Keaton Lawson
FLOYDS KNOBS — Columbus East took a major step toward winning its first Hoosier Hills Conference football title since 2020 with a 34-14 win Saturday afternoon at Floyd Central.
The Olympians (4-2, 4-0) controlled the battle of the HHC unbeatens from the beginning in beating the Highlanders for the first time since 2021. The game had been postponed from Friday because of rain and wind.
“It was a big win for us,” East coach Eddie Vogel said. “It’s another step toward winning conference, which was our goal. I’m proud of our guys sticking with things and sticking with each other. We had a lot of adversity with the weather, and they handled it well and went down and beat a really good Floyd Central team.”
Keaton Lawson returned a punt 86 yards for a touchdown and ran an interception back 102 yards for a score. Quarterback Kyson Villarreal completed 6 of 11 passes for 81 yards and ran for 89 yards and two touchdowns.
Thomas Houpey
Thomas Houpey ran for 129 yards and the Olympians’ first score.
“We were able to run the football pretty well,” Vogel said. “Thomas ran the ball really well. We weren’t perfect, but we were able to convert when we needed to. Really, all three phases. I thought Cam Shelley did a good job flipping the field for us with punts. There were a couple of times we kind of let Floyd back in it, and we persevered, where a couple years ago, we might not have been able to do that.”
East, which has won four in a row, hosts a nonconference game against Bloomington North on Friday. The Olympians can wrap up at the HHC title with wins against Jeffersonville and at Bedford North Lawrence to close the regular season.
