INDIANAPOLIS — It couldn’t have been a better Friday night for Columbus North quarterback Zac Horn and his cousin, wide receiver Cooper Horn.
Unofficially, wide receiver Cooper Horn set a possible school record with 224 yards receiving and four touchdowns, and quarterback Zac Horn threw for nearly 300 yards and five touchdowns to help the Bull Dogs rout Southport 47-14 in Friday night’s Conference Indiana football opener.
North (2-1, 1-0) handed to the ball to Tyler Blythe a lot on its opening possession. The Bull Dogs drove into Southport territory until a fumble from Sam Mormino ended the drive.
After the North defense created a turnover on downs during the Cardinals first possession, the Bull Dogs’ drive looked promising when Zac Horn threw to Cooper Horn for a near 50-yard pass. Faced with a fourth down and six at the 17-yard line, North opted to go for it and not kick the field goal, but it backfired as the Southport defense was able to make the stop.
After Cardinals were forced to punt, the Bull Dogs finally got on the scoreboard when Zac Horn threw to Cooper Horn for the 4-yard touchdown to make it 7-0 following the Osian Guest extra point with 1:42 left in the first quarter.
North extended its lead with its first possession in the second quarter when Damon Edwards passed the ball to Cooper Horn for a 36-yard-touchdown to make it 13-0 after the extra point try failed. A key play in the drive that set up the touchdown was when the Bull Dogs were faced with third-and-long until Zac Horn found Cooper Horn for another deep pass to keep the drive alive.
North wasn’t finished yet. Zac Horn threw his second touchdown pass of the first half to Cooper Horn, who caught his third touchdown pass of the half to make it 19-0 at halftime.
When Southport punted on its first possession of the second half, the Bull Dogs made a critical fumble that the Cardinals recovered. North paid for it when Southport quarterback AJ Reynolds made a 46-yard touchdown pass to capitalize on the momentum to cut it to 19-7 early in the third quarter. The Bull Dogs responded right back when Cooper Horn caught his fourth touchdown pass of the game from Zac Horn for 9-yards to extend the lead to 26-7 with less than eight minutes in the third quarter.
North extended the lead to 33-7 following Zac Horn’s fourth touchdown pass of the game that went 28 yards to Edwards, and later put the stamp on the game when Zac Horn threw his fifth touchdown pass to Blythe from 7-yards out to make it 40-7 with 17 seconds left in the third quarter.
The Bull Dogs face two tough tests the next two weeks when they take on Class 4A No. 2 Roncalli on Friday and 3A No. 1 Indianapolis Bishop Chatard on Sept. 16.
