Keaton Lawson
Columbus East remains unbeaten in the Hoosier Hills Conference.
The Olympians got the lead early and never surrendered it to comfortably win 43-17 at New Albany Friday night.
East (3-2, 3-0) wasted no time striking first. On the opening kickoff, Keaton Lawson used his speed to run past the defense and take it 99 yards for a touchdown to lead 7-0 with only 14 seconds coming off the clock.
The Olympians couldn’t get anything going offensively in the first quarter as they failed to pick up a first down. New Albany took advantage when it went to the ground game as Jamal Chambers was untouched running from the left side for the 3-yard touchdown to tie it at 7-7 with 18 seconds left in the first quarter.
Thomas Houpey
East received a gift when a bad snap by the Bulldogs caused the ball to roll into the end zone for a safety to make it 9-7 early in the second quarter. On the ensuing possession, the Olympians used a more balanced attack to set themselves up with a goal-to-go situation. Thomas Houpey then took a direct snap and ran it eight yards for a touchdown to make it 16-7 after the point after was no good.
Costly penalties hurt East in the second quarter. New Albany gained several yards due to the Olympian miscues, and that led to a Henry Dixon field goal to make it 16-10. On the ensuing possession, Cam Herron brought East past midfield with a reception. A couple plays later, Houpey got some good blocking to find a hole and ran it all the way to the end zone for the 37-yard touchdown to make it 22-10 after the extra point try was no good.
After the Bulldogs punted, the Olympians picked up the pace as the first half was winding down. Lawson made a huge catch from quarterback Kyson Villarreal to make it to the 35-yard line. Jared Brooks then made the catch and picked up several yards after the catch to bring it to a another goal-to-go situation. Two plays later, Villarreal found Kamden Shelley for the 4-yard touchdown to make it 29-10 with 12 seconds left in the first half.
New Albany had great field position to start the second half. However, the Bulldogs couldn’t do anything with it. Faced with fourth down and good field position at the 34, New Albany decided to go for it. Brooks made them pay as he busted through the offensive line to come up with the tackle for the turnover on downs for East.
On the Olympians’ opening possession of the second half, they kept the momentum going. They drove it down the field, and Villarreal scrambled for a 10-yard touchdown to increase the lead to 36-10 with 4:55 left in the third quarter.
The Bulldogs scored on the first play of the fourth quarter to make it 36-17. East then chewed up over eight minutes off the clock until JD Rotert rushed it for a touchdown from two yards out with 3:21 left to play.
