Columbus North’s Evan Saevre celebrates after sacking Bloomington North quarterback Dash King in the first quarter of a football game at Columbus North High School in Columbus, Ind., Friday, Oct. 11, 2024. Saevre later stopped King on a 2-point conversion attempt in the second overtime to preserve the Bull Dogs’ 35-34 win.
Mike Wolanin | The Republic
Prior to Friday night’s showdown for the Conference Indiana football title, Columbus North coach Logan Haston told his team it was going to be memorable.
The Class 6A co-No. 8 Bull Dogs then went out and proved their coach prophetic. They rallied from a 14-point deficit to force overtime, then stopped a Bloomington North 2-point conversion attempt in the second overtime to pull out a 35-34 senior night victory and clinch at least a share of the conference title.
“What I told our guys before the game was that this game was going to be memorable one way or another,” Haston said. “We have 25 seniors and laid it all on the line for a conference title. So I think it lived up to the hype about making this a memorable one.”
Things looked bleak for Columbus North (7-1, 4-0) when they faced a third-and-goal from the 21, trailing 21-14 with less than a minute left in regulation and a hobbled Asher Ratliff at quarterback. But Ratliff found Morgan Knapp for 11 yards to set up fourth-and-goal from the 10, then hit Garrett Long in the end zone with 45 seconds remaining. Luke Friend’s extra point tied it.
“We had this play drew up all week, and last week,” said Long, who caught seven passes for 102 yards. “We needed a time to use it, so (Haston) thought that was the perfect time to use it.”
After the 5A No. 5 Cougars (6-2, 3-1) scored on the first series of overtime, the Bull Dogs again faced fourth-and-long looking for the tying score. This time, they got a pass interference call in the end zone, setting up fourth-and-goal from the 4. Ratliff then hit Braylon Thoman, and Friend’s extra point sent it to a second overtime.
“It’s tough down there when you get tight to the red zone,” Haston said. “Everything is compressed, so the quarterback has to be accurate. You can’t hesitate at all. He has to throw to his big targets, and Asher did a great job with poise down there in the red zone, and our guys made plays like they always do.”
Columbus North got it first in the second OT and scored on a 2-yard run by Gino Prescott to take its first lead of the game. Bloomington North quarterback Dash King ran 10 yards on the first play to bring the Cougars within a point.
Bloomington North coach Anthony Lindsey opted to go for 2. But King’s quarterback draw was stopped at the line of scrimmage by a host of Bull Dogs, led by defensive end Evan Saevre.
“Dash is definitely a great runner, and we knew they were going to put the ball in their best player’s hands,” said Saevre, who ranks second in the state in sacks and had two more sacks on Friday. “He placed his hands weird everytime he caught the ball (in the shotgun), so we caught onto it and got ahold of it. It feels amazing bringing back conference to Columbus North where it belongs.”
The Bull Dogs didn’t have the greatest start to the game. After forcing a missed field goal on the Cougars’ first offensive possession, Bloomington North drove for touchdowns on its next two drives, both on passes from King to 6-foot-5 receiver Jalen Williams.
Columbus North got on the board late in the first half on a 17-yard pass from Ratliff to Jordan Briner. But the extra point was blocked, leaving the score 14-6 at halftime.
The Bull Dogs got the ball to start the second half and drove for a 5-yard touchdown run from Prescott. They ran a trick play for the 2-point conversion, and Thoman threw to Ratliff in the end zone. Ratliff caught the ball, but came up limping and had to be helped off the field.
Ratliff returned on the next series, but his mobility was limited, and keeping the ball to run it himself was no longer an option.
“We have great athletic trainers here, and I just got it taped up and told coach I need to chill out on some plays,” Ratliff said. “We decided to change the offense a little bit and throw the ball. Our O-line got got push, our running back ran the ball and everybody did their job.”
Bloomington North regained the lead on a 4-yard run by King with 5:42 left in the game. Columbus North then went three-and-out and had to punt, but then the Bull Dog defense forced a three-and-out to get it back.
Columbus North took over at its own 19 with 2:57 remaining before going 81 yards in nine plays to tie the game and send it to overtime.
“That’s what we rep,” Ratliff said. “We rep to battle adversity, and once we got everything going and everything jelled, we talked about doing your 1/11th, and everybody was doing their job. It makes my job easy when everything is open like that.”
“It’s extremely nerve-racking,” Haston added. “There were multiple times where I thought I may need to go over to the trash can and throw up because I was so nervous. But our guys were just so locked in. The game didn’t start the way we wanted it to, but they’re just resilient. I told them I don’t know if we win that game a year ago. Because of the growth and the maturity of this team, they found a way to win. The leadership on this team is just remarkable.”
King finished 13 of 26 for 156 yards and three touchdowns and led the Cougars with 18 carries for 64 yards.
Ratliff went 20 of 30 for 221 yards and three scores for the Bull Dogs. Prescott carried 23 times for 163 yards and two touchdowns.
“It was great,” Prescott said. “We fought to the end. We worked all year for moments like this. Coach prepared us for this. To end my career on Max Andress (Field) like this, I couldn’t ask for a better game than this.”
“It means the world to me,” Long added. “That’s the most exciting game anybody on this team has ever played in. It means so much to these seniors. People don’t see how much work we put in behind the scenes. We practice every day, three hours a day. Offseason, we practice every-other-day. Coaches are putting us through everything to prepare for moments like this. If our coaches didn’t push in practice, then we wouldn’t be prepared to do this.”
Columbus North 35, Bloomington North 34 (2 OT)
Bloomington North;7;7;0;7;7;6;—;34
Columbus North;0;6;8;7;7;7;—;35
BN — Jalen Williams 4 pass from Dash King (Joe Luther kick), :50.
BN —Williams 15 pass from King (Luther kick), 9:43.
CN — Jordan Briner 17 pass from Asher Ratliff (kick blocked), 3:54.
CN — Gino Prescott 5 run (Ratliff pass from Braylon Thoman), 7:19.
BN — King 4 run (Luther kick), 5:42.
CN — Garrett Long 10 pass from Ratliff (Luke Friend kick), :41.
BN — Williams 9 pass from King (Luther kick).
CN — Thoman 4 pass from Ratliff (Friend kick).
CN — Prescott 2 run (Friend kick).
BN — King 10 run (run failed).
Individual statistics
RUSHING — Bloomington North: King 18-64, Noah Ferree 11-56, Shaun Cooper 7-19, Jorian Brooks 2-2. Columbus North: Prescott 23-163, Dumo Kak 1-1, Briner 1-1, Sam Mormino 1-1, Long 1-1, Thoman 1-(-12), Ratliff 7-(-16).
PASSING — Bloomington North: King 13 for 26, 156 yards, 3 touchdowns, 1 interception. Columbus North: Ratliff 20-30-221-3-1.
RECEIVING — Bloomington North: Williams 4-70, Brooks 4-45, Cooper 3-31, Hunter Chitwood 1-11, Ferree 1-(-1). Columbus North: Long 7-102, Briner 4-42, Thoman 4-35, Prescott 3-28, Morgan Knapp 1-11, Mormino 1-3.
