By Justin Sokeland
WBIW.com
BEDFORD – To the selfish victors, go the spoils.
Columbus East, which ruled the Hoosier Hills Conference in perpetuity at one point, completed its return to glory. After a four-year exile from the throne, the former ruler has reclaimed the kingdom, unwilling to share any of the title.
The Olympians finished their perfect run through the league, overpowering Bedford North Lawrence 44-7 in the regular-season finale on Friday night. Kyson Villarreal threw three touchdown passes as East (6-3 overall) won the outright conference championship, posing for an earned team photo on foreign turf after thumping the Stars (1-8) into mercy-rule submission.
Only time will tell if this was the start of another East dynasty. The rest of the league should shudder at that thought. The Olympians were brutal and ruthless while winning 96 consecutive league games and 17 straight titles before faltering. Now they are the Terminators once again. They’re back.
The Stars, celebrating their Senior Night, had a chance to play spoiler and force East to share the crown, but the Olympians would have none of that scenario. Even as obvious favorites, they were not overlooking the last obstacle in their destructive path.
“We wanted to be selfish,” East coach Eddie Vogel said. “We wanted it to ourselves. It’s been four years. It’s taken a while to get there, but it’s good to be back.”
How did they get back on top? The same way they reached the summit the first time – strength. While Villarreal was firing touchdown passes to command the spotlight, the real difference was up front. East pounded out 215 rushing yards, with Thomas Houpey totaling 103, while the Stars were limited to 34 yards on the ground (and 33 of those came during the last series).
“We couldn’t run the ball at all, that was the biggest problem,” BNL coach Derrick Barker said. “It comes down to they are just bigger and stronger than us. Our lack of strength is once again showing in the trenches. That’s something that can’t be the case any longer, going forward next year and years after.”
East took control with explosive plays. The first was Keaton Lawton’s 49-yard burst on a reverse for the opening touchdown. The next was Villarreal’s 23-yard connection with Lawson, setting up a 7-yard touchdown pass to Cam Herron. The third was a 75-yard bomb to Lawson, who broke away deep for a 21-0 lead early in the second quarter.
The Stars finally answered with their best drive. Dayson Kirby escaped pressure, rolled out while motioning for his receiver to take off, and found Parker Kern for 39 yards. Two plays later, Kirby hammered up the middle and scored from 22 yards, cutting the East lead to 21-7.
East added a late score with a 71-yard, 11-play march, capped by Houpey’s 4-yard touchdown run.
In the second half, East pulled away. BNL was pinned deep by a punt and a sack. On third-down from the 2, Kirby hit Dax Short with a pass to midfield. But behind the play, after the action was completed, the referee dropped a penalty at the line of scrimmage, motioned for holding, then awarded East a safety when he determined the foul happened in the end zone.
The Olympians capitalized on that momentum. Villarreal completed three straight passes to Jared Brooks, the last a 1-yard floater for a 37-7 lead. East added its final touchdown, and triggered the running clock, when freshman backup quarterback James Scruggs scored from 13 yards with 7:04 left.
Villarreal completed 13 of 18 passes for 208 yards. Lawson caught 4 for 124 while Brooks snared 6 for 60. After staring the season with two non-conference losses, East won its six league games by an average of 33.3 points.
“We’ve got a young football team, and the first two weeks we took some lumps against good teams,” Vogel said. “These guys were just tired of being average. To their credit, they bought into what we were trying to get done. More importantly, they bought into each other. They believe in each other.”
Kirby finished 10 of 20 passing for 127 yards. Jared Gilbert caught 4 for 55 yards. On defense, Brady Byers had two sacks (including a sack-fumble combination to stop East’s first drive).
“We made some pretty good plays,” Barker said. “The problem was not getting off the field. We get them in third-and-long, they convert. We have to shore it up. We changed defensive looks every drive early on, we wanted to confuse them and not give them a stationary target to block. It just wasn’t consistent enough.
“When you can rush three like they did, drop eight, and still get home, that’s a problem. Dayson did a good job to stay alive, extended some plays. We just have to be able to run the ball and stay on schedule.”
BNL will now shift into the postseason, hosting Jennings County in the first round of Class 4A Sectional 23 next week. The Stars conquered the Panthers 41-14 for their only win on Sept. 28.
Columbus East 14 14 9 7 – 44
Bedford NL 0 7 0 0 – 7
First quarter
CE – Keaton Lawson, 49 run (Skylar Bailey kick) 7:06; CE – Cam Herron, 7 pass from Kyson Villarreal (Bailey kick) 0:45
Second quarter
CE – Lawson, 75 pass from Villarreal (Bailey kick), 10:07; BNL – Dayson Kirby, 22 run (Parker Beeson kick), 8:06; CE – Thomas Houpey, 4 run (Bailey kick), 2:54
Third quarter
CE – Safety, BNL penalty in end zone, 7:49; CE – Jared Brooks, 1 pass from Villarreal (Bailey kick), 3:14
Fourth quarter
CE – James Scruggs, 13 run (Bailey kick), 7:04
Team statistics
CE – First downs 15 (9 by run, 6 by pass); Rushing 36-215; Passing 13-18-0-208; Total yards 423; Fumbles 2 (lost 1); Penalties 2-16
BNL – First downs 7 (2 by run, 5 by pass); Rushing 22-34; Passing 11-24-0-159; Total yards 193; Fumbles 3 (lost 0); Penalties 2-12
Individual statistics
Rushing – (CE) Villarreal 13-50, Houpey 19-103, Lawson 1-49, Rotert 2-0, Scruggs 1-8; (BNL) Kirby 5-3, Ira 2-6, Horton 9-(-5), Gilbert 4-15, Hildum 2-15
Passing – (CE) Villarreal 13-18-0-208; (BNL) Kirby 10-20-0-127, Ira 1-4-0-32
Receiving – (CE) Herron 1-17, Brooks 6-60, Lawson 4-124, Shelley 2-14, Houpey 1-3; (BNL) Horton 1-6, Axsom 2-35, Short 1-6, Kern 3-57, Gilbert 4-55
