It was a small victory Friday night, but the Bellmont Braves got on the scoreboard for their first points of the season with freshman quarterback Charlie Faurote’s first career touchdown pass to Jason Lykins. Columbia City, however, dominated the contest, scoring nine touchdowns, including three with the running clock in the second half for a 61-6 win in the NE8 opener.
The Braves had not scored on the Eagles since all the way back in 2021. Lykins’ touchdown broke the Eagles’ streak of three straight shutouts against their traditional opening-week rival in conference play.
The Braves have now lost 67 of their last 68 regular season games over the last eight seasons.
Columbia City struck first with a 21-yard run by Lukas Duncan on the Eagles’ first possession. They then took advantage of a Bellmont fumble to make it 13-0 just three minutes later.
Lykins and Faurote then teamed up for the two biggest offensive plays of the game for the home team, setting up the touchdown with a pass over the top and down the left sideline as Lykins got behind the Columbia City secondary to get into the red zone.
The sophomore gave the home crowd something to cheer for, taking a screen pass on the right side and bulldozing his way into the end zone.
Gavin Smith had some big plays in the second quarter for the visitors, including an interception at midfield that gave the Eagles a short field.
Smith also scored the final touchdown of the second quarter to trigger the running clock in the second half. That came after the Eagles’ pick-six with four minutes to play by Bradyn Elkins.
Columbia City will have their eyes set on a 6-0 start with winnable games to come in Huntington North, DeKalb and New Haven. If the East Noble Knights can get past Leo at home in Week 5, it would set up a potential conference title game between Columbia City and EN on October 3rd.
In the end, the Braves turned the ball over three times in the first half and were unable to seize any opportunity after their score cut the lead to seven points. Having pinned the Eagles back to 3rd and long on the possession after the Lykins touchdown, the defense gave up a big gain, then committed two 15-yard penalties to give the visitors a free 30 yards.
The loss for the Braves was the 23rd in a row in the NE8 conference and the 35th overall.
They’ll try to break their long streak next week when they travel to Norwell. Fans of the Braves can hear that broadcast live on WZBD’s YouTube channel.
Editor’s Note: No stats or game information were provided by Bellmont for this contest to WZBD.
SCORING SUMMARY
Quarter 1
9:05 – CC – Lukas Duncan 21-yd run, Johnson PAT good, 7-0
5:54 – CC – Corbin McIntosh 2-yd run, Johnson PAT no good, 13-0
Quarter 2
9:23 – B – Jason Lykins 3-yd reception from Charlie Faurote, Riehm PAT no good, 13-6
7:44 – CC – Gabe McDevitt 1-yd run, Johnson PAT good, 20-6
5:47 – CC – Bradyn Elkins 9-yd reception from McDevitt, Johnson PAT good, 27-6
3:59 – CC – Bradyn Elkins 25-yd interception return, Johnson PAT good, 34-6
1:39 – CC – Gavin Smith 18-yd reception from McDevitt, Johnson PAT good, 41-6
Quarter 3
9:26 – CC – Noah McCoy 76-yd run, Harris Wagner PAT no good, 47-6
4:22 – CC – Jaiden Williams 28-yd run, Wagner PAT good, 54-6
Quarter 4
6:30 – CC – Harris Wagner 9-yd run, Wagner PAT good, 61-6
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