Columbus North’s Morgan Knapp goes airborne after a tackle by Columbus East’s Mykel Jones during a football game in Bob Gaddis Stadium at Columbus East High School in Columbus, Ind., Friday, Aug. 29, 2025.
Mike Wolanin | The Republic
After a first half that they said wasn’t up to their standard of football, Columbus North coach Logan Haston and his senior captains settled down some of the younger players at halftime Friday night at Columbus East.
The Class 6A No. 10 Bull Dogs then came out and put up four touchdowns in the third quarter to break open a close game and pull away for a 52-7 victory, the biggest margin in the series’ history.
“He let us know that it wasn’t our best half of football,” said North junior wide receiver Cohen Long, who had career-highs of five catches for 166 yards and a touchdown. “He told us to get right back on our game plan, stick to what we know, stick to our game and just play Bull Dog football.”
The Bull Dogs (2-0) led only 14-7 until Asher Ratliff hit Morgan Knapp for a 2-yard touchdown pass with 1 second left in the first half and went to the break with a 20-7 lead. They were plagued by 12 penalties for 120 yards in the opening half.
“It was just a little uncharacteristic of us in the first half, and we know in a rivalry game, that can happen,” Haston said. “Our jitters got to us a little bit, and we played a little sloppy, a little undisciplined on both sides of the ball and then we settled in at halftime. We have really good senior leadership in the locker room at halftime that calmed our guys back down, and then we came out the second half and executed.”
“He said, ‘Hey, it’s a clean slate. It’s a new game, 0-0,’” Ratliff said. “That’s what we say every game whether we’re down or up. It’s 0-0 going into the second half, and that’s how we approached it.”
Ratliff completed 22 of 29 passes for four touchdowns and a career-high 395 yards. Parker Elmore caught seven passes for 117 yards and ran for a score, and Jacob Rice caught four passes for 81 yards and a touchdown.
“Asher played lights out tonight, and I think he did a good job of taking what the defense was giving him,” Haston said. “They were doing a good job defending Parker Elmore and some other guys tonight, and that’s a big part of our offense.”
Long and Rice were filling a void left when senior Charlie Parsons, who had caught five passes for 93 yards in a season-opening 49-7 win against Whiteland, injured his collarbone in practice this week.
“The game plan going was just going in and playing Bull Dog football, and when everyone executes really well, that’s what happens,” Ratliff said. “We had some guys step up really big. We had an injury that really hurt us, Charlie Parsons, but we had guys step up in a big way, and it doesn’t work if our O-Line doesn’t work together, our receivers, everything.”
After a scoreless first quarter, North got on the board early in the second. A 32-yard pass from Ratliff to Elmore set up a 13-yard pass from Ratliff to Ezekiel Scruggs.
The Bull Dogs got the ball back at their own 16, and on the second play, Ratliff found Long behind the defense for a 78-yard score.
The Olympians (0-2), who had been stopped on downs at the North 11 on their first drive of the night, cashed in with 3:32 left in the first half when Keaton Lawson caught a pass from Kyson Villarreal over the middle, reversed field and raced to the end zone.
North then drove 81 yards in 16 plays, taking all but the final second off the clock. a 39-yard pass from Ratliff to Elmore set up the short TD toss to Knapp.
The Bull Dogs struck again after they got the ball to begin the third quarter. On the second play, Ratliff hit Long for 76 yards, and Scruggs took it the final three for the score.
“We game planned all week,” Long said. “We came into tonight knowing we were the better team. So really, we were just sticking to our game plan and executing at all levels. We had an ugly first half, but we came out in the second half, punched them right in the mouth and got right back on track.”
A 10-yard run by Elmore out of the Wildcat formation made it 33-7. Ratliff then hit Jacob Rice for a 25-yard score.
On East’s next play from scrimmage, Mykel Jones caught a pass in the flat, was hit by Koleton Sinnock and fumbled. Cornerback Davonte Degraffenried picked up the ball and raced 25 yards for a touchdown and a 46-7 lead, triggering a running clock.
The scoop-and-score was almost deja vu for Degraffenried, whose older brother Tyrrice had a scoop and score on a blocked field goal attempt in North’s win at East in 2023.
“My teammate got the hit, and the next thing you know, the ball is rolling,” Davonte Degraffenried said. “I pick it up, and it was a blessing to get a touchdown. Me and my brother have always been competitive, and I had to get one for him.”
The Bull Dogs final touchdown came on a 30-yard run by Scruggs in the fourth quarter.
“We got stopped there inside their 20 on fourth down,” East coach Eddie Vogel said. “We let them hit a couple of big plays on us, and we made a couple mental mistakes. I thought defensively, we played really well in that first half, with the exception of right there at the end of the half. Then, that third quarter just kind of snowballed on us a little bit.
“I think that first drive in the second half was the important one,” he added. “They popped a big play on us again, and really, that was kind of the tale of things — big plays, and that’s something we have to get cleaned up going into conference play.”
Villarreal finished 7 of 16 for 89 yards and a touchdown. Lawson caught two passes for 84 yards and the score.
“We had a bunch of errors and mess-ups, but at the end of the day, we still played like a team, and we got it done,” Degraffenried said.
“Hats’ off to our defense,” Haston added. “There was a lot pressure to not let them score, and then it happened, and we responded. We buckled down, and we fixed some things and I’m really proud of how our defense did after that.”
Columbus North 52, Columbus East 7
Columbus North;0;20;26;6;—;52
Columbus East;0;7;0;0;—;7
CN—Ezekiel Scruggs 13 pass from Asher Ratliff (Cole Stevens kick), 8:33.
CN—Cohen Long 78 pass from Ratliff (Stevens kick), 5:05.
CE—Keaton Lawson 40 pass from Kyson Villarreal (Skylar Bailey kick), 3:32.
CN—Morgan Knapp 2 pass from Ratliff (kick blocked), :01.
CN—E. Scruggs 3 run (Stevens kick), 10:59.
CN—Parker Elmore 10 run (kick blocked), 8:37.
CN—Jacob Rice 25 pass from Ratliff (Stevens kick), 4:31.
CN—Davonte Degraffenreid 25 fumble return (kick blocked), 4:15.
CN—E. Scruggs 30 run (kick failed), 7:15.
Individual statistics
RUSHING — Columbus North: E. Scruggs 10-62, James Scruggs 4-18, Elmore 2-10, Ratliff 9-(-11). Columbus East: JD Rotert 4-19, Keatin Roberts 4-19, Asher Scott 2-10, Kameron Combest 2-5, Villarreal 10-2, Cadyn Goodlow 2-1.
PASSING — Columbus North: Ratliff 22 for 29, 395 yards, 4 touchdowns, 0 interceptions. Columbus East: Villarreal 7-16-89-1-0, Combest 1-1-12-0-0.
RECEIVING — Columbus North: Long 5-166, Elmore 7-117, Rice 4-81, E. Scruggs 3-20, Knapp 3-11. Columbus East: Lawson 2-84, Paxton Thompson 1-12, Kanden Shelley 1-3, Mykel Jones 3-1, Rotert 1-1.
