Kyson Villarreal
Columbus East is back on top of the Hoosier Hills conference.
The Olympians wasted no time in claiming the outright conference football title with a 44-7 victory at Bedford North Lawrence on Friday night.
After East (6-3, 6-0) turned the ball over with a fumble on its opening possession, it got on the scoreboard on its next possession. The Olympians got the ball just past midfield, and then on the next play, Keaton Lawson received a pitch and ran it for a 49-yard touchdown to make it 7-0 with 7:06 left in the first quarter.
Keaton Lawson
A couple of possessions later, East doubled the lead. Lawson caught a 23-yard pass to bring it to the 7-yard line. On the next play, quarterback Kyson Villarreal found Cam Herron for a 7-yard score to make it 14-0 with 45 seconds left in the first.
After the Stars (1-8, 1-5) punted on the ensuing possession, it only took a couple plays for the Olympians to find the end zone. Lawson scored his second touchdown of the game when Villarreal found him for a 75-yard touchdown to increase the lead to 21-0 with 10:07 left in the first half.
BNL got one back on the ensuing possession when quarterback Dayson Kirby ran past the East defenders for a touchdown to the deficit to 21-7.
East got it back on the ensuing possession. The Olympians marched down the field to set up a 4-yard run by Thomas Houpey, who took it to the end zone to make it 28-7 with 2:54 left in the half.
East had to punt on its first possession of the second half to pin the Stars deep in their own territory. They looked to get out of trouble with a big 40-yard play, but a holding penalty in the end zone resulted in a safety to give the Olympians a 30-7 lead with 7:49 left in the third quarter.
On the ensuing possession, East had short field position and took advantage. The Olympians charged down the field, and Villarreal found Jared Brooks for 1-yard score to make it 37-7 with 3:14 left in the third.
On the next East possession, it drove down the field and then started subbing out some out the starters. Backup quarterback James Scruggs found the end zone to trigger a running clock midway through the fourth.
The Olympians will play again Nov. 1 when they host Franklin in a Class 5A sectional semifinal game.
