BEDFORD — Bedford North Lawrence gave Columbus East a tiny bit of a scare early on in Friday’s Hoosier Hills Conference matchup.
As the game wore on, the Olympians showed why they are the elite team in the conference.
East converted seven touchdowns in the first half and cruised to a 62-21 victory.
“I thought our offense had a pretty good week of practice and preparation. We had pretty good plans as far as our kids could execute. I wasn’t surprised that we scored a lot of points,” East coach Bob Gaddis said. “(Bedford’s) offense is actually pretty good. (Bedford) coach (Steve) Weber does a really good job at triple-option, and gives you a lot of different formations. We were worried they were going to chew up the clock. Our goal all week was, when we got it, we had to do something with it.”
After the Stars (2-5, 2-2) punted on their first possession, the Olympians (5-2, 4-0) got on the board when Cole Gilley threw a 30-yard strike to Collin Phillips for a 7-0 lead. East extended the lead to 14-0 when Lance Greiwe ran for a 19-yard touchdown.
Bedford got on the board when Derek Hutchens was wide open after a missed assignment on defense for 67-yard touchdown to make it 14-7. The Olympians answered right back with a 55-yard touchdown pass from Gilley to Greiwe to make it 20-7 after the point after try was no good.
The Stars drove down the drive on the ensuing possession and had a goal-to-go situation. Dalton Nikirk threw the ball intended for Ethan Baer, but the pass took a deflection and landed in the hands of Hutchens for the 8-yard touchdown to make it 20-14.
East then scored 29 points unanswered to end the first half. Mark McDonald had a 41-yard touchdown run, with Greiwe running in the two-point-conversion, Greiwe then had a 5-yard touchdown run, Dalton Back caught a 17-yard touchdown pass from Gilley and Malachi Parks caught a 25-yard touchdown pass for a 49-14 lead.
Gilley went 6 for 6 with 161 yards and four touchdowns passing in the first half. He finished 8 for 8 for 199 yards and five touchdowns.
“I was basically taking what they were giving us — going for the easy passes and keep getting first downs,” Gilley said. “I couldn’t give my offensive line credit enough. I don’t think I’ve been touched in the last three weeks. So it’s pretty nice having to be able to sit back there trusting my offensive line to do their job and making sure that my receivers can get open.”
Defensively for the Olympians in the first half, Trent Henry recovered a fumble and had an interception. Tyler Settle also had an interception.
In the second half, the game went to a running clock. That didn’t stop the East offense, however. Back and Tryce Villarreal each added another touchdown, and Kai Stidham had an interception on defense.
“I was happy with our execution offensively. I thought the defense figured it out as the game went on how fast they could do things,” Gaddis said. “It was a total team effort.”
