COLUMBUS
After being slowed by some key injuries for much of the regular season, Center Grove’s football team finally had its full complement of offensive weapons for Friday night’s Class 6A sectional final against Columbus North.
The Bull Dogs didn’t have an answer.
Russ Yeast scored four first-half touchdowns to lead a dominating performance by the No. 3 Trojans, who coasted to a 41-14 victory at sixth-ranked North.
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Click here to purchase photos from this gallery"I really appreciate how hard our guys worked tonight," Center Grove coach Eric Moore said. "Our defense did a great job, and then obviously we made some huge plays on offense."
Center Grove (10-1) hosts No. 1 Warren Central in next Friday’s regional, a rematch of the season opener won by the Warriors 21-16.
The Trojans took an early 6-0 lead when Yeast’s 3-yard dive capped a methodical 11-play drive to open the game. The rest of the Trojans’ first-half scores came much more quickly.
Later in the first quarter, Jack Kellams went over the top to Kaleb Hennessy for a 66-yard scoring pass, and Yeast followed with a 42-yard catch and run for a touchdown one play after a fourth-down stop by Center Grove’s Dan Root. That made it 19-0 with 2:37 left in the opening period.
The Bull Dogs (9-2) got on the board when Triston Perry found Mitchell Burton on third-and-goal from 5 yards out with 5:46 left in the half, but the Trojans, led by their marquee player, Yeast, hit back twice before the intermission.
First, Kellams hit the Louisville commit for a 63-yard touchdown, and Yeast added a 90-yard scoring run with just over a minute left on the first-half clock to stretch the lead to 34-7.
Center Grove amassed 374 of its 471 yards of offense in the first two periods alone, 193 of those through the air.
That added aerial option makes the Trojans much more difficult to defend.
"When you take things away from us, you’ve got to give us other things," Moore said.
"With all the weapons back, you really don’t know where it’s going to come from, so it’s harder for other teams to game plan for us," added Yeast, who finished with 132 yards on 11 carries and added 115 yards on his three catches.
Any hope the Bull Dogs might have had coming out for the third quarter was quickly dashed when Parker Ferguson snatched a Perry pass with one hand and took it back 17 yards for a touchdown at the 10:37 mark.
Burton added a consolation-prize touchdown on North’s next possession to close out the scoring.
With a sixth consecutive sectional crown wrapped up, Center Grove can turn its attention toward avenging its lone loss of the season. Warren Central had a similarly easy time of things Friday, topping Southport in its sectional final 50-20.
Senior running backs Trevor Hohlt and Titus McCoy were injured in that Week 1 defeat, but the Trojans are fully restocked and eager for a chance at payback.
"We’ve been waiting for this all season," Yeast said. "We’ve had this circled on our calendars to get back to it. They’re going to be a great team. We’re better, they’re better, so it’s going to be a really good game."
