Columbus East’s Jaxson Siegman heads upfield against Floyd Central Sam Lockhart (8) and Cole Simpson (64) Friday at Columbus East High School.
The Republic file photo
The task doesn’t get any easier for Columbus East this week.
A week after falling to Class 5A then-No. 9 Floyd Central, the Olympians will visit the No. 1 team in 5A on Friday when they travel to undefeated Bloomington North.
“It’s going to be a big challenge,” East coach Eddie Vogel said. “We played Bloomington North last year and actually played them pretty tough in the first half. We struggled moving the football against them last year, so that’s something we’re trying to remedy this week since we didn’t move it very well against Floyd. We’re going to have to be able to play complementary football and move the chains and put some points on the board.”
The Olympians (2-4) had less than 160 yards of offense in the 28-3 loss to the Highlanders, who snapped East’s two-game winning streak.
“We were definitely disappointed with the outcome,” Vogel said. “I don’t think we had as good a week of practice as we had the weeks before that, and I think the mistakes that we made in practice were the same ones that we made against Floyd Central. Some of that is a credit to Floyd Central. They’re a good football team, but I was disappointed, and our players and our team were disappointed in our performance.”
East sophomore Kyson Villarreal has completed 43 of 81 passes for 505 yards and three touchdowns and carried 79 times for 518 yards and four scores. Senior Tyler Weller has 80 carries for 484 yards and seven touchdowns, and sophomore Keaton Lawson has 17 catches for 245 yards and two scores.
Bloomington North (6-0) features a Division I tight end in senior Marshall recruit Aidan Stenfeldt, who has 28 catches for 357 yards and six touchdowns. Junior Dash King has completed 87 of 132 passes for 1,169 yards and 13 scores and has carried 50 times for 186 yards and five touchdowns. Senior Kijuan Hayes has carried 57 times for 345 yards and three scores.
“They’re not only really good defensively, they have some studs on offense, as well, and they’re very talented,” Vogel said. “They have some talented kids on offense. Their line comes off well. They do a good job not only run blocking, but pass (protection), and they have some athletes that can catch it and the big tight end. He’s like an offensive tackle out there catching it. He can run and has great ball skills and can do something with it after he catches it. So it’s going to be a challenge for us. I think our guys are hungry to improve.”
