One would have to go all the way back to 1998 to find out the last time both Columbus North and Columbus East had a losing regular season in the same year.
The Bull Dogs and Olympians aren’t worried about that, however. Both teams get a fresh slate as they begin sectional play tonight.
East (4-5) hosts No. 3 Bloomington South (7-1) in a Class 5A Sectional, and North (4-5) will travel south to Jeffersonville (1-7) in a Class 6A Sectional. Both games are scheduled for a 7 p.m. kickoff.
Over the past six games, the Bull Dogs defense has been an issue. They’ve given up an average of 40.8 points in those games and has gone 2-4 during that stretch.
“It starts with our alignment. When you watch film the next morning, it’s pretty clear. When we’re misaligned, it leads to a bad play. When we’re lined up correctly, we have a chance,” North coach Logan Haston said. “That’s a big part of it this week, is lots of film study that we get lined up correctly. From there, we’ve got to tackle and get 11 guys to the football and get guys down. It’s something we’ve struggled with at times, is pursuing the football and making tackles. It’s been a huge point of emphasis this week.”
Meanwhile for the Olympians, after dominating the Hoosier Hills Conference for 15 years, this is second straight regular season they’ve finished below .500 and without at least a share of the HHC title.
The East offense has been inconsistent all season. In their wins, they’ve scored 41.75 points a game. In their losses, it’s a completely different picture, as they haven’t reached double digits in three of those five losses and averaged 7.6 points per game.
“It’s really about execution,” East coach Eddie Vogel said. “We played some pretty good defenses, as well. In some of those losses, teams have done a really good job defensively on us. It’s not just up front, it’s things from guys running routes and not getting open…
“For us, the mantra has been we’ve got to execute, and Bloomington South is really good defensively,” he added. “It’s going to be tough sledding. We know they’re physical and fast on defense. We’ve got to find ways to be able to move the chains and put some points on the board.”
North is the huge favorite going into tonight’s matchup at Jeffersonville. Haston said that in his opinion, the Red Devils are not a 1-7 team and can’t be taken lightly.
“When you watch them on film, they have a ton of athletes that could make some plays, so we‘ve got to be ready for it,” Haston said. “From a defensive standpoint, they like to send some pressure and get up in your face and challenge you. We‘ve got to have some answers for that. Then with their offense, their running back has been their guy, and they like to give him the ball. They’re also not afraid to sling it on first down, second down, third down, so we’ve got to be sure our secondary is ready to play.”
The Olympians will be the underdogs heading into their matchup with the Panthers.
“With them being favored, I would say the pressure is on them,” Vogel said. “We had a pretty good run over the last 20 years to where we felt that pressure at times. We felt like we were getting everybody’s best shot. What we’ve got to be able to do is go give Bloomington South the best version of Columbus East football as we can. If that’s good enough to win the game, that’s good enough to win the game. If it’s not, and they outplay us, they outplay us, but we’re going to try to put together our best version forward on Friday night against them.”
