The Press-Dispatch
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Heritage Hills rolls past Chargers, 69-13 By Ed Cahill Press-Dispatch Sports Editor sports@pressdispatch.net Heritage Hills scored six touchdowns on 18 offensive plays and added two more on defense to take a 55 -0 halftime lead while cruising to a 69 -13 victory over host Pike Central in a high school football game on Friday, Sept. 5, at Weathers Field. Senior quarterback Logan Wilkerson completed six of nine first-half pass at- tempts for 120 yards and three touchdowns — including two to senior running back Se- an Schaefer — as the Patriots improved to 3-0 overall and 2-0 in the Pocket Athletic Conference. Pike Central, which slipped to 0 -3 overall and 0 -1 in the PAC with its eighth straight loss, was held to just 58 yards on 30 offen- sive plays in the first half. "We came out and they just handled us," Chargers' head coach Dustin Powell said. "I mean, that's all you can say. We didn't an- swer the challenge very well." "You can't be flat in warm-ups and come out against a team like that and think that you're going to get anything accomplished," Powell added. "The first half ... that's not the way we've been playing, and that's not the way we coach them to play. Let's just hope that's our bad half for the year." While Pike Central was missing offen- sive/defensive lineman Bryce Manning af- ter the 6 -foot-1, 270 -pound senior suffered an ankle injury at school during the previ- ous week, Powell refused to use Manning's absence as an excuse for the Chargers' lack- luster play during the first half. "He is a huge part of what we're doing but, as with any sport, you've got to go with what you've got," Powell said. "Did we miss him? Heck yes. I would have loved to have had him out there, but we didn't. We'll just hope he gets everything taken care of and gets back sooner than later. So we'll see." Pike Central took the game's opening kickoff but, after the Chargers were forced to punt from its own 20 -yard line, Schaefer fielded senior Dakota Walker's 27-yard boot and returned it 14 yards to the 33-yard line. Two plays later, Schaefer broke through the Pike Central defense for a 28 -yard touch- down run that — following senior Colin Cur- tis' point-after kick — gave Heritage Hills a 7-0 lead with 9:49 left in the first quarter. Starting their second possession of the game at their own 29 -yard line, the Char- gers were forced to punt after sophomore tailback Jaylon Owens was tackled for a six-yard loss on a 3rd-and-10 running play. Walker's punt went out of bounds at Pike Central's 40 -yard line. Two plays later, Wilkerson connected with Schaefer on a 35 -yard touchdown pass. Curtis' point-after kick extended the Patri- ots' lead to 14-0 with 6:33 remaining in the first period. After recovering a fumble on the ensuing kickoff, Wilkerson hooked up with junior running back Caleb Mulzer on a 23-yard touchdown pass. Following Curtis' point- after kick, Heritage Hills had a 21-0 lead with 6:21 left in the opening period. A one-yard touchdown run by Mulzer ex- tended the Patriots' lead to 27-0 with 3:01 left in the first quarter. Wilkerson then con- nected with Schaefer on a 36 -yard touch- down pass on the final play of the opening period to give Heritage Hills — following Curtis' point-after kick — a 34-0 advantage. Three plays later, Patriot senior lineback- er Zack Jones recovered a fumble at the Pike Central 2-yard line and returned it into the end zone, stretching the Patriots' lead to 41- 0 with 10 :20 left in the second quarter. The Chargers, however, began showing some signs of life offensively when, on 4th- and-6 at the Pike Central 25 -yard line, Walk- er — after dropping back to punt — fielded the snap from center and ran for an 18 -yard gain. On the next play, Charger sophomore quarterback Aaron Carlisle connected with junior split end Eli Loveland for a 12-yard pass, giving Pike Central a first down at the Patriots' 43-yard line. Four plays later, however, Heritage Hills senior defensive end Sam Collins picked off a pass from Carlisle and returned it 69 yards into the end zone to extend the Patriots' lead to 48 -0 with 6:20 remaining in the first half. "We threw it behind the receiver," Powell said. "That stuff's going to happen. It looked a lot worse