Congratulations to the Delta Eagles, who clinched the HHC championship with tonight's win over Shelbyville. Also, congratulations to the New Palestine Dragons, who held onto the Boundary Rail for the fifth straight year with a 28-14 victory over Mt. Vernon in our Game of the Week.
This game started out all MV -- the Dragons' first four possessions were a fumble, a fumbled kickoff, a 3-and-out and another fumble -- and two of those turnovers turned into scores by Corey White and Zach McKinney. But things settled down after that, and the Dragons' defense -- one that had allowed just 5 touchdowns the previous 4 games, including just one in the previous two -- never allowed MV to mount a drive against them. Neither team allowed much -- the biggest offensive play of the game went for 21 yards, and included a fumble -- and both teams took away the No. 1 option for the opposition. Pat Feeney had 30 yards rushing and 37 receiving for NP. MV's Trey Ross was held to 47 rushing yards.
Meanwhile, the Dragons put together a 10-play, 64-yard drive in the second quarter that finished with Cary Albrecht's 8-yard run, and things then turned in the second half. NP held MV on three straight drives, and forced short punts each time (MV's regular punter went out with an injury) to start in MV territory. But the other big adjustment was to line up in the power-I and give the ball to Austin Cahoy. In a game where yards were hard to get -- NP had 75, MV 55 in the first half -- Cahoy carried 17 times in the second half for 98 yards. His first touch was a 16-yard run on NP's first possession that led to Albrecht's 8-yard TD strike to Pat Feeney that tied the game. Cahoy carried 4 times for 32 yards on the next trip, finishing with an 11-yard TD run. On the next possession, he fumbled the exchange forward, scooped it up and ran it 21 yards to set up his second score, a 7-yard run that made it 28-14.
NP outgained MV 208-105, with a 133-50 edge in the second half. It was a defensive game -- MV had an average of 1.9 yards per play, NP had an average of 4.0 yards. But the Dragons were able to take advantage of short fields, with second-half TD drives of 41, 33 and 38 yards -- just like the Marauders scored on drives of 27 and 5 yards.
The Dragons finish 7-2 and 6-1 in the HHC, good enough for second place. MV is 5-4 (4-3) and finishes fourth in the conference. You can listen to the archived game here.
Now, wipe the slates clean and look forward to postseason play -- NP hosts Pendleton Heights (3-6) in a rematch next week, while MV faces 1-8 New Castle at home.
Elsewhere in the HHC & Hancock County
Delta 24, Shelbyville 7: This game was 7-7 after a quarter, but Delta pulled away to run the table in the HHC and clinch an outright championship for the 2nd straight year. Delta has now won 14 straight HHC games, and now turns to sectional play and a solid 7-2 Fort Wayne South team. Shelbyville (6-3/5-2) finishes 3rd in the standings and faces Franklin County next week in 4A Sectional 15.
Yorktown 34, Rushville 6: The Tigers have been playing some good football at the end of the year, and had an impressive win tonight. Yorktown (5-4/3-4) won for the second time in three weeks, and took 5th place in the HHC. Rushville (3-6/2-5) will be 6th. Both teams play in 3A's Sectional 22.
Chatard 49, Greenfield-Central 7: Roger Dodson likes playing good teams, and Chatard is a pretty good team. Ranked No. 1 in 3A, the Trojans had another big night, while the Cougars (1-8/0-7) got a tune-up for next week's Sectional 14 game against Anderson Highland.
Pendleton Heights 49, Anderson Highland 23: The Arabians bounced back from last week's last-second loss to beat the Olympic Conference champs. PH's offense has been pretty good recently -- the Arabians (3-6/1-6) scored 42 against Jay County a couple of weeks ago -- and they have a rematch with New Palestine next week. Both teams are in Sectional 13, and in opposite brackets. Highland (6-3 on the field) faces Greenfield-Central. They helped clinch the HHC a 12-4 record in out-of-conference games, tying the Northern Lakes Conference for the best out-of-league record in the regular season in the state.
Eastern Hancock 48, Edinburgh 14: The Royals (2-7) built on last week's solid second half to score 48 points and win big for the second time in three weeks. They've got a matchup next week against a Lapel squad that beat Beech Grove tonight.
We're looking forward to the tournament, and hoping all of the HHC and area teams go far. Thanks to everyone for listening and reading during the regular season. Keep following the tournament on our blog.
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