'Back to earth': No. 1 Bloomington North, Columbus North tangle to the finish

The No. 1 team in Class 5A was 8-0 and ready to move on to Week 9, or so it thought.

Bloomington North dominated the first half against 6A Columbus North and took a 23-point lead late in the third quarter in its final home game of the season. Then, the Cougars were reminded how tough it really is to be considered king of the hill some nights, after escaping with a 38-35 Conference Indiana win.

Hardly anything at all went right after that for North (8-0, 4-0), with uncharacteristic missed tackling and untimely penalties. But Columbus North (3-5, 2-2) also caught fire, as it started stacking big plays together, scoring three touchdowns in the fourth quarter to make it a three-point game with 2:03 to go. But the Cougars have been in tight spots before and made just enough plays to hang on.

"I think maybe we were looking too far ahead, maybe thought we had it," North linebacker Zeke Trueblood said. "And we just didn't stick to our game and play hard maybe. We just got a little too confident, I think."

Week 8 is as good a time as any to learn a good lesson before the playoffs arrive.

"I think this is something we needed," North quarterback Dash King said. "We knew Columbus North would be tough and it wouldn't turn into a runover. They were still fighting.

"Offensively and defensively, we had to keep making plays. I think this brought us back to earth. I think we let being No. 1 get to our heads."

King finished 21-of-30 for 260 yards and three touchdowns passing and ran for another 84 yards and two scores. He kept Aidan Steinfeldt (6-76), Jorian Brooks (6-101), Cole Grupenhoff (5-63) and Tate Bless (2-33, TD) well fed. The run game also stepped up late with Kijuan Hayes going for 85 yards.

They needed all of it as CN found running lanes, then passing lanes in its second-half rally. QB Asher Ratliff was 16-of-30 for 272 yards and two scores passing and ran for 113 more and two touchdowns in a heroic performance.

"You have to understand, they were playing for a CI title, too," North coach Scott Bless said. "At one point we were counting on putting them away and they wouldn't go away. But I credit them more than anything we didn't do."

It had been a while since North was in a tight game, but it drew on the four wins that went into the fourth quarter or beyond in the first four weeks.

"We responded," Bless said. "We didn't panic."

Fourth-quarter frenzy

For the second year in a row, the Bloomington North-Columbus North football game into the shootout. And like last year, the team that jumped out to the big lead early and made the other chase in the final 24 minutes won out. Just barely.

CN's rally started with a touchdown just nine seconds into the fourth to make it 38-22.

North punted and CN took over with 9:57 left with a short field. A 40-yard completion moved the ball to the 6 and QB Asher Ratliff dove in with 9:11 still remaining to make it 38-28 and it stayed that way when the Cougars broke up the conversion pass.

The Cougars had a chance to put it away, but three penalties proved to be too much to overcome. Noah Nelson set up for a 29-yard field goal attempt with 4:07 left, but it was blocked and CN was back on the attack.

A stunning 32-yard touchdown catch across the middle of the field by Morgan Knapp with 2:03 to go would set up a nail-biting finish.

CN went for the onside kick and it looked like it recovered, but the officials ruled the Bull Dogs had touched the ball early, giving North possession at the CN 48.

Another holding call killed off North's next drive and forced a punt with just 39.8 seconds left that Graham Freund masterfully rolled out of bounds at the 6. CN did convert on a fourth-and-10 up to the 30, but after another incompletion, Ratliff started a series of laterals.

The ball was eventually tossed backward to North's Lucas Rice, who grabbed it, turned and nearly scored from the 23 as the horn sounded.

Penalties hurt Cougars

North was flagged 10 times for 104 yards. Bad enough but several came at inopportune times.

"That was a huge part of the game," Bless said.

A helmet-to-helmet hit kept CN's first scoring drive alive.

A personal foul pushed a field goal try back to the 35, where a bad snap foiled the attempt.

Pass interference helped on CN's first score of the fourth.

Back-to-back holding calls made things harder when North was trying to close it out in the fourth and a false start ended up leading to a field goal attempt that was blocked with four minutes left.

Then, in North's final drive, Stephon Opoku looked like he'd picked up a huge, game-clinching first down on an end-around only to see holding called, leading to a punt in the final minute instead.

First-half fury

Columbus North had to be feeling deja vu in the first half after getting buried by Bloomington South, 49-14 the week before, suffering from poor field position the entire night.

The Cougars took the opening kickoff, Stephon Opoku brought it back to the BN 44. They needed just four plays and 51 seconds to cover the rest for a 7-0 lead on an Aidan Steinfieldt TD catch.

Three and out for CN, Another short field for the Cougars, who went 43 yards in 36 seconds as King opened 7-of-7, hitting Cole Grupenhoff to make it 14-0 at 8:36.

"We started out hot," said King. It didn't seem the down or distance, the Cougars kept marching.

Columbus scored but Bloomington North breezed 80 yards for a King two-yard plunge and a 21-7 lead with 3:17 still left in the period.

"That first half," Bless said. "That was the best team we've been all season."

BLOOMINGTON NORTH 38, COLUMBUS NORTH 35

Columbus North (3-5, 2-2 CI) 7 | 0 | 8 | 20 — 35

Bloomington North (8-0, 4-0) 21 | 7 | 10 | 0 — 38

FIRST QUARTER

BN: Tate Bless 7 pass from Dash King (Noah Nelson kick), 11:09. BN, 7-0

BN: Cole Grupenhoff 4 pass from King (Nelson kick), 8:34. BN, 14-0.

CN: Gino Prescott 10 run (Bryce Luttrell kick), 5:09. BN, 14-7.

BN: King 2 run (Nelson kick), 3:17. BN, 21-7.

SECOND QUARTER

BN: King 1 run (Nelson kick), 3:53. BN, 28-7.

THIRD QUARTER

BN: Nelson 27 FG, 6:38. BN, 31-7.

CN: Braylon Thoman 45 pass from Asher Ratliff (Ratliff run), 4:40. BN, 31-15.

BN: Grupenhoff 6 pass from King (Nelson kick), 1:29. BN, 38-15.

FOURTH QUARTER

CN: Ratliff 3 run (Luttrell kick), 11:51. BN, 38-22.

CN: Ratliff 1 run (pass failed), 9:11. BN, 38-28.

CN: Morgan Knapp 32 pass from Ratliff (Luttrell kick), 2:03.

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING

Columbus North (31-186): Asher Ratliff 14-113, Gino Prescott 16-81, Braylon Thoman 1-(-8).

Bloomington North (44-229): Kijuan Hayes 12-85, Dash King 16-84, Stephon Opoku 2-52, Trey Scott 13-31, Team 1-(-23).

PASSING

Columbus North (16-31-0-272): Ratliff 16-30-0-272, Bryce Luttrell 0-1-0-0.

Bloomington North (21-30-0-260): King 21-30-0-260.

RECEIVING

Columbus North: Thoman 7-148, Prescott 4-63, Jordan Briner 2-18, Morgan Knapp 1-32, Charlie Parsons 1-7, Sam Perry 1-4.

Bloomington North: Jorian Brooks 6-101, Aidan Steinfeldt 6-76, Cole Grupenhoff 5-63, Tate Bless 2-33, Hayes 1-17, Scott 1-(-1).

This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: No. 1 Bloomington North football fights to finish with Columbus North