The Press-Dispatch
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The Press-Dispatch Sports Wednesday, August 30, 2017 B- 3 line, Princeton (0 -2) – aid- ed by a defensive pass inter- ference penalty – advanced to the Chargers' 12-yard line before turning the ball over on downs with 9:23 left in the first period. A 44-yard run by sopho- more running back Mario Fields gave Pike Central a first down at the Tigers' 44-yard line. Four plays lat- er, however, a fumble by Ma- rio Fields was recovered by Princeton at its own 17-yard line with 6:57 remaining in the first quarter. A fter Tigers senior wide receiver Corbin Wilker- son rushed for a three-yard gain, Princeton picked up four first downs on the next four plays – an 18 -yard pass from senior quarterback Maleek Hardiman to soph- omore wide receiver Keith Madison; a 16 -yard run by junior running back Dovon- te Hardiman; a 24-yard run by senior wide receiver Co- ry Bustos; and an 11-yard run by Maleek Hardiman – while advancing to the Char- gers' 11-yard line. Three plays later, Maleek Hardiman connected with junior Zach Dove on an 11-yard touchdown pass. Junior Drew Robb's point-af- ter-touchdown kick was good, giving the Tigers a 7- 0 lead with 3:57 left in the first period. Pike Central answered, however, with a 15 -play, 60 -yard scoring drive that was capped by a three- yard touchdown run by Ma- rio Fields. Junior Christian Benson's point-after-touch- down kick was good, tying the score at 7-7 with 9:27 left in the second quarter. On its ensuing posses- sion, Princeton – faced with 4th-and-36 from its own 39 -yard line – elected to go for it, and Maleek Hardiman connected with Bustos on a 36 -yard pass to give the Ti- gers a fresh set of downs at the Chargers' 24-yard line. On the next play, however, a pass from Maleek Hardi- man deflected off junior wide receiver Stephan Wilk- erson and into the hands of Pike Central senior defen- sive back Clint Boger. Starting at their own 25 -yard line, the Chargers advanced the ball to Prince- ton's 34-yard line when – on 2nd-and-6 – Alvey hooked up with Boger on a 28 -yard pass to the Tigers' 6 -yard line. Three plays later, Alvey scored on a one-yard run. Benson's point-after-touch- down kick was good as Pike Central took a 14-7 lead with 2:49 remaining in the first half. Starting its next offensive drive at its own 48 -yard line, Princeton strung together a seven-play, 52-yard drive – capped by a four-yard touch- down run by junior running back Dovonte Hardiman – to tie the score at 14-14 with 43 seconds left in the second period. Despite going into half- time tied at 14-14, the Char- gers – according to Alvey – liked the position they had put themselves in to win the game. "I was sensing it about halftime, when we started scoring and everybody was getting excited," Alvey said. "We were all pumped, and we went to the locker room and celebrated a little bit. But Coach said we've got to be ready for the next half." Pike Central came out ready to play when the sec- ond half started, driving from its own 40 -yard line to the Tigers' 5 -yard line be- fore Alvey scored on a 2nd- and-2 run. Benson's point-af- ter-touchdown kick was good, giving the Chargers a 21-14 lead with 8:04 left in the third period. Princeton would threat- en to score on its first sec- ond-half possession, driving from its own 48 -yard line to Pike Central's 10 -yard line. However, on 4th-and-6, Chargers' sophomore de- fensive back Connor O'Ne- al broke up a pass intended for Bustos, forcing the Ti- gers to turn the ball over on downs with 5:57 remaining in the third quarter. A fter Princeton regained possession of the ball on an interception, the Ti- gers drove from their own 15 -yard line to Pike Cen- tral's 5 -yard line. On 1st-and-goal, Princ- eton sophomore running back Darrion Madison was tackled for a two-yard loss by Pancake. However, on the next play, Maleek Hardiman scored on a seven-yard run with 11:47 left in the fourth quarter. Robb's kick, however, sailed wide left, leaving Pike Central with a 21-20 lead. With the Chargers start- ing their ensuing offensive drive at their own 28 -yard line, Alvey ran for gains of seven yards and two yards. However, after Mario Fields was stopped for no gain, Pike Central – facing 4th- and-1 from its own 37-yard line – called a timeout with 9:26 