Columbus North’s Tyler Blythe, right, avoids a tackle by Bloomington North’s Cayden Riester to score a touchdown during a football game at Columbus North High School in Columbus, Ind., Friday, Oct. 7, 2022.
Mike Wolanin | The Republic
In a game in which neither team could stop the other for three quarters, Columbus North’s defense finally came up with a couple of huge stops in the fourth.
Dumo Kak forced a fumble on fourth down, and then the Bull Dogs withstood a last-ditch effort by Bloomington North in the final minute to allow them to hang on for a 48-42 Conference Indiana victory.
Tyler Blythe carried 25 times for 123 yards and three touchdowns, caught five passes for 31 yards and a score, completed 2 of 2 passes for 76 yards and a touchdown and intercepted a pass at his own 15 on the final play of the game to preserve the victory.
Also for Columbus North, Zac Horn completed 11 of 18 pass for 199 yards and two touchdowns. Cooper Horn caught five passes for 152 yards and two scores.
“It really was a group effort, but Tyler certainly was the catalyst behind that,” North coach Logan Haston said. “Our offensive line opened holes for him, and when TB gets to the second level, he’s hard to catch. But our whole offense as a group played well tonight.”
Aside from a kneel-down on the last play of the first half, the Bull Dogs (4-4, 3-1) scored touchdowns all five times they had it in the first two quarters. After stopping the Cougars (4-4, 1-3) on their opening drive, Columbus North’s Zac Horn hit Cooper Horn, who appeared to be stopped at the line of scrimmage, but broke free for a 40-yard score.
An interception by Jose Ramirez and a 32-yard halfback option pass from Blythe to Cooper Horn set up Blythe’s first touchdown run, a 2-yarder.
Bloomington North got on the board in the final minute of the first quarter on a 6-yard keeper by Dash King. The Bull Dogs answered when Blythe went in from the 1.
After Columbus North got the ball back, Blythe made multiple cutbacks on his way to a 33-yard touchdown run that made it 26-7. The Cougars answered with a 4-yard pass from King to tight end Aidan Steinfeldt.
The Bull Dogs looked like they would take a three-score lead into halftime when Damon Edwards took a slant from Zac Horn and outran the defense for a 59-yard score with 55 seconds left. But Bloomington North needed only 53 seconds to drive for another 4-yard King-to-Steinfeldt connection, and the Cougars were within 34-21 at halftime.
The scoring didn’t slow down in the third quarter. Blythe took a shovel pass from Zac Horn and took it 20 yards. Then Bloomington North got a 58-yard pass from King to Jarno Hicks.
Unable to stop the Bull Dogs, the Cougars attempted an onside kick and recovered. Two plays later, King hit Hicks again for 28 yards to cut the lead to 41-35.
Columbus North went back to the Blythe-to-Cooper Horn halfback option, and this time, it went for a 44-yard touchdown. But once again, Bloomington North answered with a 5-yard pass from King to Jack Leonard to make it 48-42 with 2:44 left in the third quarter.
After all that scoring, that would be it for the rest of the game, as the defenses took over for the final period.
“It was a very strange fourth quarter, a lot of scoring, and then all the scoring came to a halt,” Haston said. “Both defenses stepped up. Our defense kept persevering and made plays, and it worked out for us in the fourth quarter.”
BOXSCORE
Bloomington North;7;14;21;0;—;42
Columbus North;13;21;14;0;—;48
CN—Cooper Horn 40 pass from Zac Horn (kick failed), 6:05.
CN—Tyler Blythe 2 run (Osian Guest kick), 4:15.
BN—Dash King 6 run (Noah Nelson kick), :49.
CN— Blythe 1 run (Guest kick), 7:07.
CN—Blythe 33 run (kick failed), 4:32.
BN—Aidan Steinfeldt 4 pass from King (Nelson kick), 1:53.
CN—Damon Edwards 59 pass from Z. Horn (Blythe run), :55.
BN—Steinfeldt 4 pass from King (Nelson kick), :09.
CN—Blythe 20 pass from Z. Horn (Guest kick), 9:11.
BN—Jarno Hicks 58 pass from King (Nelson kick), 8:38.
BN—Hicks 28 pass from King (Nelson kick), 7:50.
CN—C. Horn 44 pass from Blythe (Guest kick), 6:07.
BN—Jack Leonard 5 pass from King (Nelson kick), 2:44.
Individual statistics
RUSHING — Bloomington North: Killian Hayes 11-54, Cody Mikulich 9-29, Dane Peterson 5-16, Graham Freund 1-14, Cayden Riester 1-5, Tate Bless 1-(-3), King 7-(-8). Columbus North: Blythe 25-123, Sam Mormino 8-54, Z. Horn 7-20.
PASSING — Bloomington North: King 29 for 40, 400 yards, 5 touchdowns, 2 interceptions; Bless 0-1-0-0-0. Columbus North: Z. Horn 11-18-199-2-0; Blythe 2-2-76-1-0.
RECEIVING — Bloomington North: Jarno Hicks 9-146, Cole Grupenhoff 8-126, Steinfeldt 7-78, Mikulich 2-34, Bless 1-7, Leonard 1-5, Hayes 1-4. Columbus North: C. Horn 5-152, Blythe 5-31, Edwards 2-26, Nathan Palmer 1-11.
