Columbus North’s Gino Prescott (0) scores a touchdown as he is tackles by Columbus East’s Joel Murphy (5) during the annual rivalry football game between the two schools at Columbus North Friday, Aug. 30, 2024.
Mike Wolanin | The Republic
Columbus East struck a big blow early Friday night when Jared Brooks intercepted a pass and returned it 50 yards into Columbus North territory.
After that, it was all Bull Dogs.
North built a 35-0 halftime lead and went on to post a 42-0 victory for their fourth consecutive victory and second straight shutout in the crosstown rivalry series.
“Honestly, it starts with our defense tonight,” North coach Logan Haston said. “They played lights out. We gave them some short fields there, and our defense didn’t buckle. They brought the energy and brought the juice. Anytime you pitch a shutout, you should be proud of it, and I’m really proud of those guys tonight.”
The Bull Dogs (2-0) outgained the Olympians (0-2) 470-59, including 423-25 in the first half. The score was the most lopsided in the series’ 54-game history, which North now leads 29-25.
Junior quarterback Asher Ratliff bounced back from the interception on the first series — as well as another interception to East’s Zach Foster on the first play of the second quarter — to complete 11 of 17 passes for 166 yards and two touchdowns. He also led North in rushing with nine carries for 135 yards and two scores.
“I finished out the way we wanted to,” Ratliff said. “We coach adversity. We teach adversity. We’re persistent. Once we catch our wind, we’re hard to stop, and we’re going to keep scoring. Our run game was pretty good at the start, and the more we got going, our passing came along. I felt like all 11 guys did their jobs, just working together as a cohesive unit like we’ve been working on.”
Ratliff’s first touchdown run was a 73-yard keeper in which he broke a couple of tackles downfield.
“We made it easy on them by not tackling,” East coach Eddie Vogel said. “I stopped counting the number of missed tackles. We had them dead-to-rights a few times and just didn’t tackle. Some of that is a strength thing. We’re going to have to get strong and get in the weight room.”
Gino Prescott added 16 carries for 132 yards and a touchdown for the Bull Dogs. Braylon Thoman caught three passes for 58 yards and two scores.
“We felt good all night,” Thoman said. “It all starts with practice. Coach didn’t think we had that good of a practice. We just ran the ball, and East couldn’t stop it, so we just kept on doing it. The more you run, the more the passes open up.”
Sam Mormino scored North’s final touchdown on a 14-yard run in the third quarter. The Bull Dogs did not punt until their JV offense was in for their final possession of the game.
“Offensively, it was kind of sloppy at times, especially early in the game, but once we settled in and started playing our brand of football, it was pretty good,” Haston said. “We had a mixture of run and pass, and that’s when we’re at our best, and Asher did a great job tonight of tucking and running at times and getting some yards on the ground, so I’m really proud of him.”
Garrett Long led North in receiving with two catches for 68 yards. He also spearheaded the defensive effort with 2 1/2 sacks.
“Our defense as a whole played absolutely amazing,” Long said. “Every pass, we were getting someone in the backfield. We know their quarterback (Kyson Villarreal) is hurting after that one. We got a hit on them almost every play.”
Luke Friend was 6 for 6 on extra points for the Bull Dogs.
“Two weeks in a row, we were really proud about how we were able to execute all three phases of the game,” Haston said.
Villarreal led the Olympians in rushing with 16 carries for 26 yards. Under heavy pressure all night, he completed just 3 of 16 passes for 16 yards.
East had the ball at the North 39 following Brooks’ interception and return, but on fourth-and-2, Villarreal fumbled trying to stretch for the first down, and the Bull Dogs’ Davonte Degraffenreid recovered. The Olympians had it at the North 27 trailing 14-0 after Foster’s pick, his second in as many weeks. East moved it to the 19, but three consecutive incompletions and a sack by Long and Jose Ramirez gave it back to the Bull Dogs.
“We couldn’t punch it in the end zone,” Vogel said. “But it was a lot of things. It wasn’t one side of the ball. We couldn’t really get them stopped and get off the field. We had them in some third-and-longs, and we had some situations to get off the field and didn’t covert, and then offensively, we really couldn’t get anything going.”
Columbus North 42, Columbus East 0
Columbus East;0;0;0;0;—;0
Columbus North;14;21;7;0;—;42
CN — Braylon Thoman 7 pass from Asher Ratliff (Luke Friend kick), 5:45.
CN — Ratliff 73 run (Friend kick), 2:20.
CN — Thoman 30 pass from Ratliff (Friend kick), 9:31.
CN — Gino Prescott 8 run (Friend kick), 6:08.
CN — Ratliff 8 run (Friend kick), :46.
CN — Sam Mormino 14 run (Friend kick), 3:13.
Individual statistics
RUSHING — Columbus East: Kyson Villarreal 16-26, Thomas Houpey 4-12, James Scruggs 1-5, JD Rotert 1-2, Brody Miller 1-0, Jake Pope 1-(-2). Columbus North: Ratliff 9-135, Prescott 16-132, Mormino 3-22, Thoman 1-11, Josuan Padilla 3-4.
PASSING — Columbus East: Villarreal 3 for 16, 16 yards, 0 touchdowns, 0 interceptions. Columbus North: Ratliff 11-17-166-2-2, Thoman 0-1-0-0-0.
RECEIVING — Columbus East: Kamden Shelley 1-12, Keaton Lawson 2-4. Columbus North: Garrett Long 2-68, Thoman 3-58, Prescott 3-23, Mormino 1-9, Owie Kibler 1-7, Jordan Briner 1-1.