remaining. "Coach, at first, he said, 'You guys want to go for it? '" Alvey recalled. "And all of us, we were pumped up, and we said, 'Yeah, we want to go for it.' And he said, 'All right, make me proud.'" Alvey, behind a strong push by the offensive line, surged forward on a quar- terback keeper for a three- yard gain, giving the Char- gers a fresh set of downs at their own 40 -yard line. "We went out there and the linemen blocked every single one of them," Alvey said. "And we got the first down." "The kids wanted to go for that," Mattingly said. "They were all pumped about it, so I said, 'Okay, you better get it then.' And they did a good job of getting it." Four plays later, on 2nd- and-5 from the Princeton 43-yard line, Alvey broke through the line and – af- ter stiff-arming a Tiger de- fensive back – raced into the end zone, giving Pike Cen- tral a 27-20 lead with 6:56 left. Since a point-after-kick would still give Princeton a chance to tie the score – with a touchdown and a two-point conversion – the Chargers decided to go for the two-point conversion to force the Tigers to have to score twice. Alvey kept the ball and barreled his way into the end zone, extending Pike Central's lead to 29 -20. "We just thought it was worth the risk, to try to go up by two scores," Matting- ly said. "It paid off. If we don't get that and they don't miss an extra point, then we're having a different conversation. But this time it worked." On its next possession, Princeton would turn the ball over on downs at the Chargers' 29 -yard line with 4:41 left. However, Pike Central was subsequently forced to punt from its own 40 -yard line with 1:28 re- maining. A 44-yard pass from Maleek Hardiman to Dovon- te Hardiman gave the Tigers a first down at the Chargers' 20 -yard line before back-to- back runs – an eight-yard run by Bustos and a two- yard run by Maleek Hardi- man – gave Princeton a 1st- and-goal from the 10 -yard line with 34.9 seconds left. Four plays later, Maleek Hardiman connected with Bustos on a four-yard touch- down pass. Maleek Hardi- man then completed a pass to Dove for the two-point conversion, pulling the Ti- gers to within 29 -28 with 14 seconds remaining. The Chargers sealed their victory on the ensuing kick- off, when Mario Fields re- covered the onside kick at the Pike Central 44-yard line with 13 seconds left. On the game's final play, Alvey took the snap from center and went to a knee to run out the clock. Asked what the differ- ence was for the Chargers between its season-open- ing loss at Evansville Bosse and Friday night's win over Princeton, Mattingly said: "As the season goes by, you've just got to find a way to get better. We really didn't have an exceptional week of practice. It was just grind away, grind away, grind away. Sometimes it pays off on Friday and sometimes it doesn't, but if feels pretty good when it pays off." "The thing I'm happi- est with about tonight, the number one thing was no matter what counter-blow they really had, we kept playing. When you've got a lot of guys going two ways POWER Continued from page 1 HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL Pocket Athletic Conference Standings PAC Overall Team W-L W-L PF PA Gibson Southern 2-0 2-0 117 7 Heritage Hills 1-0 2-0 83 26 North Posey 1-0 2-0 104 41 Pike Central 0 -0 1-1 29 47 Southridge 0 -0 1-1 38 44 Forest Park 0 -1 1-1 35 62 Tell City 0 -1 1-1 20 47 South Spencer 0 -2 0 -2 13 96 Results of August 25 PAC Games Pike Central 29, Princeton 28 Heritage Hills 41, Tell City 0 North Posey 63, Mount Vernon (Posey) 35 Forest Park 35, Perry Central 0 Gibson Southern 55, South Spencer 7 Jasper 28, Southridge 21 Area Games Castle 56, New Albany 49 Eastern Greene 48, North Knox 6 Evansville Central 49, Owensboro (Ky.) Apollo 7 Evansville Reitz 34, Owensboro (Ky.) Catholic 0 Harrisburg (Ill.) 17, Mount Carmel (Ill.) 14 Henderson County (Ky.) 21, Evansville North 3 Linton-Stockton 30, Sullivan 28 Mitchell 50, Springs Valley 22 North Central (Farmersburg) 44, North Daviess 22 Tecumseh 54, Rock Creek Academy 26 Terre Haute North 44, Evansville Harrison 15 Traders Point Christian 3, Dugger Union 0 Vincennes Lincoln 52, Boonville 9 Washington 37, Evansville Bosse 7 Results of August 26 Area Games Evansville Mater Dei 21, Owensboro (Ky.) 29 (OT) Evansville Memorial 58, Daviess County (Ky.) 