Football Friday

Good night of football tonight. It was a great scene at Eastern Hancock as the Royals celebrated something a long time coming -- a victory. I get the sense it's going to be the first of many under coach Pat Echeverria.

We've got two more on Saturday -- NP vs. Richmond & MV vs. Marion. It all starts at 9:30 a.m. from Warren Central. Listen live on www.hancockcountysports.com

Of course, the obligatory water cooler bath and celebration were forthcoming, but the Royals just milled around the bench for a long time afterwards, with parents standing behind, wanting to soak in the moment. It's really what high school football is about.

Trailing 8-7 for much of the game despite spending a good deal of the evening deep in South Decatur territory, EH showed a lot of poise, and the Royals really appeared to wear South Decatur down in the 4th quarter -- and turned the game on a gutsy call by the new head coach.

On 4th-and-1 from the Royal 24, Echeverria sent the offense out, and sophomore RB Spencer Gilbert broke off-tackle for a 5-yard run. Then, he went for 13 ... and brother Logan broke off a 28-yard run to set the Royals up deep in SD territory. Logan Gilbert -- EH's QB -- eventually scored on a run from 12 yards out to make it 13-8. After the Royals held on downs, Logan scored again -- and then intercepted a pass to snuff out South Decatur's final possession.

EH outgained SD 144-39 in the second half -- nearly all of the Royals' total coming on the ground. Spencer Gilbert ran for 137 yards on 22 carries -- including carrying a lot of the load in the fourth quarter and setting up the first TD with a 35-yard run. Logan Gilbert ran for 85 yards, threw for 41 more and accounted for all three Royal touchdowns. TE/LB Chandler Hards had a big game on both sides of the ball, catching a 12-yard TD pass from Logan Gilbert on the game's first drive.

EH travels to MIFC rival Indian Creek next week for a 7 p.m. kickoff. IC fell to Greenwood Friday night.

Elsewhere
Lebanon 32, Greenfield-Central 16: The Cougars trailed by a touchdown going into the fourth and were driving, but Lebanon scored 19 points in the final quarter, including to INT returns for TDs.
And in the HHC: 
Delta 28, Carroll (Allen) 23: Delta's Ozzie Mann scored from 1 yard out late in the game to give the Eagles a big victory over a strong 5A program from Fort Wayne. Delta is 2-0 heading into next week's game against Greenfield-Central. 
Pendleton Heights 41, Anderson 23: The Arabians led 14-10 at halftime, and then pulled away. PH has scored 106 points in two games, and opens HHC play at New Palestine last week. We'll have the broadcast on www.hancockcountysports.com!
Rushville 28, New Castle 6: The Lions go 2-0 in non-conference play again, and keep the HHC perfect against the North Central Conference. 
Yorktown 34, Northwest 13: Nice win for Coach Wilhelm's team, which is 2-0 in non-conference play.
Franklin 65, Shelbyville 7: The Golden Bears fell to 0-2 after a big loss to the Grizzly Cubs. It was 41-0 at half and 58-7 after three. 


League play starts next week:
MV vs. Yorktown
NP vs. Pendleton Heights
G-C vs. Delta
Shelbyville vs. Rushville