Friday night redux

Tonight's Game of the Week broadcast saw a real defensive donnybrook between Yorktown and Greenfield-Central that had some big hits and some really big plays and a 28-14 Tiger victory that was much closer than the score indicated.

The teams were impressive defensively tonight. Yorktown used its size to limit G-C's running game, and once the Tigers got ahead, they pinned their ears back on defense and went after Cougar QB Carl Ellison, sacking him four times. The Cougars' defense contained Yorktown's offense in the first half, but the Tigers got stronger as the game went on.

There were really two turning points. G-C scored on its first possession -- largely thanks to a 42-yard run by sophomore Matt Dickerson -- and then recovered a fumble on the Yorktown 11 one play later. But instead of taking a two-score lead, the Cougars fumbled it back to Yorktown on the 1, and the rest of the half was a field-position war. G-C had four takeaways in the first half, but was unable to turn any into points.

The other turning point was in the third quarter, when Yorktown's Brendon Barnes had a long kick return, and then scored on a 16-yard run a few plays later. On G-C's first play, Tiger sophomore Sean Chavez intercepted a screen pass, setting up a TD pass to Cody Smith that suddenly put Yorktown up 14-7. G-C came back, tied the game on a 56-yard TD to Jon White midway through the fourth, but Yorktown's Brett Allison used another long kick return to set up his TD catch to break the tie. Yorktown then salted it away with a fumble return.

G-C's offense relied a lot on the big play, while Yorktown became more consistent as it was able to establish the running game. Tiger junior Derek Kundenreich had most of his 118 yards at halftime, while QB Kyle Weiss was 5-for-7 in the second half. Dickerson was impressive for G-C, totaling 88 yards on the ground.

Now, it's off to Lucas Oil Stadium for a great non-conference matchup between Batesville and New Palestine. 11:30 a.m. airtime on Saturday morning. Listen here.

Elsewhere in the area/HHC
Mt. Vernon 44, Rushville 14: If there was ever any need to wonder if the Marauders were back, tonight was your proof. MV has scored 32, 67 and 44 points in its last three games. Given the offensive prowess of next week's opponent, Pendleton Heights, MV AD Mark Caraway might want to install new light bulbs in the Mt. Vernon Stadium scoreboard.
Milan 36, Eastern Hancock 8: Milan will be a conference foe for the Royals next year. This year's edition of EH has been battling injuries the last couple of weeks and they're rebuilding. Any 0-4 team is looking for a building block. Look no further than a visit from arch-rival Knightstown next week.
Shelbyville 52, Pendleton Heights 29: The Golden Bears and the Arabians do it different ways, but they have developed the reputation as being two of the HHC's premier offenses. Needless to say, a lot of points were put up in Pendleton tonight. That's not a surprise to anyone.
Delta 42, Muncie South 10: The eighth-ranked Eagles keep rolling with an out-of-conference win. Rival Yorktown comes to town next week.

HHC standings
Delta 2-0/4-0
Shelbyville 2-0/4-0
Mt. Vernon 2-0/3-1
Yorktown 2-1/3-1
New Palestine 1-1/2-1 (playing today vs. Batesville)
Pendleton Heights 1-3/1-3
Rushville 0-2/1-3
Greenfield-Central 0-3/1-3

Looking ahead
After today's game between the Dragons and Batesville, it's back to conference play for the entire league next Friday night.
Pendleton Heights at Mt. Vernon, 7:30 p.m. (GID Game of the Week)
Rushville at New Palestine, 7:30 p.m.
Shelbyville at Greenfield-Central, 7:30 p.m.
Yorktown at Delta, 7:30 p.m.