Center Grove’s players hoist up a sectional championship trophy after defeating Columbus North on Friday.
COLUMBUS
For Center Grove, sectional titles are becoming a rite of passage.
The Trojans picked up their 12th in a row Friday with a 49-14 win at Columbus North.
Head coach Eric Moore recognized how difficult that long of a streak is.
“It’s three generations of Center Grove football kids that have won the sectional championship. That’s pretty cool,” Moore said. “Consecutively is hard to do; I don’t care where you are. There’s a lot of things that happen. Really proud of our kids to keep their mental about them and stay focused on winning these games.”
Center Grove (9-2) wasted little time taking control of the game. The Trojans continually stacked chunk plays on top of each other on their opening drive, and capped it off with a 5-yard touchdown pass from junior Tyler Cherry to senior Noah Coy.
The Trojans covered 91 yards in just over three minutes on their next possession — in large part because of a juggling catch by sophomore T.J. Williams that gained 40 yards. Williams caught a seven-yard touchdown pass six plays later to make it 14-0 late in the first quarter.
Columbus North (5-6) came up with a few defensive stops in the second quarter to keep the game within two scores at halftime.
“(In the second quarter), we made some mental mistakes, and we made some physical mistakes. And Columbus North did a good job taking advantage of it,” Moore said. “But we bent, but didn’t break. That was the whole game plan.”
The reigning back-to-back state champions came out of the locker room determined to pull away. Trojans senior Eli Hohlt plowed through some traffic for a 10-yard touchdown run on their first possession of the second half.
Things got wild late in the third quarter. Center Grove took a 28-0 lead on Cherry’s third touchdown pass of the game. The Bull Dogs then got on the board just one play later, on an 82-yard pass. But the Trojans answered with a massive kickoff return by senior Andre Merritt set them up at the North 10-yard line, and Coyle made it three consecutive plays from scrimmage resulting in touchdowns.
Coyle enjoyed a huge game, with 142 rush yards on 21 carries. Moore credited his offensive line — down two starters — for paving the way.
Center Grove advances to host Warren Central in next week’s regional, a rematch of the Trojans’ 17-8 win in the season opener.
“We get to go home and play another game, which is awesome,” Moore said.”Warren is going to be extremely difficult. They’re very physical, very fast. They’re going to be very motivated to take our regional crown away.”
