FORT WAYNE – Jacob Johnson had 103 yards and two touchdowns for Columbia City in the team’s 30-0 victory over Whitko.

Some of you might be saying, “Who?”

“Jacob Johnson is in his first varsity season and really hasn’t played since the eighth grade,” Eagles coach Randy Hudgins said of the junior. “Last week was his first start, and we put him in a really difficult spot (against Warsaw) and he really stepped up and played well, hit the holes. We’ve got to work on his blocking, but that’s what we have a week of practice for.

“He really stepped it up in the second half (Friday), and it was really great to see for a good young man.”

So did Hudgins have to beg Johnson to play football this season?

“It didn’t take much convincing,” Hudgins said. “He plays baseball, and he’s got a lot of friends like Logan (Rehrer) and Cory Clifford and they’ve kind of been on him. He’s really kind of getting excited. He was a good player in middle school, and we’re just glad to have young men like Jacob Johnson on our team.”

North Side takes time to get going

North Side’s offense had just more than 100 yards – total – and fumbled the ball four times, including three times in regulation. So it was the defense that produced an 18-12 four-overtime win against Harding.

“Harding’s defensive line is tough,” said North Side’s Ryan Hall, who is 2-0 in his first season as head coach. “They are going to give a lot of people fits. They gave us some fits.

“Once we started checking to some things, everything was just fine. It took us a little bit to get going, and thank God, we had overtime to get going.”

Harding (0-2) had 137 yards of offense but had two lost fumbles, 55 yards in penalties and gave up six sacks in regulation.

Special guests at Huntington North

If Huntington North surprised a few people Friday night by hanging around with state power Carmel in a 41-3 loss for the better part of a half, it might have something to do with who was watching.

Among those in attendance were Chris Kramer, who starred in both football and basketball before going on to stardom on the basketball court at Purdue, and Matt Pike, the career passing leader who went on to stardom in Arena football in Peoria, where he both played for an Arena2 champion and coached for a couple of seasons until the league went belly up.

Some decent mojo there.