MADISON — The Columbus East football team hasn’t lost to Madison since 1999, and this year’s Cubs team can arguably be having one of its best seasons in program history.
Madison threatened East’s streak against the Cubs in the first half, but the Olympians did what the Olympians typically do with its Hoosier Hills Conference foes. They eventually broke the game open in the second quarter to claim a 56-9 victory to win the outright conference title.
East (7-2, 6-0) now has won 96 straight regular season HHC games dating back to 2006. They’ve won or shared the conference title 17 consecutive years and won it outright the past 14.
On the Olympians first drive, they were faced with a fourth down, but quarterback Malachi Parks run it on a keeper for the first down, and they wasted no time driving the ball all the way to the end zone, capped off with a Parks 5-yard run to make it 7-0 early in the first quarter after Nathaniel Hedrick’s extra point attempt was good.
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Unofficially for the game, Parks ran for 132 yards and three touchdowns. He also threw a passing touchdown.
“(Parks) has been our leader all year on and off the field. It was fitting that he came out and had a great game, and there wasn’t any way he was going to play hard,” East coach Bob Gaddis said. “He’s been the heart and soul of the this football team and great to see him have such a good night.”
After Madison (3-5, 2-4) drove down the field and failed to convert on a field goal attempt, the Olympians drove with a running attack to take the ball to the 18-yard line as the first quarter expired. On the third play of the series, starting in the second quarter, Tryce Villarreal ran for a 1-yard touchdown to extend the lead to 14-0.
The Cubs made big plays in the passing game on their next possession that included a 30-yard reception from Colin Yancey on fourth down. Nick Center then received the 12-yard pass from quarterback Parker Jones for the touchdown to cut the Olympian lead to 14-7 with less than seven minutes left to go in the first half.
East responded on its next possession when Parks went on a 17-scamper into the end zone to extend its lead to 21-7 with just above five minutes left in the half.
Madison went back to the passing attack, and it quickly picked up a first down, but then the Olympian defense made a play when Crase Bergman came up with an interception and returned the ball back to midfield. On the first play offensive snap, Parks made a deep pass to Charles Claycamp for a 50-yard touchdown run to extend the lead to 28-7.
Right before the end of the first half, Madison was driving down the field. Jones ran for a 16-yard gain to take it down to the 7-yard line. On the next play, the defense made another play when TJ Barkhimer intercepted a pass in the end zone to end the scoring threat. East then let the clock run out to maintain a 28-7 halftime lead.
Madison made a serious drive to start the second half, including a big play Center receiving a 29-yard pass from Jones. A few plays later, the ball was intercepted for the third time. On the ensuing possession, Parks completed a deep pass to Claycamp for 53 yards. A few plays later, Parks punched it in from two yards out for his third rushing touchdown of the game to make it 35-7 midway through the third quarter.
On East’s next possession, Villarreal rushing for his second touchdown of the game from seven yards out to make it 42-7 with 2:29 left in the third quarter, and then the running clock went into effect to finish out the game.
The Olympians put the finishing touches on the game defensively when Parker Harrison made the team’s fifth interception of the game and returned it back 58 yards for a touchdown to make it 49-7. Barkhimer added a 56-yard interception return to make it 56-7.
“(Madison) is a pretty good offense, and they’re going to spread it around, and they kind of got one-dimensional throwing the football,” Gaddis said. “One of the big things I was happy with was, in the second half, our defensive line really stepped up the pressure. It was a great team defensive performance. They would move the ball a little bit, but our kids made plays when they had to.”
East has a couple weeks to rest up before playing at Franklin Central in the Class 6A sectional semifinals at 7 p.m. Oct. 30.
“It’ll be great to have a bye week,” Gaddis said. “The coaching staff will take a look at things specifically to work on, and we’re going to have the opportunity to back off a little bit in practice, and get healed up for, hopefully, playing our best football in the tournament.”
