SEYMOUR — Columbus East scored touchdowns on its first two possessions to lead all the way and defeated Seymour 44-6 in a Hoosier Hills Conference game Friday night through a steady rain.
Jamon Hogan topped the Olympians attack with three touchdowns and 182 yards on 24 carries, and East won its 71st consecutive HHC game.
“Hogan is quick and slippery, and it being wet didn’t help out a whole a lot. He’s a very good tailback,” Seymour coach Mike Kelly said.
“I thought we were real consistent on a night like tonight,” East coach Bob Gaddis said. “The weather did not affect our play at all. I thought our kids played really well in spite of the conditions. You always worry about a big emotional game last week (a loss to Columbus North), but our kids bounced back and played really good football.”
The Olympians had 383 yards rushing.
“We ran it well,” Gaddis said. “That’s what we have to do, especially tonight. We told our kids before the game we’re built for this kind of weather. Everybody knows we want to run the football and have a high percentage pass. I thought we ran it pretty well. Seymour did a nice job defensively.”
After East (2-1, 1-0) forced the Owls (1-2, 0-2) to punt on their first possession, the Olympians marched 61 yards on nine plays and scored on quarterback Josh Major’s 6-yard run at 7:08.
Hogan, an Indiana Mr. Football candidate, scored twice in the first half — on a 15-yard run at 1:38 of the opening quarter and on a 2-yard run with 4:04 left in the second quarter.
The East defense forced Seymour’s third punt early in the second quarter, and Jaedin Miller topped off a seven-play, 58-yard drive with a 1-yard run.
The Owls were in punt formation deep in their own territory with 2:40 left in the half when the snap from center went over punter Jacob Rotert’s head, and he was tackled in the end zone for a safety.
Seymour was held to 23 yards of offense and two first downs in the first half.
The Olympians came out hot at the start of the second half and drove down and scored on a 1-yard run by Hogan with 10:47 on the clock.
The Owls began a drive at their own 37-yard line late in the fourth quarter and drove 63 yards in 10 plays, with Nathan O’Mara scoring a touchdown on a 2-yard run.
“We knew coming into the ballgame they are a good football team,” Kelly said of East. “They are a run-first team. They’re very good at what they do.”
O’Mara topped Seymour with 104 yards rushing on 26 carries and the one touchdown.
“East is a team that you can’t get behind on the sticks, and we found ourselves second and long and third and long way too much, and that’s not a position you can be in and sustain drives,” Kelly said. “We had plays where we took a playoff or had a setback, and East is not a team that you can have setbacks against. We just didn’t do things we needed to do offensively and defensively wrapping up and making tackles. We had them second and long a couple of times and third and long a couple of times, and they were able to pick up those first downs.”