because of what the score was and everything." On its next possession, Pike Central was able to pick up another first down when Car- lisle completed a 13-yard pass to Walker to the Chargers' 47-yard line. However, a one-yard gain on a run by Walker, a three-yard loss on a sack of Carl- isle and an incomplete pass forced Pike Cen- tral to punt from its own 45 -yard line. Fielding Walker's punt at the Heritage Hills' 24-yard line, Schaefer returned the ball 49 yards to the Chargers' 27-yard line before being tackled from behind by Pike Central sophomore Jacob Marchino. Four plays later, the Patriots stretched their lead to 55 -0 on a three-yard touch- down run by Mulzer. "We were just flat, from the beginning," Powell said of the Chargers' play during the first half. "I don't know what to give credit for that. It was just not good. And, ultimate- ly, when it's all said and done, that falls on me." "We came in at halftime and told them we're going to go out with a clean slate, ze- ro-zero, and just play," Powell added. "We didn't care who they lined up against us, we were going to go out and just play. We chal- lenged them a little bit." Heritage Hills opened the second half with a 10 -play, 60 -yard drive that culminat- ed in an 8 -yard touchdown pass from soph- omore quarterback Grant Doyle to sopho- more running back Jacob Klueh, extending the Patriots' lead to 62-0 with 3:43 left in the third period. On the next play from scrimmage, Ow- ens darted through the Heritage Hills de- fense and raced 71 yards to the end zone. Sophomore Colton White's point-after kick cut the deficit to 62-7 with 3:01 remaining in the third quarter. After the Patriots' next offensive series fizzled out at the Chargers' 45 -yard line ear- ly in the fourth period, Pike Central found itself facing 4th-and-2 at the Heritage Hills' 47-yard line when Carlisle connected with Walker on a 37-yard pass, setting up a 1st- and-goal at the 10 -yard line. Three plays later, Walker barreled his way into the end zone, pulling the Char- gers to 62-13 with 5:56 left in the contest. Heritage Hills wrapped up the scoring on a 13-yard touchdown run by sophomore run- ning back Ethan Griepenstroh with 1:30 re- maining. After picking up a first down to its own 44-yard line on a run by senior split end Garrett Wojtowicz, Pike Central appeared to have scored on its third straight posses- sion when sophomore running back Colton O'Neal rambled 56 yards into the end zone with 20.6 seconds left. However, the play was nullified by a holding penalty. Powell said afterward that he was pleased with how the Chargers played during the second half, racking up 139 yards on 10 of- fensive plays. "It's tough as a player to go out and be in that situation," Powell said. "I thought the kids handled themselves really well. They could have came out in the second half and just absolutely folded over and said, 'This game is done.'" "They didn't," Powell said. "We chal- lenged them at halftime and they came out and they did some good things. We've got to build on that. We've got to look at that second half and say these were some good things, and move on." Powell described Heritage Hills as a "sol- id" program and a "really good" team. "We knew that coming in but, at the same time, we're telling our horses that they can push their horses," Powell said. "They smacked us around a little bit and we didn't answer to it very well. We challenged them a little bit and they came out and I thought they did some good things. So that's what we're going to build on." The game also marked the return to the sideline of senior Mason Petty less than three weeks after Petty underwent surgery to remove a brain tumor that was discovered when he began complaining of headaches. "He really is a fun kid, and having him here was great," Powell said. "I got to talk to him before the game a little bit. He told me about everything and, man, everything looks good. He's pumped up about coming back to school, and more than once out of his mouth was, 'I'll be back out on the field.' We'll see what happens there, but just hav- ing him here is a blessing." Owens led the Chargers in rushing with 76 yards on 14 carries while Walker gained 26 yards on five rushing attempts. Carlisle, meanwhile, completed nine of 13 pass attempts for 74 yards