Columbus its usual strong challenge

By Rex Kirts

Columbus North rose from football mediocrity to become a force in southern Indiana when Tim Bless assumed the coaching job a few years ago, and one of the teams that's felt the Bull Dogs' wrath is South.
The long-time rivals meet again Friday night in a Conference Indiana battle, and the Panthers will need one of their best games to avoid the short end of the score again.
Kickoff is 7 p.m. at Fred Huff Field. It's Senior Night for the Panthers.
This is a chance for South to maybe escape the Conference Indiana cellar. The Panthers are 1-6 overall and 1-4 in the conference. Bloomington North is also 1-4 in the conference and travels to Southport.
IT'S ALSO A CHANCE to avoid becoming only the second Panther team since 1936 to win just one game in a year. The 1936 team, then Bloomington High, was 1-9.
The Panthers switched from Bloomington High to South in 1972, and there's never been back-to-back losing seasons since then. Last year's team was 3-7.
Columbus visits with a 5-2 record overall and 3-2 conference record.
"They have good size," South coach Kirk Kennedy said of Columbus. "Maybe they're not as what we've faced the last couple of weeks (Lawrence Central and Pike), but they make up for that in strength and physicality. They're well coached, have a good, solid program. They don't make mistakes and don't beat themselves."
Kennedy has seen too many Panther mistakes this season.
"THE KEY FOR US is not to turn the ball over and give up big plays defensively," he said. "We've got to get to the point where we're not beating ourselves."
The Panthers played better last week at Pike but ended up with a 22-0 defeat. Pike scored one of its touchdowns on a fumble return that pushed its halftime lead to 15-0. It's second-half TD came on a well-executed hurry-up offense featuring a lot of passing.
South put together a solid ground attack at Pike but couldn't push the ball in. The offense featured the running of tailbacks Trae Washington and Nolan Rogers and some second-half keepers by quarterback Michael Bower.
Kennedy emphasized tempo at practice last week, and he did it again this week.
"Practice is just dealing with people," he said. "It's the same routine, but it's always different."
PRACTICE ENDED TUESDAY with 17 40-yard sprints. Why 17? Because it honored the 17th birthday of junior jayvee lineman John Wisley.
The Panthers are in good shape and ran the 17 sprints well. Kennedy said he didn't know if the Panthers are over the hump or just getting used to things.
"In our good years (at Lowell) we never had a problem with staying fresh, never had a problem getting stale," Kennedy said. "Maybe that's because we knew we always had a chance."
The Panthers are practicing like they still have a chance, too.
"We haven't given up. We're still out there swinging," Kennedy said.