Columbus North’s Davonte Degraffenreid, right, sprints away from Franklin Central’s Emauri Hines after intercepting a pass during an IHSAA sectional football game at Columbus North High School in Columbus, Ind., Friday, Nov. 1, 2024.
Mike Wolanin | The Republic
All season long, Columbus North has had little trouble taking care of the football and scoring in the red zone.
Friday night, the Class 6A No. 7 Bull Dogs were haunted by inability to do those things. Despite nearly doubling Franklin Central in total yards, it resulted in a 21-17 sectional semifinal loss.
“It’s a sick feeling,” North coach Logan Haston said. “We had opportunities to close out the game there and just didn’t get the job done. A lot of guys want to put the blame on themselves. I take full ownership of this. We have to be better. It’s a hard pill to swallow right now.”
Leading 17-7, the Bull Dogs (8-2) committed a pair of third-quarter turnovers that the Flashes (6-3) converted into touchdowns. A third North turnover, an interception in the end zone, came with just 41 seconds to play and looked like it would ice the game for Franklin Central.
But North had all three of its timeouts remaining and used two of them on Flashes runs on first and second downs. Then on third down, the Bull Dogs forced a fumble, and Anthony Portaluppi recovered at the 28 with 24 seconds remaining, giving North a second chance.
The Bull Dogs made it halfway to the end zone when Asher Ratliff hit Braylon Thoman for 14 yards to the 14. After an incomplete pass, North was whistled for a false start, moving it back to the 19. Ratliff then found Garrett Long in the end zone, but Long came down with his foot on the sideline with 5 seconds left. Franklin Central then sacked Ratliff to end it.
North jumped out to a 10-0 lead, scoring first when Mykel Jones took a reverse 34 yards for a touchdown. A Davante Degraffenried interception early in the second quarter led to a 39-yard field goal by Luke Friend.
The Flashes got on the board on a 7-yard run by Avery Allen with 3:19 left in the first half. After stopping the Bull Dogs, Franklin Central got it back deep in North territory, but missed a 35-yard field goal as time expired, leaving the score 10-7 at the half.
The Bull Dogs took the second half kickoff and needed only three plays to reach the end zone. A 53-yard pass from Ratliff to Gino Prescott set up a 20-yard scoring strike to Jordan Briner.
North got the ball back on an interception by Jackson Haston, but then fumbled on their first play. That set up a 1-yard run by Nathan Sparks that cut the lead to 17-14.
An interception on the next series led to a 5-yard touchdown pass from Nevan Tutterow to Emauri Hines that gave the Flashes their first lead of the game.
The Bull Dogs had the ball two more times in the third quarter, but did not manage a first down. They got it back at their own 27 with 5:20 remaining and marched to the Franklin Central 6 with about a minute left. But a sack and a false start pushed them back to the 20, and the Flashes intercepted a tipped pass in the end zone with 41 seconds remaining.
“We score right out of the locker room at halftime and then had a chance to score again, and then just a costly turnover killed the momentum for us, and they were able to capitalize on it,” Haston said. “Just uncharacteristic of our team. A lot of people took their turn making mistakes tonight, myself included, and it’s going to haunt us for awhile.”
Ratliff finished 18 of 30 for 235 yards with one touchdown and two interceptions and led North with 41 yards rushing on 15 carries. Prescott caught four passes for 100 yards, and Thoman added six catches for 84 yards.
The loss ends a big season for the Bull Dogs that included a Conference Indiana championship.
“I’m extremely proud of this group,” Haston said. “Tonight’s loss doesn’t change the fact that we’ve had a remarkable season. These seniors have nothing to be ashamed. I’m so proud of them just the way they’ve bought into us and this culture and just the way they play their hearts out. They have nothing to be ashamed of. It’s a great group, and we’re going to miss them for sure.”
Franklin Central 21, Columbus North 17
Franklin Central;0;7;14;0;—;21
Columbus North;7;3;7;0;—;17
CN — Mykel Jones 34 run (Luke Friend kick), 2:55.
CN — Friend 39 FG, 6:58.
FC — Avery Allen 7 run (Zachary Naessens kick), 3:19.
CN — Jordan Briner 20 pass from Asher Ratliff (Friend kick), 10:32.
FC — Nathan Sparks 1 run (Naessens kick), 8:26.
FC — Emauri Hines 5 pass from Nevan Tutterow (Naessens kick), 2:59.
Individual statistics
RUSHING — Franklin Central: Allen 13-53, Sparks 10-35, Rylan Brown-Echols 7-27, Hudson Moritz 4-14, Tutterow 3-(-4). Columbus North: Ratliff 15-41, Jones 2-26, Gino Prescott 11-9.
PASSING — Franklin Central: Tutterow 7 for 18, 42 yards, 1 touchdown, 2 interceptions. Columbus North: Ratliff 18-30-235-1-2.
RECEIVING — Franklin Central: Moritz 4-16, Damir Swanigan 1-14, Allen 1-7, Hines 1-5. Columbus North: Prescott 4-100, Braylon Thoman 6-84, Briner 3-28, Morgan Knapp 1-14, Jones 3-5, Sam Mormino 1-4.
