Columbus East was missing starting quarterback Cole Gilley, top running back Mark McDonald and three defensive starters for Friday night’s regular-season finale against Madison on senior night.
It didn’t matter.
The Olympians scored eight first-half touchdowns in building a 54-0 halftime lead and went on to defeat the Cubs 61-14 to wrap up an undefeated Hoosier Hills Conference season for the 13th consecutive year.
“I was pleased with the way we came out and played,” East coach Bob Gaddis said. “Our kids I thought had a good week of preparation. With the distractions this week when we get the sectional draw and having some kids out, I thought our kids did a pretty good job playing through it.”
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Junior Malachi Parks, who had been starting at cornerback and slot receiver, made his first start at quarterback in place of Gilley, who has a sprained knee. Parks carried five times for 61 yards and three touchdowns and completed 2 of 2 passes for 65 yards, with a 60-yard scoring pass to Dalton Back.
“Our coaches do a great job with the scouting report, and our scout team did a wonderful job this week showing us how they would blitz because we knew that’s what they were going to do,” Parks said. “It wasn’t anything new that we did, but I know our O-line did a great job. Some of the holes we had were absolutely incredible that the O-line made. It just (allowed) our backs and I to hit those pretty hard tonight.”
Parks scored the first two touchdowns on runs of 15 and 23 yards, and the Olympians (7-2, 6-0) led 13-0 after one quarter. East then put up 41 points in the second quarter, beginning with the Parks-to-Back connection.
Devon Cox, who was filling in for an injured TJ Barhkimer at outside linebacker, then stepped in front of a Cubs receiver and returned an interception 33 yards for a touchdown and a 27-0 lead.
“I was really surprised they actually threw that,” Cox said. “We ran that same exact play in practice, and I actually picked in in practice, too, so this is kind of like deja vu. I’ve always wanted to do that since I was a little kid, and this is my first time ever (returning an interception for a touchdown) since I’ve been playing football.”
After Cox recovered a fumble, Parks added his third rushing touchdown on a 13-yard run. Tyler Settle, who took Parks’ place at slot receiver, ran 38 yards for a score. Lance Greiwe scored on a 10-yard run, and Tryce Villarreal added a 38-yard touchdown before the first half was over.
“I thought our offense clicked pretty well,” Gaddis said. “Then, (Madison has) a good scheme on offense, and our defense adjusted to it and kind of bent and didn’t break in the first half.”
Playing with a running clock in the second half, the Olympians went with mostly backups.
The Cubs (1-8, 1-5) scored on a 79-yard pass from Parker Jones to Louis Humes on their first possession of the third quarter. Trenton Barnes added a 6-yard run to cut the lead to 54-14 before third-string East quarterback Ty Uphaus finished the scoring on a 6-yard keeper.
