JEFFERSONVILLE — Columbus East rebounded from a shutout loss at Bishop Chatard last week to capture a 27-7 Hoosier Hills Conference road victory over Jeffersonville on Friday night.
The Olympians (3-5, 3-2) put the pressure on the Red Devils on their opening possession by having many players involved in the drive. East slowly drove down the field, and capped it off with a 6-yard touchdown run from Tryce Villarreal to go ahead 7-0 following the point after from Nathaniel Hedrick.
After Jeffersonville punted on its opening possession, the Olympians quickly marched down the field again. Villarreal scored his second touchdown of the contest on a 7-yard run to increase the lead to 14-0.
The Red Devils had a better drive on their second possession, but then Chase Harrison intercepted a pass to put East in good field position. Unfortunately for the Olympians, they didn’t take advantage as a miscommunication in the backfield caused a fumble, and Jeffersonville recovered.
The Red Devils then took it down the field to a goal-to-go situation, but the East defense made the stops necessary to force a turnover on downs.
On the Olympians first possession of the second half, they drove the ball all the way into the red zone, but then the drive stalled, settling for a Hedrick 32-yard field goal to extend the lead to 17-0 with 6:50 left in the third quarter.
Villarreal put the stamp on the game late in the third quarter with his third rushing touchdown of the game to extend the lead to 24-0 with just over two minutes remaining. Hedrick then added his second field goal from 38-yards out with 4:30 remaining in the game to extend it to 27-0.
The Red Devils made sure the shutout didn’t happen when Cole Phillips threw a deep pass to Davarhy Julian for the 81-yard touchdown with about 2:20 left in the game.
Even though East got the victory, this is the first time since 2003 that it didn’t win the outright or a share of the conference title. New Albany defeated Seymour Friday night to pick up its fifth conference win.
The Olympians will look to keep the momentum going when they host Bedford North Lawrence in the regular season finale on Friday night.