22 Games of September 1 PAC Games Pike Central at Heritage Hills, 8 p.m. Forest Park at Southridge Gibson Southern at North Posey Tell City at South Spencer Area Games Covenant Christian at Dugger Union Eastern Greene at North Daviess Evansville Bosse at Evansville Central Evansville Harrison at Evansville Mater Dei Evansville North at Evansville Memorial Evansville Reitz at Castle Jasper at Boonville Lexington (Ky.) Christian at Vincennes Lincoln Linton-Stockton at Monrovia Mount Vernon (Posey) at Mount Carmel (Ill.) Northview at Sullivan Princeton at Washington Rock Creek Academy at Wood Memorial Springs Valley at Paoli Tecumseh at North Knox West Washington at Mitchell BOX SCORE At Pike Central Princeton 7 7 0 14 – 28 Pike Central 0 14 7 8 – 29 First Quarter Princeton – Zach Dove, 11, pass from Maleek Hardi- man (Drew Robb kick), 3:57. Second Quarter Pike Central – Mario Fields, 3, run (Christian Ben- son kick), 9:27. Pike Central – Christian Alvey, 1, run (Benson kick), 2:49. Princeton – Dovonte Hardiman, 4, run (Robb kick), 0 :43. Third Quarter Pike Central – Alvey, 5, run (Benson kick), 8:04. Fourth Quarter Princeton – M. Hardiman, 7, run (kick failed), 11:47. Pike Central – Alvey, 43, run (Alvey run), 6:56. Princeton – Cory Bustos, 4, pass from M. Hardiman (Dove pass from Hardiman), 0 :14. Team Statistics Princeton Pike Central First Downs .......................22 ........................... 17 Rushing Yds .....................204 ......................... 362 Rush-Att. ............................26 ........................... 53 Passing Yds ......................215 .......................... 36 Pass-Att..............................31 ............................ 5 Pass-Comp. .......................13 ............................ 2 Pass-Int. ..............................1 ............................. 1 Total Offense-Yds ............419 ......................... 398 Fumbles-Lost ................... 0 -0 ...........................2-1 Punts-Avg. ...................... 0 -0.0 ...................... 1-26.0 Penalties ..........................8 -65 ........................ 8 -65 Individual Statistics Rushing: Princeton – Dovonte Hardiman 11-81, Maleek Hardiman 7-64, Cory Bustos 2-32, Corbin Wilkerson 4-24, Darrion Madison 2-3. Pike Central – Christian Alvey 30 -175, Mario Fields 14-93, Connor O'Neal 5 -56, Clint Boger 4-38. Passing: Princeton – Maleek Hardiman 13-31-1 215. Pike Central – Christian Alvey 2-5 -1 36. Receiving: Princeton – Cory Bustos 4-53, Corbin Wilkerson 4-41, Dovonte Hardiman 2-83, Keith Gar- rett 1-18, Zach Dove 1-11, Stephan Wilkerson 1-9. Pike Central – Clint Boger 2-36. Pike Central High School sophomore running back Mario Fields (5) celebrates after the Chargers tied the score at 14-14 during var- sity football action against visiting Princeton on Fri- day, Aug. 25. Pike Central defeated the Tigers, 29-28 Ed Cahill photo Pike Central High School junior linebacker Lane Doades (42) and se- nior defensive lineman Luke Vinnedge (55) team up to tackle Princeton junior wide receiver Stephan Wilkerson during varsity football action on Friday, Aug. 25. Ed Cahill photo Pike Central High School junior linebacker Jake Sisk (44), sophomore de- fensive back Connor O'Neal (3) and senior defensive back Adam Wilkison (2) team up to tackle Princeton junior running back Dovonte Hardiman (center) during varsity football action on Friday, Aug. 25. The host Chargers defeated the Tigers, 29-28. Ed Cahill photo Pike Central High School junior Christian Benson (6) kicks an extra-point attempt out of the hold of senior Clint Boger (15) ahead of the rush by Princ- eton junior Drew Robb (3) during varsity football action on Friday, Aug. 25. Ed Cahill photo Pike Central High School sophomore wide re- ceiver Connor O'Neal (3) tries to get around Princeton senior defensive back Corbin Wilker- son (4) as junior running back Lane Doades (42) blocks during varsity football action on Friday, Aug. 25. The host Chargers defeated the Tigers, 29-28. Ed Cahill photo and stuff starts getting hard – not every team can keep doing that. So if we can stay healthy and keep getting better with that type of re- siliency, we're going to be in really good shape. That's what I was happiest to see – that and our quarterback running for 175 yards." Mario Fields added 93 See PAST on 5