Columbus North’s Ezekiel Scruggs heads toward the end zone after reversing the field against Whiteland’s Jake Klemme Friday at Max Andress Field at Columbus North High School.
Tommy Walker | For The Republic
Ezekiel Scruggs and JD Rotert both wear No. 21, but that’s not the only similarity between the junior football players.
Scruggs and Rotert have taken over as starting running backs at Columbus North and Columbus East, respectively, after playing in backup roles as sophomores last season. Friday night, they figure be an important part of their teams’ game plans when the Olympians host the Bull Dogs.
“At first, I was a little nervous until I got that first hit,” Scruggs said. “Then, I knew it was game time.”
Ezekiel Scruggs
Scruggs carried 11 times for 63 yards and two touchdowns in North’s 49-7 blowout of Whiteland.
“He’s progressing really well,” North coach Logan Haston said. “He played with good vision, good patience as a running back. When we got him into open space, he was able to break some tackles and extend some plays, so it was just a really good job of just trusting his guys up front and doing what’s required.”
JD Rotert
Rotert had a much tougher time against a powerful Bloomington South team, managing just one yard on four carries in a 42-7 loss. But after this week, the schedule will lighten up a little for East.
“I feel like my footwork has gotten a lot better, and my decision making has gotten a lot better,” Rotert said. “But obviously, there is things I need to work on, and we’ll get it cleaned up before the end of the season.”
While Scruggs had minimal varsity experience coming into the season, Rotert saw a role as the backup to Thomas Houpey last year. Rotert also has been a starting pitcher and outfielder on the Olympians baseball team since his freshman year.
“On the football field, you’ve always got to have that stamina for the whole game,” Rotert said. “It’s the same way if I’m on the mound. You’ve got to have that stamina to go the whole game and keep the pitches up.”
“He’s just a good athlete,” East coach Eddie Vogel added. “He’s a two-sport guy. When we got him as a freshman, we all saw the talent that he had and the speed and the vision that he had. He’s worked extremely hard, and it’s tough for him to balance baseball and football, especially during the summer. He goes out and plays a ton of (baseball) games, and so we had to be flexible with him. He’s done a great job communicating and doing the stuff when he can be here. He’s just a great kid and a good student. He’s a hard worker. He’s a good representative of our football team.”
Scruggs played mostly JV last season, with veterans Gino Prescott, Sam Mormino and Josuan Padilla getting most of the varsity reps.
“We graduated three senior running backs, so there were a lot of question marks in who was going to step up into that role,” Haston said. “When we started spring ball, it was evident pretty quickly that ‘E-Z’ was ready for the task. He had a great spring, he had a great summer and now that we’re getting into games, you can see that he’s really developed nicely.”
Prescott, who now is playing at Indiana Wesleyan, has kept in contact with Scruggs.
“I really looked up to Gino,” Scruggs said. “He’s the reason why I’m really out here. He’s a big influence in my life right now. He texted me before the game and let me know about what I needed to right, and I just did exactly that and executed it the best I could.”
Both North and East are coming off conference championship seasons and will be looking to defend those beginning next week. Their individual goals are secondary.
“I really just want to ball out, do what I can do and do my best,” Scruggs said. “That’s about it.”
