By Justin Sokeland
WBIW.com
BEDFORD – Into each life, some rain must fall. The next line of that famous Longfellow poem states “Some days must be dark and dreary.” For Bedford North Lawrence, some nights, too, especially this one, which became infamous for the helicopter that dropped off the game ball, a spitting mist for most of the second half, and an embarrassing deluge of penalty flags. The dreariness blanketed everything when Senior Night ended with a crushing loss.
Columbus East spoiled the celebration, an avalanche of yellow flags ruined the joy of the competition until a game-saving interception in the final minute allowed the Olympians to escape with a victory in the regular-season finale.
After bolting to a 24-0 lead late in the first half, as the Stars struggled to recover from the emotional distress of the pregame moments, East fought through its own adversity for a 31-27 victory on Friday night. Kameron Combest threw three touchdown passes as the Olympians (5-4 overall, 4-1 in the Hoosier Hills Conference) waded through the flag-infested waters of hardship to secure second place in the league.
BNL, after the sluggish start, had a chance to make the night memorable rather than miserable, with a second-half comeback that included two Malakai Goodman touchdowns. But the final drive was thwarted when East sophomore Jayden Dehart picked off a pass on the sideline, just as the Stars were on the doorstep of the red zone.
That’s not what everyone will talk about for quite some time. Is it possible to drown in flags? For all the outstanding statistics that were compiled by the competitors, the only number everyone wanted to know about was the penalties. So let’s address that first – East absorbed 18 for 154 yards, BNL was whistled nine times for 93, and that doesn’t include the six that were offsetting or waved off. Perhaps the officials needed to be on a pitch count. The contest took almost 3 1/2 hours to complete, thanks to all the lurches and stoppages.
It’s a shame for all the flying yellow laundry to mar the battle. East scored on the first play, later broke a 70-yard run and picked off the last fling. Those were the big plays that, thankfully for East and for the integrity of the contest, overshadowed the exercise of ineptitude from the governing sources.
“It was hard, really hard,” East coach Tyler Campbell said. “By no means were we perfect in this. But we tell our guys the officiating is another thing we have to adjust to, just like different schemes. Neither team asked for that to happen, we coach our kids to overcome.”
The highlights were all East at first. First snap, Combest launched a 75-yard touchdown bomb to Carson Gallion, setting an ominous tone. The Olympians, noticing a tendency during their self scouting, broke the mold and BNL’s momentum from the senior introductions and the helicopter landing that brought the game ball, presented by the family of Kingston Lanham, the classmate of the seniors who passed away 18 months ago following a cancer battle.
“We got a guy isolated, and we felt a play-action with a run fake, throw it over the top to break our own tendencies,” Campbell said. “When it hits like that, it’s a good thing.”
East followed that with a 15-yard touchdown from Combest to Jackson Miller, then a 33-yard strike to Gallion for a 21-0 lead at the end of the first quarter.
”It didn’t look like we were ready to go, for at least two quarters,” BNL coach Brayden Tidd said. “I don’t know what the mindset is when we go down 7-0, but we can’t do that.”
East added a 35-yard field goal, which barely dripped over the cross bar, from Miller for a 24-0 advantage with 5:35 left in the half. The Stars finally awoke when Cutler Chastain, scrambling for survival, lofted a 30-yarder to Jackson Jones, who made a leaping catch in the back of the end zone with 59 seconds left.
BNL kept coming after that. Goodman exploded for a 35-yard burst to set up his own two-yard score, then he broke loose for a 25-yard blast – with three East penalties at the end of that run giving BNL a first down at the 4. Although three penalties were called during the next set of downs, Chastain finally scampered over from six yards out as BNL bulled within 24-21.
Owen Hatfield ended the BNL surge, erupting for a 70-yard touchdown to close the third quarter with a 31-21 lead.
“We were struggling to sustain drives, flags got us behind the chains,” Campbell said. “To be honest, the unsung hero of the play was Jackson Miller, sprinting down the side and blocking his tail off for the running back to make that a big score.”
The Stars answered right back, with Goodman blasting up the middle for a 55-yard touchdown on the first play of the final frame. The Stars had two following possessions to take the lead, but had to punt on the first and had the interception doom the second.
“We told our guys, foot on the gas,” Campbell said. “They were going to throw their best punch in the third quarter. They did a great job of getting the ball to their guys in space.”
Combest threw for 266 yards, while Hatfield finished with 154 rushing yards.
Goodman accounted for 131 rushing yards, while Cam Gates caught five passes for 50. Chastain, who was in constant trouble and sacked four times, threw for 153 yards.
“I’m proud of the way we fought,” Tidd said. “It would have been easy, the way we were playing and looking like we didn’t want to be out here for the first half, to lay down. They fought their tails off. I would just like to put a full game together against these guys one time. It would be nice.”
Of course, with all the penalties, there was no flow. BNL had five first downs by penalties. Both teams went backward almost as much as they went forward.
“You will have those nights when you get those calls,” Tidd said. “You have to play through it. We have to roll with the punches, execute enough to get those yards back and overcome it.”
Floyd Central clinched the HHC title, as expected, with a 50-7 win over New Albany.
Now the focus shifts to the postseason. BNL (6-3) will visit Evansville Central for the first round of Class 4A Sectional 24 next week. Central (1-8) closed with a 71-28 loss to Evansville North.
Columbus East 21 3 7 0 – 31
Bedford NL 0 7 14 6 – 27
First quarter
CE – Carson Gallion, 75 pass from Kameron Combest (Andrew Chipman kick), 11:38; CE – Jackson Miller, 15 pass from Combest (Chipman kick), 1:56; CE – Gallion, 33 pass from Combest (Chipman kick), 0:08
Second quarter
CE – Miller, 35 field goal, 5:35; BNL – Jackson Jones, 30 pass from Cutler Chastain (Aiden Dralle kick), 0:59
Third quarter
BNL – Malakai Goodman, 2 run (Cam Gates run), 8:32; BNL – Chastain, 6 run (pass failed), 6:16; CE – Owen Hatfield, 70 run (Chipman kick), 0:39
Fourth quarter
BNL – Goodman, 55 run (pass failed), 11:49
Team statistics
CE – First downs 10 (4 by run, 5 by pass, 1 by penalty); Rushing 30-145; Passing 11-22-0-266; Total yards 411; Fumbles 2 (lost 0); Penalties 18-154
BNL – First downs 11 (2 by run, 4 by pass, 5 by penalty); Rushing 29-133; Passing 13-27-1-153; Total yards 288; Fumbles 3 (lost 1); Penalties 9-93
Individual statistics
Rushing – (CE) Combest 4-(-16), Hatfield 22-154, Diaz 3-7; (BNL) Chastain 12-5, Goodman 13-131, Gilbert 1-(-3), Kurtz 1-(-6), Gates 1-6
Passing – (CE) Combest 11-22-0-266; (BNL) Chastain 13-26-1-153, Goodman 0-1-0-0
Receiving – (CE) Miller 3-64, Gallion 3-112, Fudge 4-44, Thompson 1-46; (BNL) Gates 5-50, Gilbert 4-45, Allender 1-10, Rynders 1-1, Jones 1-30, Goodman 1-17
