Columbus North’s Braylon Thoman, right, makes a catch under pressure from Center Grove’s Brody Boswell in a sectional final football game at Columbus North High School in Columbus, Ind., Friday, Nov. 3, 2023.
Mike Wolanin | The Republic
Tyler Cherry and Center Grove showed in the first half Friday night why they are a solid bet to capture a fourth consecutive Class 6A state championship later this month.
Cherry, a Duke commit, competed 16 of 17 passes for 168 yards and two touchdowns in the first half, then joined the rest of the Trojan starters on the sidelines the final two quarters as they posted a 35-12 victory at Columbus North for their 13th consecutive sectional title.
“Hats’ off to them. They’re an incredible program,” North coach Logan Haston said. “Coach (Eric) Moore does a phenomenal job. They are who they are for a reason. They do things the right way. We knew we were going to have our hands full tonight, and while they were really good, we also did some things that hurt ourselves. That’s something that we have to learn from and grow in the offseason.”
To the Bull Dogs’ credit, they didn’t go quietly after falling behind 35-0 at halftime and facing a running clock in the second half. North (5-6) put up a pair of fourth quarter touchdowns — the first on a 3-yard-run by Gino Prescott and the second on a 22-yard pass from Asher Ratliff to tight end Elijah Smith — while holding 6A No. 2 Center Grove (10-1) scoreless in the final two quarters.
“It would have been very easy for our team to kind of just decide not to come out of the locker room the second half and fold, and we didn’t,” Haston said. “We continued to compete, and that’s been what our team has done a great job of all season — not backing down and continuing to fight all the way until the end — so I’m proud of them for that.”
After forcing a three-and-out on North’s first offensive series, the Trojans drove for the game’s first touchdown, an 8-yard pass from Cherry to Noah Coy. Then after forcing a fumble on the second play of the Bull Dogs’ next series, Matthew Yoder took it 10 yards for a 14-0 lead.
North then played its best football of the first half on the next exchange of series. The Bull Dogs picked up their first first down, but then turned it over on downs on a fake punt attempt. North then stopped Center Grove’s Austin Hennessy on a fourth-and-1 at the Bull Dog 39.
The Bull Dogs couldn’t do anything with it, however, and gave it back. Hennessy capped a drive with a 1-yard score. Cherry added a 1-yard sneak and then after converting a fourth-and-4 on its next series, Cherry hit Tristan Baxter for a 15-yard touchdown with 1:16 left in the first half.
Ratliff finished 12 of 23 for 132 yards with the touchdown and one interception. Braylon Thoman caught four passes for 55 yards.
“We’ve been a second half team all year,” Ratliff said. “We’ve played tough teams and came back in the second half all year. We’re a bunch of fighters. That comes from leadership. That comes from the way we practice and things like that. It’s nice to end on a high note like that and know what we need to do next year to get better and win these tough games.”
North will welcome back a big majority of the players who took the field on Friday. The Bull Dogs started only one senior on offense and three seniors on defense.
“We knew coming into the season that we were very young, and we knew that we were going to take some lumps with our young guys, but they were going to learn along the way and that’s exactly what’s happened,” Haston said. “We’ve seen it the latter part of the season. Our guys have continued to grow and mature, and going into the offseason, there’s a lot to build upon and we’re excited for the future.”
Center Grove 35, Columbus North 12
Center Grove;14;21;0;0;—;35
Columbus North;0;0;0;12;—;12
CG—Noah Coy 8 pass from Tyler Cherry (Tyler Schruben kick), 8:59.
CG—Matthew Yoder 10 run (Patrick Smith kick), 7:33.
CG—Austin Hennessy 1 run (Smith kick), 7:51.
CG—Cherry 1 run (Smith kick), 4:53.
CG—Tristan Baxter 15 pass from Cherry (Smith kick), 1:16.
CN—Gino Prescott 3 run (kick failed), 9:38.
CN—Elijah Smith 22 pass from Asher Ratliff (run failed), 6:19.
Individual statistics
RUSHING — Center Grove: Yoder 10-84, Hennessy 8-40, Drake McClurg 1-12, Coy 1-11, Nolan Rees 4-11, Cherry 1-1, Michael Linville 1-(-3). Columbus North: Prescott 9-27, Ratliff 9-5.
PASSING — Center Grove: Cherry 15 for 16, 168 yards, 2 touchdowns, 0 interceptions; Gabe McWilliams 6-7-74-0-0. Columbus North: Ratliff 12-23-132-1-1; Jayce Emmitt 0-1-0-0-0.
RECEIVING — Center Grove: Coy 9-98, Gannon Grant 4-56, Baxter 3-28, McClurg 1-27, Brevin Holubar 1-15, Smith 1-14, Dominick Berry 1-4, Yoder 1-0. Columbus North: Braylon Thoman 4-55, Charlie Parsons 3-25, Smith 1-22, Prescott 1-11, Garrett Long 1-6, Morgan Knapp 1-3, Jordan Briner 1-0.
