By Bubba Harnist
Staff Writer
COLUMBUS â??? The gash on the chin of Columbus
East senior quarterback Drew Kiel wasnâ??t pretty. Despite the cut and a sore
knee from a relentless Columbus North defense, however, Kiel was feeling pretty good Aug. 25 after
his team had knocked off rival North, 15-13.
The win
was the third in a row for the Olympians over the Bull Dogs.
â??It (the
win) feels great,â? said Kiel,
who threw for 258 yards and one touchdown. â??I canâ??t explain the feeling right
now.
â??I have a
little gash under my chin and a little knee injury, which hopefully isnâ??t too
bad. Right now itâ??s just really emotional. It feels really good to get another
win against Columbus North.â?
The
Olympians went to work on their second possession, taking over at their own 26-yard
line after a North punt. From there, Kiel
marched them down the field, capping the eight-play drive with a 20-yard
touchdown pass to senior Josh Burris. A high snap foiled the extra point, so
East led 6-0 with 1:55 left in the first quarter.
While the
East offense was able to find the end zone, the North offense was struggling,
getting only one first down in the first quarter.
â??I thought
our defense played hard against the run,â? said Columbus East coach Bob Gaddis. â??North
has a good offensive line and good running back. I thought our defense stood in
there very well.â?
With the O
defense doing its part, it was time for the offense to reciprocate. The next
score for East came on its last possession of the half. Starting at the North
25 after an interception by Zach Burbrink, it took East five plays to find
paydirt.
The key
play of the drive came on 4th-and-13 from the 28 when Kiel hit senior Jordan
Bunch for a 27-yard pass that got the ball to the 1. Junior Cory McGrady ran it
in on the next play but the two-point conversion failed, giving East a 12-0
lead just ahead of the half.
North
responded â??? itâ??s what teams do in huge rivalry games. With only 33 seconds
left, North got the ball back at its own 38 and went to work. A pass
interference call with :08 to go set up 1st and 10 at the East 22. On
the next play, North junior quarterback Mike Hladik connected with senior
Brandon Butler for a touchdown pass with only 2.2 seconds left.
Fittingly,
the extra point was blocked, so intermission came with East leading 12-6.
The
Olympians regained control on the second play of their second possession when Kiel hit senior Eric
Grider with a 26-yard pass to move into North territory. Two plays later, a
38-yard pass to senior Jordan Bunch got East into the red zone.
â??We knew
we were going to have to air it out to win the football game,â? Gaddis said. â??That
was our game plan going in. Drew made some good throws, and we had some kids
make some good catches.
â??Drew is
just a heck of a competitor. I donâ??t think there was any way he was going to
come out of this game. He is beat up and will be pretty sore tomorrow.â?
The drive
stalled, however, and East settled for a 25-yard field goal from senior Cameron
Stone to go up 15-6.
After
exchanging possessions, North got the ball back at its own 25 with 10.9 seconds
left in the third. On the driveâ??s eighth play, Hladik scrambled to his left and
lofted a pass to an open Dustin Michael in the end zone. And a good thing
suddenly turned bad.
The throw
was short, and the Bull Dogs had to settle for a 43-yard field goal. But the
kick was blocked, and North had blown a golden shot to get back in the game with
just 8:03 to go.
Although East
was forced to punt on its next possession, the Oâ??s were successful in eating up
nearly four minutes of clock.
After a
nice punt return, North took over at the East 43 with 4:17 left. After a
questionable pass interference call, North junior Keaton Shoultz fumbled on the
next play. East sophomore Andrew Brougher recovered, sealing the deal for the
Olympians.
All that
remained was a North 15-yard touchdown pass from Hladik to Butler with 24.4 seconds left, the
extra-point kick making the final 15-13. After a failed onside kick, Kiel took a knee, and
East had its third straight victory over rival North.
â??Defense
was the key tonight,â? Gaddis said. â??I donâ??t know how many yards their tailback
had, but I thought we did a good job containing him. I thought the defense set
the tone.
â??We kind
of fell back a couple times, but we made them earn everything in the running
game. I couldnâ??t be more proud of our effort.â?
Kiel added that the Olympiansâ?? defense
â??made huge plays down the stretch. Whenever North got into our territory, our
defense just held and did great.â?
Itâ??s now
on to conference play for both these teams in Week 3.
Columbus
North opens Conference Indiana
play when they travel to Bloomington North Sept. 1 to take on the Cougars. Columbus
East opens Hoosier Hills conference play next week with a home game against Seymour, which knocked
off the Olympians in the sectional opener last year and ended their perfect
season.
â??I can
tell you there are a lot of good teams in our conference,â? Gaddis said. â??Its
going to take this kind of emotional effort like we got tonight to win our
league, because everyone is going to be gunning for us.â?
NOTE: How big is the Seymour-Columbus
East game? By HoosierAuthority.com standards, itâ??s very big â??? so big that weâ??re sending our Fan Wagon and plenty of
staff next Friday. Kickoff is scheduled for 7 p.m., so if youâ??re in the area, swing
by and visit us at the RV!
So what do you think? Share your thoughts in our
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