with one in- terception. Owens had four receptions for a total of seven yards, while Walker caught three passes for 53 yards. Defensively, O'Neal paced Pike Cen- tral with eight tackles, including five so- los. Marchino (5 solos/2 assists) and se- nior Johnnie Perry (2 solos/5 assists) both had seven tackles while Owens (3 solos/3 assists), Walker (4 solos/2 assists), sopho- more Chase Davis (2 solos/4 assists) and sophomore Josh Riley (3 solos/3 assists) added six each. Griepenstroh led Heritage Hills with 114 yards on 15 second-half carries. Mulzer and Schaefer both rushed three times while add- ing 53 and 36 yards, respectively. Wilkerson completed six of nine pass at- tempts for 120 yards and three touchdowns. Schaefer had two catches — both for touch- downs — for a total of 71 yards. Mulzer had two receptions for 32 yards and one touch- down. Pike Central returns to action on Friday, Sept. 12, when the Chargers will travel to Tell City, which is 0 -3 overall and 0 -2 in the PAC following a 48 -24 loss to visiting South Spencer. "They have got an absolute stud at run- ning back, but we're going to go out and we're going to get ready for them, just keep that intensity," Powell said. "That falls on me. We're going to keep that intensity up and we're going to come out ready to go." Kickoff is set for 7:30 p.m., Eastern time. At Pike Central Heritage Hills 34 21 7 7 – 69 Pike Central 0 0 7 6 – 13 First Quarter HH – Sean Schaefer, 28, run (Colin Cur- tis kick), 9:49. HH – S. Schaefer, 35, pass from Logan Wilkerson (Curtis kick), 6:33. HH – Caleb Mulzer, 23, pass from Wilk- erson (Curtis kick), 6:21. HH – Mulzer, 1, run (kick failed), 3:01. HH – S. Schaefer, 36, pass from Wilker- son (Curtis kick), 0 :00. Second Quarter HH – Zack Jones, 2, fumble return (Cur- tis kick), 10 :20. HH – Sam Collins, 69, interception return (Curtis kick), 6:20. HH – Mulzer, 3, run (Curtis kick). Third Quarter HH – Jacob Klueh, 8, pass from Grant Doyle (Curtis kick), 3:43. PC – Jaylon Owens, 71, run (Colton White kick), 3:01. Fourth Quarter PC – Dakota Walker, 3, run (kick failed), 5:56. HH – Ethan Griepenstroh, 13, run (Cur- tis kick), 1:30. Team Statistics HH PC First Downs ............................9 5 Rushing Yds ...................... 245 123 Rush-Att. .............................. 28 27 Passing Yds ....................... 128 74 Pass-Att.................................10 13 Pass-Comp. ............................7 9 Pass-Int. ..................................0 1 Total Offense ..................... 373 197 Fumbles-Lost ..................... 2-0 3-2 Punts-Avg. ....................... 0 -0.0 6 -26.8 Penalties ........................... 6 -40 3-31 Time of Poss. ..................24:08 23:52 Individual Statistics Rushing: Heritage Hills – Ethan Gri- epenstroh 15 -114, Caleb Mulzer 3-53, Sean Schaefer 3-36, Logan Wilkerson 1-19, Mat- thew Graham 3-14, Zack Jones 1-5, Grant Doyle 1-4, Casey Miller 1-0. Pike Central – Jaylon Owens 14-76, Dakota Walker 5 -26, Colton O'Neal 5 -14, Garrett Wojtowicz 1-13, Aaron Carlisle 2-(-6). Passing: Heritage Hills – Logan Wilk- erson 6 -9 -0 120, Grant Doyle 1-1-0 8. Pike Central – Aaron Carlisle 9 -13-1 74. Receiving: Heritage Hills – Sean Schaefer 2-71, Caleb Mulzer 2-32, Caleb Sa- belhaus 1-12, Jacob Klueh 1-8, Oliver Froe- schl 1-5. Pike Central – Jaylon Owens 4- 7, Dakota Walker 3-53, Eli Loveland 1-13, Colton O'Neal 1-1. Pike Central High School sophomore quarterback Aaron Carlisle (left, 4) signals to the sideline. Ed Cahill photo Pike Central High School sophomore tailback Jaylon Owens (24) finds some running room along the sideline during game action against visiting Heritage Hills on Friday, Sept. 5. Ed Cahill photo Pike Central High School senior wide receiver Garrett Wojtowicz (21) tries to catch a pass as Heritage Hills senior defensive back Sean Schaefer defends during game action on Fri- day, Sept. 5. Ed Cahill photo Pike Central High School sophomore linebacker Chase Davis (44) helps bring down a Heritage Hills ball carrier during game action on Friday, Sept. 5. Ed Cahill photo Pike Central High School sophomore running back Colton O'Neal (3) finds some running room during game action against visiting Heritage Hills on Fri- day, Sept. 5. Ed Cahill photo B-8 Wednesday, September 10, 2014 The Press-Dispatch