Columbus East’s Christian Austin (4) and Jared Brooks (0) bring down Bloomington North’s Dash King during Friday’s game at Stafford Field at Columbus East High School.
Tommy Walker | For The Republic
Columbus East’s near-miss upset of Class 5A No. 4 Bloomington North on Friday night came down to the Olympians’ inability to stop the Cougars on third and fourth down.
Bloomington North was 13 for 19 on third down and 3 for 3 on fourth down, and that was the difference in the Cougars spoiling East’s homecoming with a 28-20 victory.
The Olympians (4-3) were able to stay in the game with Bloomington North (6-1), thanks to a solid offensive performance. The game was tied 7-7 at halftime after Thomas Houpey ran 7 yards for a score, and the Cougars missed a 46-yard field goal just before halftime.
Bloomington North, which had gone 99 yards to score its first touchdown following an interception at the 1-yard line, took the second half kickoff and drove for another score to take the lead for good. Then, after the Cougars stopped Houpey inches short on fourth-and-one at the Bloomington North 35, they drove for another touchdown and a 21-7 lead.
East got back within a score after a 27-yard pass from Kyson Villarreal to Jared Brooks with 7:42 left in the game. It looked like the Olympians might get the ball back with a chance to tie when they had the Cougars third-and-8 at their own 31, but Dash King found a wide-open Jorian Brooks behind the defense for a 69-yard score and a 28-14 lead.
East came right back with a 16-yard touchdown pass from Villarreal to Keaton Lawson to cut the lead to 28-20 with 5:09 remaining. But Bloomington North was able to eat up the rest of the clock.
King finished 13 of 19 passing for 243 yards and carried 22 times for 63 yards and three touchdowns.
“(Third and fourth down) absolutely killed us,” East coach Eddie Vogel said. “We were awful defensively tonight on third down. Part of that is them. Dash is an unreal athlete back there, and we had a lot of trouble last year really being able to contain him, and they have some good receivers and they’re just a good football team. We did enough to get them stopped a few times, but it wasn’t enough. They completed a couple long ones there on us, and that was really the difference in the game. and then us not getting it in the first half when we threw the interception down on the goal line. There were a couple big plays in that game that turned some things around, and we didn’t make enough of them.”
Villarreal went 9 of 16 for 155 yards and two touchdowns passing and led the Olympians with 79 yards on 13 carries. Houpey ran for 74 yards on 13 carries, and Jared Brooks caught five passes for 74 yards.
“We’re getting better,” Vogel said. “We’re doing what we need to do, and I think we built on really the last four weeks. Guys have bought into what we’re doing, and have bought into each other, and that’s kind of the turnaround. We have to continue to build on that. We have two big conference games to end our season, and then we have sectional, so we have a lot to play for.”
East can clinch at least a tie for the Hoosier Hills Conference title with a win against Jeffersonville next week or at Bedford North Lawrence the following week. They can claim the outright title with wins in both.
“We have the opportunity to win the HHC, which we’ve not done the last three years,” Vogel said. “Our kids have a lot to play for, and I think they have some confidence knowing that they can play with people.”
Bloomington North 28, Columbus East 20
Bloomington North;0;7;14;7;—28
Columbus East;0;0;0;13;—20
BN — Dash King 2 run (Joe Luther kick), 10:21.
CE — Thomas Houpey 7 run (Skylar Bailey kick), 8:04.
BN — King 2 run (Luther kick), 9:27.
BN — King 1 run (Luther kick), 3:54.
CE — Jared Brooks 27 pass from Kyson Villarreal (Bailey kick), 7:42
BN — Jorian Brooks 69 pass from King (Luther kick), 6:14.
CE — Keaton Lawson 16 pass from Villarreal (kick blocked), 5:09.
Individual statistics
RUSHING — Bloomington North: King 22-63, Shaun Cooper 19-53, Noah Ferree 12-41, Ross Ogden 1-36, Brooks 3-1. Columbus East: Villarreal 13-79, Houpey 13-74.
PASSING — Bloomington North: King 13 for 19, 243 yards, 1 touchdown, 1 interception; Brooks 0-1-0-0-0. Columbus East: Villarreal 9-16-155-2-1.
ECEIVING — Bloomington North: Brooks 8-135, Jalen Williams 2-49, Ferree 1-37, Hunter Chitwood 3-22. Columbus East: Brooks 5-74, Cam Herron 2-62, Lawson 1-16, Kamden Shelley 1-3.
