Columbus East’s Kyson Villarreal, left, attempts to break a tackle during last year’s rivalry game Aug. 30, 2024 at Columbus North High School.
Mike Wolanin | The Republic
It’s no secret that Columbus North has had Columbus East’s number on the football field in the recent past.
The Bull Dogs have won four in a row and eight of the past nine against their crosstown rivals heading into Friday’s 7 p.m. battle at East. North’s 41-0 and 42-0 victories the past two years have been the most lopsided games in the series history.
“They know,” East coach Eddie Vogel said. “They don’t need to be reminded of that. I’m sure they get reminded enough on social media and from their friends. We’ve got a lot of guys that are good friends that go to the other school. They hang out together, so they don’t need me reminding them of that. What they need is me trying to uplift them and get them as well prepared as we can get them and get them believing what we’re trying to get done to be able to go out and compete. The score will be what the score is on Friday night. I think our guys will be much better to compete than they did against Bloomington South.”
Bloomington South, one of the state’s top Class 5A teams, handed the Olympians a 42-7 setback in Friday’s season opener. East was held to 66 yards rushing, 49 of which came from senior quarterback Kyson Villarreal.
“We’ve got to be able to run the football and be balanced offensively,” Vogel said. “North really throws the ball, and they’ve got some great weapons on the outside, and (Parker) Elmore is really good and (Asher) Ratliff is really good. I think we have to be able to stop the run, as well, which we didn’t do (against Bloomington South). When you don’t stop the run, then guys get out of position and then you can’t stop the pass either. We’ve got to get more consistent in our execution.”
Ratliff completed 24 of 29 passes for 291 yards and three touchdowns, with all three scoring passes going to Elmore, in Friday’s 49-7 rout of Whiteland. Elmore caught eight passes for 116 yards in his first game as a Bull Dog.
The Olympians also have a tall, athletic threat on the outside in senior Keaton Lawson. Lawson scored East’s lone touchdown at Bloomington South.
“He’s incredibly talented,” North coach Logan Haston said. “We have a lot of respect for him and what they’re able to do with him on both sides of the ball. So we know that our defensive backs have their hands full this week, but they’re excited for the challenge.”
Haston said his team won’t be overlooking the Olympians.
“We are aware of our success in recent years, but we don’t take that for granted,” Haston said. “Every year, it’s hitting the reset button and knowing that you’re going to have a tough contest, especially at their place. Their crowd will be into it, and there will be a ton of people there and we’re going to get their best shot, so we’re treating this like any other game with an elite level of preparation in the week.”
East, after facing one of the state’s top 5A teams, now will get a shot at a 6A program that could be ranked when the first Associated Press poll is released.
“I would say our first two weeks, maybe some of the Indy schools might have a tougher schedule, but for a small 5A team starting with Bloomington South and Columbus North are two quality programs,” Vogel said. “For us, it is kind of a measuring stick and a chance for us to evaluate whether we think guys are in the right spots and can play, figuring out who can really play. We think we know, but there were changes last year and we went on and won conference.
“We want this for our seniors,” he added. “We’ve not beaten them. Whatever the score is, we’re going to try to win the game and we want to see our guys compete and try to execute so we can figure out what we’re going to be for conference. Our goal is, we want to get better and better each week, and we did that last year, and there’s no question the team that we have will do it again this year. We want to speed that process up. We want to compete on Friday night with them.”
