Columbus East’s Brody Miller, left, grabs ahold of Columbus North quarterback Asher Ratliff for a sack during a football game in Bob Gaddis Stadium Aug. 29 at Columbus East High School.
Mike Wolanin | The Republic
It was a tough time being a Columbus football fan Friday.
Columbus North and Columbus East both suffered their second-worst losses of the season, scoreboard-wise. Both the Bull Dogs and Olympians hope to get back on the right track as Week 8 of high school football kicks off Friday.
Both teams hit the road for conference matchups. Columbus North travels to Bloomington North, and East travels to Jeffersonville. Both games will have a 7 p.m. kickoff.
The Bull Dogs have lost three of their past four games, and the Olympians have lost two in a row following a rash of injuries.
Columbus North fell to Class 5A No. 2 Bloomington South 55-24, and East left Bloomington North with a 42-point shutout loss. The best that the Bull Dogs can get is second place in the conference since the Panthers wrapped up the Conference Indiana title with the win Friday.
“I was a tough game for us, but that’s the thing about football — you have to rinse and repeat and get ready for the next game every Friday,” Columbus North coach Logan Haston said. “So we have to turn the page and get ready for a good Bloomington North team who is progressing well under coach Cooper.”
Last year’s game between the Bull Dogs and Cougars came down to one snap with Columbus North winning 35-34 in double-overtime. According to the Jeff Sagarin Rating, another close game could be in store Friday. The Bull Dogs are a two-point underdog on the road.
“We have to do a lot to get ready for them,” Haston said. “They’re pretty creative on offense with what they do. They have a quarterback (John Bargen) that can spin it all over the yard. So we’ll have our hands full again as a defensive unit. On the flip side, they do some creative stuff with their scheme on defense, something we haven’t necessarily seen a ton this year, so we’ll have to be prepared for us.”
The Hoosier Hills Conference title looks to be out of reach for the Olympians. However, they could mathematically still earn a share of the title if they win the next two games, and winless New Albany pulls out a miraculous upset over Floyd Central in the final week of the regular season.
A competitive game at Jeffersonville could be in store, despite last year’s game being a 52-6 lopsided win for East. According to the Sagarin Rating, the Olympians are a three-point underdog against the Red Devils.
East has dealt with numerous injuries the past several weeks that have depleted the roster with many players seeing varsity action for the first time. It’s not an excuse for coach Eddie Vogel, who wants to see his team compete every week regardless of who is on the field and who the opposition is.
“We’ve got some guys that have been Saturday guys that have been playing JV that are up right now playing for us. It takes them awhile to acclimate,” Vogel said. “What I’ve told our guys is that none of our opponents care if we are battling injuries right now. What we’re trying to do is put the best group out on the field that we can and trying to get them doing some things to be able to put them in a chance to be successful, and we have not done that the last two weeks.”
Vogel knows they need to get the momentum back on their side Friday, especially with the postseason fast approaching. The sectional draws are at 6 p.m. Sunday and will be livestreamed at ihsaatv.org
“That was one of our goals was to try to compete for a sectional, and there is a lot of good teams in our sectional, just like on our schedule,” Vogel said. “The main thing for us, we are in the situation we are in, and we’ve just got to continue to coach these guys hard. We’ve got to adjust what we’re doing to fit our players to try to put them in the best situation to be successful.”
