COLUMBUS
Columbus North outplayed Roncalli Friday night.
The Class 6A No. 9 Bull Dogs won the offensive and defensive battles to come away with a low-scoring 14-0 win over the Royals at Max Andress Field.
North remains unbeaten on the season at 4-0, while Roncalli dips to 1-2. The Royals’ four-game winning streak against the Bull Dogs was snapped.
It was all defense in the first half. Points were hard to come for both teams with neither team reaching midfield until late in the second quarter. North forced many three-and-outs from Roncalli, but the Bull Dogs couldn’t drive past midfield on their drives either.
Roncalli was threatening with about three minutes left in the first half and was at the 28-yard line of North after a pass interference penalty was called. However, the Royals then had a couple of mistakes of their own, as back-to-back penalties eventually pushed them out of field goal range and forced a punt.
With less than two minutes left in the first half, the Bull Dogs went to a hurry up offense. It worked, as quarterback Asher Ratliff found Jordan Briner to move it past midfield. Two plays later, Ratliff found tight end Garrett Long to take it to the 12-yard line for a first down with 33 seconds to go. On the next play, Ratliff found Long open in the end zone to make it 7-0 at the break.
The action picked up a bit in the second half, but it didn’t show much on the scoreboard. That all changed when Ratliff completed a huge pass to Morgan Knapp and running back Gino Prescott ran it to the 1-yard line. Ratliff then kept it on the next play for the score with 6:19 left in the fourth.
Roncalli missed out on another opportunity on the ensuing possession. Quarterback Collin Ash found Conner Kesler for huge reception to put the Royals around the 35-yard line. However, the Bull Dog defense stripped the ball away from Kesler, and Jackson Haston recovered the ball with 5:12 left.
After North punted, the Royals drove down the field again and it into field goal range — but a bad snap was recovered by North’s Dumo Kak with under three minutes left.
The Bull Dogs then picked up a couple of first downs to run out the clock.