Columbus East’s Keaton Lawson, left, catches a pass while covered by Seymour’s Devon Jackson during a game at Columbus East High School in Columbus, Ind., Friday, Sept. 6, 2024.
The Republic file photo
Columbus North will look to continue its fast start to the season against perennial power Roncalli, while Columbus East looks to build on its first win of the year when it hosts a young Jennings County team.
The Bull Dogs are off to their first 3-0 start since 2018. They beat Roncalli the first two years of the series in 2018 and 2019, but the Royals have won the past four meetings between the two schools.
“We know that we’re very pleased with where we are as a program, but the competition level is about to elevate,” North coach Logan Haston said. “We know we have our hands full. They’re a very disciplined team. We’re going to have our hands full, but we’re excited to prove to a lot of people what we can do.”
Columbus North’s Mykel Jones (18), Sam Perry (25) and Jackson Haston (4) tackle Columbus East’s Keaton Lawson during the annual rivalry football game between the two schools at Columbus North High School in Columbus, Ind., Friday, Aug. 30, 2024.
The Republic file photo
The Bull Dogs are coming off a 45-14 win at Southport, a team that Roncalli beat 37-13 to open the season. The Royals, who fell to Class 4A No. 2 Bishop Chatard 9-3 last week, are led by Roncalli senior Jayden Buchanan has completed 28 of 48 passes for 398 yards and four touchdowns. Junior Zach Dozier has carried 18 times for 114 yards and four scores.
North junior Asher Ratliff has completed 44 of 70 passes for 542 yards and seven touchdowns and ran 32 times for 228 yards and three scores. Senior Gino Prescott has carried 42 times for 294 yards and six touchdowns, and senior Braylon Thoman has 16 catches for 245 yards and four scores.
Thoman, however, sustained an elbow injury in Friday’s win at Southport and will be out for about four weeks.
“He’s a huge component of what we’re able to accomplish,” Haston said. “I know he’ll lead in other ways. I’m excited to see what our other guys can do.”
East (1-2), meanwhile, is coming off its first win of the season, a 30-14 victory against Seymour. Jennings County is 0-3 following a 33-7 loss to New Albany.
Olympian junior Kyson Villarreal has completed 29 of 57 passes for 426 yards and four touchdowns and ran 28 times for 105 yards and a score. Senior Thomas Houpey has carried 22 times for 107 yards, and junior Keaton Lawson has 13 catches for 231 yards and two touchdowns.
“We’re really still a pretty young football team, so we have to keep getting better week-in-and-week-out, and really for us, last week and this week is really about us and about trying to go 1-0 again this week and doing the things that we need to do and improvements we need to make on offense, defense and special teams to win conference,” East coach Eddie Vogel said. “It’s really about us trying to execute and continue to improve, and the score hopefully will take care of itself. We’re just going to try get better this week and come out and play Friday night and kids of see where we stand and what we need to improve on and keep moving forward.”
Jennings junior Nathan Harrison has completed 19 of 43 passes for 199 yards and two touchdowns, but was injured in Friday’s loss to New Albany. If he can’t go against East, it would be freshman Brady Franks, who took over in last week’s game.
Another freshman, Cameron Patterson, leads the Panthers in rushing with 100 yards on 42 carries. Juniors Braxton McCory and junior Sam Hernandez each had 88 yards receiving.
“Watching them on film, they’ve kind of struggled, but they have some good players,” Vogel said. “There’s some guys that stand out on defense that I feel like could play for anybody. They have some nice players. They practice, and they’re going to come out and give us a good game, and we respect all of our opponents. We’re not preparing any different for anybody.”
