Rested Center Grove crushes Jeffersonville

Center Grove high School football coach Eric Moore had some concerns about rustiness after a bye week. Turns out he had nothing to worry about.

The Class 6A No. 3 Trojans blew by visiting Jeffersonville 62-6 Friday night in their postseason opener. Center Grove (9-1) will play at No. 6 Columbus North (9-1) next Friday for a sectional championship.

“We used nine running backs and they all ran the ball hard,” Moore said. “When we threw the ball, we did it with some precision. We really didn’t have many penalties. On defense, we tackled well and didn’t give up a big play.

“It would have been easy for our kids to nosedive and make this more of a game than it should have been. I’m proud of the way the kids put them away and took care of business right off the bat.”

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Russ Yeast (seven carries) and Trevor Hohlt (10 carries) each had 105 yards rushing. Titus McCoy (seven carries) and Mikala Gardner (three carries) each had 83 yards. Triston Clark added 68 yards on six carries. Those five running backs are all seniors. Sophomore Sam Hohlt had a 28-yard touchdown run on his only carry.

Center Grove had 521 yards compared to 218 for the Red Devils (4-6).

Yeast scored three touchdowns in the first half to help stake the Trojans to a 34-0 halftime lead.

“It was fun. We had the bye week, so we were ready to get back out there and run some plays and see what we could do as a team,” said Yeast, who committed to Louisville earlier in the week. “This puts a lot of momentum in our hands going into Columbus North next week.”

Yeast didn’t expect much rustiness.

“Coach Moore prepares us well for the game,” he said.

After missing the past two games with a calf injury, McCoy started the Trojans off with a 31-yard touchdown run to give the Trojans a 7-0 lead.

“It was good to get Titus some running and see where he is,” Moore said. “I like what I saw.”

Yeast then delivered touchdown runs of 43, 32 and 7 yards. Trevor Hohlt capped the first half scoring with a 3-yard touchdown run and then added an 8-yard touchdown run to start the second half scoring. Clark followed with a 1-yard touchdown run, followed by Gardner’s 48-yard touchdown run.

The Red Devils scored with 4:16 left to make it 55-6.

“That bye week is hard in high school,” Moore said. “I was glad to get back to work this week. Now we’ve got to get everybody remain healthy and go after the sectional championship.”