horn.
Blythe added another 6-yard touchdown run before the quarter was over, and the Bull Dogs led 30-6. Guest booted a 21-yard field goal early in the fourth quarter, and North put on the finishing touches when Zac Horn hit Blake Wilson for a 20-yard score.
“We have a motto here at Columbus North that in the third quarter, it’s time to separate, and that’s what we did,” Zac Horn said. “We just went in and made some adjustments and kept our foot on the pedal there.”
Zac Horn finished 13-of-19 passing for 137 yards and a touchdown. Blythe carried 24 times for 148 yards.
“That was probably one of the worst starts that we could have had to a game,” Blythe said. “That was my fault, and then going into halftime, we just told each other, ‘Hey, we have to clean it up. We have to show this to this town,’ and we did it.”
The Bull Dogs limited East to 63 yards and three first downs. The Olympians (0-2) were shut out in the second half for the second week in a row. They led Whiteland at halftime in last week’s season opener.
“You have to give North a lot of credit,” East coach Eddie Vogel said. “Their coaching staff had them very well prepared. Again, the first half was pretty good. We kind of wore down the second half, so we didn’t make the kind of adjustments we needed. We had so many self-inflicted things penalty-wise that extended drives for them and stopped drives for us. We had some bad special teams play.
“I told our guys I’m disappointed in myself getting them prepared,” he added. “We have to make a decision what kind of football team we’re going to be.”
North now leads the all-time series 27-25.
“It’s awesome,” Zac Horn said. “It’s the biggest game of the year. It’s huge.”
BOXSCORE
Columbus East;3;3;0;0;—;6
Columbus North;0;10;20;9;—;39
CE—Nathaniel Hedrick 30 FG, 7:30.
CN—Tyler Blythe 6 run (Osian Guest kick), 8:19.
CE—Hedrick 25 FG, 3:21.
CN—Guest 24 FG, :00.
CN—Damon Edwards 14 pass from Zac Horn (Guest kick), 7:21
CN—Cooper Horn 49 pass from Blythe (pass failed), 4:22.
CN—Blythe 6 run (Guest kick), 2:19.
CN—Guest 21 FG, 9:37.
CN—Blake Wilson 20 pass from Z. Horn (kick failed), 3:04.
Individual statistics
RUSHING — Columbus East: Tyler Weller 10-26, Ethan Duncan 8-20, Javeon Smith 9-15, James Moss 2-1, Zach Foster 1-(-7). Columbus North: Blythe 24-128, Sam Mormino 8-81, Edwards 6-21, Z. Horn 2-3.
PASSING — Columbus East: Duncan 2 for 11, 8 yards, 0 touchdowns, 1 interception. Columbus North: Z. Horn 13-19-137-2-0, Blythe 1-1-49-0-0.
RECEIVING — Columbus East: Chase Zapfe 1-6, Devon Tekulve 1-2. Columbus North: C. Horn 3-59, Braylon Thoman 2-34, Blake Wilson 4-30, Blythe 2-24, Edwards 2-22, Leon Brown 1-7.
