There are still four contenders for the HHC title, but the plot thickened tonight with three results. New Palestine knocked Shelbyville from the ranks of the unbeaten. Delta was in a dogfight with Rushville before eventually pulling away. Mt. Vernon survived a scare from Greenfield-Central. All in all, an interesting night on a chilly, windy evening throughout the conference.
The standings now heading to Lucas Oil next week
Delta 5-0/7-0
Shelbyville 4-1/6-1
Mt. Vernon 4-1/5-2
New Palestine 4-1/5-2
Yorktown 2-3/4-3
Rushville 1-4/2-5
Pendleton Heights 1-5/2-5
Greenfield-Central 0-6/1-6
Delta has the toughest road, as the Eagles have two contenders left -- Mt. Vernon and Shelbyville. However, all the Eagles have to do is win one to clinch a piece of the title. All of the title contenders control their own destiny except NP, which needs to win out and have either Delta or Shelby lose.
But it didn't get there easily. We'll recap our game tonight first. It was a typical toss-out-the-records rivalry game. Defenses ruled early -- G-C outgained MV 43-42 in the first half. There were some big special-teams plays -- a fake field goal, a fake punt (neither of which worked), a blocked punt, a roughing-the-punter penalty ... and not surprisingly, a special-teams play was the only score -- John White's 31-yard field goal for the Cougars that made it 3-0 at halftime.
MV made quite a few tweaks to the offense, as it was playing without Trey Ross & Evan Whalen, two of its top three rushers. Corey White and Brandon Lockart ended up carrying a lot of the load. On the first three drives of the second half, MV moved the ball downfield methodically, taking the lead on White's 5-yard run on the half's opening possession, but not extending it, as a fumble kept it 7-3. White scored from 19 yards out to make it a 13-3 game early in the fourth, but G-C answered. Tyler Colclazier was very impressive, completing 9-of-15 passes in the second half. He engineered a 67-yard drive that ended with a 12-yard TD pass to Matt Dickerson, cutting the lead to 13-10. G-C then stopped MV 3-and-out and had a shot, but MV got a 52-yard punt from McKinney, and then a defense that forced a 4-and-out (one that needed a big defensive play by Lockart to break up a long pass to Dickerson on 3rd down). However, the fireworks weren't done. MV scored on the first play, but G-C's Derek Conley ran the next kickoff back to the Marauder 25, setting up Colclazier's second TD pass of the night. However, the on-side kick went out of bounds, and the Marauders ran out the clock.
Whew. What a finish. First, G-C's Colclazier was impressive, and the Cougars have a cadre of receivers with talent. But MV, using an array of formations to try to thwart the blitzing Cougars, was able to get its sweep game going in the second half and manage to pull away. Typical rivalry game, and this time, the Marauders managed to hang on and win for the first time in three years and stay in the HHC title chase. MV gets a shot at leader Delta next week.
Other games in the league and area ...
New Palestine 10, Shelbyville 7: Big win for the Dragons, knocking Shelby from the ranks of the unbeaten. NP is the first team not named Delta to knock off the Golden Bears in three years, and the Dragons held Shelby to a season-low point tital. Most importantly, this keeps NP in the title chase. The Dragons need to win out -- they face Greenfield-Central and Mt. Vernon the next two weeks -- and hope either MV or Shelby knock off Delta.
Delta 48, Rushville 21: The Eagles and Lions were tied 14-14 at halftime, but Delta was its typical explosive self in the second half, taking sole possession of first place in the conference.
Pendleton Heights 42, Jay County 0: PH snaps a skid with its second shutout of the year. We've always known the Arabian offense to be explosive, but the defense pitches a shutout.
Yorktown 24, Anderson Highland 20: This, combined with the PH win, really helps cement the HHC in non-conference games. The league is now 11-3 against other foes, but this is one of the more impressive victories, as Highland was 5-1 on the field coming into this game.
Eastern Hancock 53, Wes-Del 20: The Royals had struggled to score this season, but they get their first victory of the year tonight, and they do it with a big offensive night. Now, it's rivalry week again, as they head to Shenandoah for a Game of the Week broadcast next week.
Next week: It's HHC Day at Lucas Oil Stadium. We'll have that game, but we'll also have our usual Friday night coverage. Three games -- all involving Hancock County teams -- next week. Our broadcast schedule:
Friday, Oct. 9: Eastern Hancock at Shenandoah, 6:30 p.m. broadcast start
Saturday, Oct. 10: Greenfield-Central vs. New Palestine, 10:30 a.m. broadcast start
Saturday, Oct. 10: Mt. Vernon vs. Delta, 6:45 p.m. broadcast start
In-between our two broadcast games, Shelbyville faces Yorktown and PH meets Rushville in the other two parts of the HHC quadrupleheader.
No comments:
Post a Comment