Columbus East head coach Eddie Vogel gives instructions to his players on the first day of football practice Aug. 4 at Columbus East High School.
Mike Wolanin | The Republic
Columbus East ran the table in the Hoosier Hills Conference last football season and finished with a winning record for the first time since 2020, but the Olympians came away unsatisfied that they weren’t able to win any non-conference games.
That will be one of the goals for this year’s squad, beginning with Friday night’s season opener at Bloomington South. East hopes to improve on last year’s 6-4 record and win the conference again.
“That, and we want to win some non-conference games,” said Eddie Vogel, who enters his fifth year as head coach. “We didn’t win any non-conference games last year, so being able to go outside of the Hoosier Hills and win some games, we want to do that. Obviously, we want to compete against the crosstown guys, Columbus North, and then we want to be able to win some games in the tournament. I think we have a lot of potential and high expectations with this group, so we’re just going to keep plugging along week by week and try to get better and improve so that we’re playing our best at the end of the season.”
The Olympians return a formidable pass-catch combo in seniors and three-year starters Kyson Villarreal and Keaton Lawson. Villarreal completed 95 of 166 passes for 1,522 yards and 16 touchdowns, with Lawson catching 32 passes for 677 yards and seven scores.
Senior Kamden Shelley caught 16 passes for 152 yards and a touchdown, and junior tight end Paxton Thompson caught two passes for 34 yards. East added another weapon on the outside in senior Mykel Jones, a transfer from Columbus North.
Junior J.D. Rotert takes over as the lead running back this year after carrying 29 times for 85 yards and two touchdowns in a backup role. Senior Brody Miller, a three-year starter at linebacker, also will get some carries.
“If you want to be able to win in the tournament, you have to be able to run the football,” Vogel said. “I’ve been happy with how our run game is beginning to progress. Obviously, we have some talent on the outside, and we’re going to utilize Keaton as much as we can, but we have to be able to run the football, too, and I think we have some backs that can be home run hitters this year.”
The offensive line will be experienced with seniors Evan Simo and Gavin Gourley at tackle, senior Gabe Burton and junior Anthony Zhu at guard and junior Zander Taylor at center.
“All of those guys got significant time if they weren’t starters all of last year, so having those guys back is big,” Vogel said. “We have to be able to run the football. Those guys have gotten a lot stronger. We have a little bit more size in there this year. They’re put some beef on, so we’re excited about having those guys back and getting them in shape and getting them to be every-down guys and executing.”
Vogel, who was the Olympians’ defensive coordinator under longtime coach Bob Gaddis before taking over as head coach, switched to a 3-4 defense last year. He’ll use that again this year, with Gavin Gourley and junior Ethan Gilley returning and sophomore Cayden Smith stepping in at nose tackle. Junior Tucker Gourley also will see action on the line.
Brody Miller and Christian Austin return at outside linebacker. Juniors Adam Dye and Greg Craft step in at middle linebacker. Senior Bige Asher and junior Clayton Miller also will see action at linebacker.
Jones and senior Blake Moss will be the cornerbacks. Junior Dallas Dykstra, senior Joel Murphy and Lawson, who led the team with four interceptions, will play safety.
“We have a lot of guys that have some experience back on that side of the ball, along with some new faces,” Vogel said. “We’re expecting big things out of those guys, as well. The second year running the “34,” we’ll be better at it.”
Shelley was named the Class 5A preseason All-State punter by Indiana Football Digest. Senior kicker Skylar Bailey is returning from an injury that sidelined him last season. Senior Aarav Nihalini, a converted soccer player, or sophomore Jackson Miller will kick off.
Vogel had a chance to see his team in action when it scrimmaged Whiteland Friday. Both teams finished with four touchdowns during the three sessions in which their varsity players were on the field.
“One of our goals after getting beat by Franklin last year in the sectional, we knew we needed to get stronger, we needed to get faster in the offseason,” Vogel said. “That was kind of our emphasis, and I think we’ve done that. We have a lot of guys back, so our expecations are high.
“We’ve had a good summer and a good two weeks of practice and it’s always great when you get a chance to go against a quality team like Whiteland and you get to kind of measure where we’re at,” he added. “We have a lot to fix, but I’m happy with the effort we got tonight, and we’re going to do what we can to get ready for B-South.”
