COLUMBUS
For two and a half quarters, the Whiteland football team hung around with Columbus East.
But Warriors coach Darrin Fisher said his team hurt itself with too many mistakes.
“We haven’t made that many mistakes all year,” Fisher said. “We’ve had one fumble and five interceptions all year long. You can’t turn the ball over against a good football team.”
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Click here to purchase photos from this galleryThe Warriors had three turnovers, including one interception returned for a touchdown, in a 56-31 loss to Class 5A No. 4 Columbus East Friday night in the Sectional 14 championship.
Whiteland also missed a 28-yard field goal and had a 40-yard attempt blocked. The Olympians (11-1) will play at Zionsville in the regional.
Speedy Olympians running back Jamon Hogan was a huge factor, too, rushing for 244 yards and four touchdowns on 21 carries. His 79-yard TD put the Olympians up for good at 35-31 with 7:45 to go in the third quarter.
From there, it was all Columbus East. Hogan followed with TD runs of 10 and 5 yards to push the lead to 49-31.
Whiteland senior running back Ryan Hammond’s 22-yard touchdown run had given Whiteland (6-5) a 31-28 lead in the third quarter.
The Olympians had previously taken the lead at 28-24 on a 24-yard interception return by Jonah Wichman with 2:04 left in the first half. Whiteland’s Jacob Ballain then missed a 28-yard field goal as the first half expired.
After the Olympians took a 21-14 lead on Hogan’s 42-yard TD run, Hammond’s 53-yard touchdown run had tied it at 21-21 with 9:32 left. Ballain’s 27-yard field goal put the Warriors ahead with 4:17 to go in the second quarter.
Each team had two touchdowns in the first quarter. Warriors quarterback Jace Carpenter scored from 1 yard out to put the Warriors ahead 7-0.
Still ahead, the Warriors went for a fourth-and-1 from their own 43 and were stopped.
“Our inability not to get the first down was a big play in the ballgame,” Fisher said. “We were trying to keep the momentum on our side and it backfired a little bit.”
Following two Olympian TD runs of 2 and 9 yards by quarterback Josh Major, the Warriors’ Djimmon Orega broke loose for an 89-yard kickoff return for TD to tie it at 14-all.
“When you force turnovers on defense and return a kick for a touchdown and you get big plays on offense, the only thing that is going to beat you is penalties and turnovers,” Fisher said. “We did everything it takes to win other than be secure with the football.”
Hammond led the Warriors with 215 yards on 23 carries.
“That’s a good defensive front for Columbus East, and the way they were rotating and scraping their linebackers, they were giving us things on the backside. We did a good job taking advantage of those things,” Fisher said.
Fisher was proud of his team’s resiliency after an 0-3 start.
“A lot of those wounds were self-inflicted; that’s part of maturing and growing up,” Fisher said. “I think that’s something they are going to remember. Hopefully they’ll take forward with them from here and the ability to be mentally tough and resilient.”
