(PHOTOS COURTESY OF PERRY TOWNSHIP SCHOOLS)
Editor
Statement games?
Center Grove 28, Oakland 10
Franklin Central 20, Roncalli 6
Perry Meridian 40, Southport 10
Well, not really.
In many ways those three triumphs might have been expected, given Center Grove’s winning tradition, Franklin Central’s steady improvement, and Perry Meridian’s recent control of the Battle of Perry Township.
“A good win; we responded,” Franklin Central coach Jayson West observed.
“It’s a big win (because) we kept it rolling,” Perry Meridian coach Brett Cooper reflected.
“A good night for us; glad we had some success,” Center Grove coach Eric Moore told reporters.
Otherwise, three Southside teams - Lutheran, resurgent Greenwood, and Decatur Central - continue on a roll.
Back to the Battle of Perry.
Trying to snap a 24-game losing skid dating back to October 2020, Southport came out strong against the rival Falcons. Perry took leads of 3-0 on Gerson Torres’ 29-yard field goal and 10-6 on a 31-rad run by Jeremiah Stanovic.
PM took a 12-10 halftime lead on Zach Huckaby’s 18-yard run. The Falcons scored first on a 65-yard pass from Allen Zupan to Byron Hon.
“We made a few tweaks in our defense at halftime,” recalled PM coach Brett Cooper whose Falcons turned the rivalry upside down in the second half. “We scored and stopped them right out of the gate. And we broke a couple of big plays.”
The Falcons dominated the second half as they scored on four consecutive drives, one created by a lost fumble by the Cardinals.
Andy Warren scored on two short runs, Huckaby scored on a 38-yard scamper, and Jonathan Hunter capped it with a 37-yard TD.
“We were able to keep it close and wear them down in the second half on our long drives,” Cooper said. “When they (Southport) had the ball, our defense got after it.”
Early in the game, Southport senior quarterback Bryce Calvert went down with an injury and did not return with soph backup Gavin Cummins, who had never taken a varsity snap, taking over.
“I was proud of the way our kids battled after our general (Calvert) went down; we were able to run several ‘chunk’ plays with success,” Southport coach Alex Bettag observed. “Our defense was in a bad spot in the second half because of their (Falcons) methodical drives. We couldn’t get our defense off the field.”
Bettag continued, “Obviously our guys are badly disappointed, but this team is no longer one that goes out just to compete. This group will win. We have goals intact with conference play coming up.”
Bettag praised the play of Cummins, linebackers Calvin Miller and Fabion Tapscott, and soph wide receiver Stanovic.
Perry Meridian racked up 354 yards total offense, mostly in the second half, and limited Southport to 214 yards with each team dependent upon the ground game.
PM’s Huckaby ran 10-times for 91 yards and two TDs, while Hunter carried seven times for 86 yards. Defensively, Warren led with 14 tackles, Jacob McClure 12, and Hunter 10.
Saturday, Perry Meridian completed a clean sweep in the Battle of Perry Township on the football field as the Falcons’ freshmen and JV team won.
BIG PLAYS SPARK FC
Big plays propelled host Franklin Central to a Southside rivalry win against Roncalli.
Leading only 7-6, FC running back Braylen Gillard broke lose for a scintillating 99-yard TD run to put the Flashes up 13-6 in the third quarter. Veteran Flashes quarterback Nevan Tutterow iced the rivalry with a 45-yard TD pass to William McKinley. The two teams played to a scoreless fourth stanza.
“Our kids met the challenge of playing a tough Roncalli team that has a certain way of winning,” FC coach West said. “We ran the ball well and our defense played hard – they didn’t give up a point and that’s hard to do against Roncalli.”
Roncalli’s only points came on an interception by Ben Brandenburg who returned the ball for a 56-yard TD and a first-quarter 7-6 lead. FC scored first on Gillard’s 18-yard run.
FC’s defense forced the Royals to several three-and-out downs in the first half. It wasn’t until the second half that the game went FC’s way.
“Braylen made a great individual play,” West said. “And Tutterow stepped up and managed the game well in the second half.”
Each team gained most of their yardage on the ground with FC gaining 244 yards and Roncalli only 129 yards with 40 carries (3.2 yards per carry) with Henry Adams rushing 21 times for 70 yards.
Defensively, the Flashes were led by Elijah Shankle with 10 tackles and one sack; Hudauri Hines and Kaoe Ziegler had nine tackles apiece. Roncalli’s Henry, JJ Prendergast, and Casey Horton each had seven tackles.
AROUND THE SOUTHSIDE
• Center Grove recovered from an opening game road loss by defeating the No. 1 team from Tennessee (Oakland) at Ray Skillman Stadium. The Trojans relied on their air attack with quarterback Tyler Cherry connecting with Noah Coy for two TDs and Brevan Holubar with a 36-yard TD pass. Cherry was 18 of 22 completions for 287 yards. Meanwhile, the Trojans defense held Oakland to 168 yards rushing and a mere 38 yards passing.
• Lutheran continued its romp through the Indiana Crossroads Conference by rolling over Ritter at Marian University. The Saints led 42-0 at the half, forcing a running clock again in the second half. Jackson Willis threw for two TDs and four Saints running for more scores.
• Greenwood relied on a more balanced attack to defeat Indian Creek by scoring the final two TDs of the game. Greenwood quarterback Brock Riddle threw for three TDs and ran for another score.