The Press-Dispatch
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The Press-Dispatch Sports Wednesday, October 18, 2017 B- 3 picked up 13 yards on two carries. As a team, Pike Central compiled 338 yards in total offense – all on the ground. "Offensively, our run game was very dominant from the start to the finish," Robinette said. "Our line- men kept their blocks, drove their feet, and opened some very nice running lanes. Our backs found the lanes and ran hard all night." Clutter led Tecumseh with 28 rushing yards on 10 carries. Collectively, the Braves were held to mi- nus-16 yards rushing on 25 carries, while Dupont and Hopkins combined to com- plete six of 11 pass attempts for 93 yards. "Our defense did not give up a touchdown (their touchdown was on a kick- off return)," Robinette said. "Our players flew around and were making plays all night long. We had sever- al sacks and tackles in the backfield from our defen- sive linemen, as well as our linebackers. Our defensive backs played great coverage to present their quarterback from throwing the football." Pike Central closed out the regular season with a mixed game comprised of both seventh and eighth grade players at Tell City on Tuesday, Oct. 17. driving from its own 40 -yard line to the Chargers' 20 -yard line before turning the ball over on downs with 23.1 sec- onds remaining. A fter Pike Central stretched its lead to 28 -0 on a 40 -yard touchdown run by Zane Collins with 6:14 left in the third period, Hopkins fielded the ensuing kickoff and returned it 70 yards for a touchdown. Hopkins' two-point con- version run was good, trim- ming the Chargers' lead to 28 -8 with 6:01 remaining in the third quarter. Pike Central, however, would score on each of its next two possessions – on a one-yard touchdown run by Willis with 3:27 left in the third period and a one-yard touchdown run by Earley with 3:11 remaining in the fourth quarter – to extend its lead to 40 -8. Earley's scoring run was preceded, three plays earli- er, by a 67-yard run by Gide- on, which began at the Char- gers' 13-yard line and ended at Tecumseh's 20 -yard line. "The eighth grade has been improving all year long, especially the last several weeks," Robinette said. "They have been able to build on small successes from the past games, to fi- nally put it all together and come out on top." "This is a hard-nosed group of boys," Robinette added. "They play 100 per- cent all game long, no mat- ter what's happening on the field." Gideon led the Chargers offensively with 107 yards rushing on just three car- ries, while Collins added 103 yards on just four carries. Frasure, who had one in- complete pass in as many attempts, gained 95 yards on eight rushing attempts, and Earley and Willis both CHARGERS Continued from page 1 WIN Continued from page 1 BOX SCORE At Pike Central North Posey 14 13 7 6 – 40 Pike Central 0 0 0 22 – 22 First Quarter North Posey – Cory Heath, 26, pass from Drake Rog- ers (Carter Martin kick), 9:30. North Posey – Rogers, 2, run (Martin kick), 2:35. Second Quarter North Posey – Cory Heath, 28, pass from Rogers (Martin kick), 9:27. North Posey – Dalton Cox, 7, pass from Rogers (kick failed), 0 :19. Third Quarter North Posey – Jesse Kissel, 6, pass from Rogers (Martin kick), 3:51. Fourth Quarter Pike Central – Christian Alvey, 4, run (Zack Pan- cake pass from Mario Fields), 10 :01. Pike Central – Connor O'Neal, 22, run (run failed), 7:23. North Posey – Cox, 31, pass from Rogers (kick failed), 3:34. Pike Central – Jake Sisk, 13, run (Lane Doades run), 0 :05. Team Statistics North Posey Pike Central First Downs 19 19 Rushing Yds 226 388 Rush-Att. 35 55 Passing Yds 234 3 Pass-Att. 28 7 Pass-Comp. 20 1 Pass-Int. 0 1 Total Offense-Yds 460 391 Fumbles-Lost 2-1 3-0 Punts-Avg. 0 -0.0 0 -0.0 Penalties 5 -58 5 -44 Individual Statistics Rushing: North Posey – Alex Stewart 25 -188, Kyle Stewart 3-20, Drake Rogers 4-12, Dalton Cox 1-9, Jesse Kissel 1-1, Jarrett Motz 1-(-4). Pike Central – Chris- tian Alvey 32-223, Clint Boger 7-86, Mario Fields 10 -44, Connor O'Neal 2-25, Jake Sisk 3-5, Lane Doades 1-5. Passing: North Posey – Drake Rogers 19 -26 -0 231, Jarrett Motz 1-2-0 3. Pike Central – Christian Alvey 1-7-1 3. Receiving: North Posey – Dalton Cox 10 -92, Co- ry Heath 4-83, Austin Pearison 3-26, Alex Stewart 1- 24, Jesse Kissel 1-6, Julius Wrege 1-3. Pike Central – Clint Boger 1-3. HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL Pocket Athletic Conference Standings PAC Overall Team W-L W-L PF PA Gibson Southern 7-0 9 -0 496 80 Southridge 6 -1 7-2 317 148 North Posey 5 -2 7-2 334 243 Heritage Hills 4-3 5 -4 279 174 South Spencer 3-4 3-6 161 350 Forest Park 1-6 3-6 192 339 Pike Central 1-6 2-7 169 347 Tell City 1-6 2-7 140 336 Results of October 13 PAC Games North Posey 40, Pike Central 22 Forest Park 40, Tell City 34 Gibson Southern 55, Southridge 14 Heritage Hills 52, South Spencer 21 Area Games Crawford County 54, Wood Memorial 14 Eastern Greene 22, North Central (Farmsburg) 14 Evansville Central 60, Evansville North 14 Evansville Harrison 37, Evansville Bosse 14 Evansville Memorial 33, Castle 24 Evansville Reitz 49, Evansville Mater Dei 46 Jasper 54, Mount Vernon (Posey) 21 Linton-Stockton 40, Providence 34 Mitchell 48, Perry Central 20 Mount Carmel (Ill.) 33, Boonville 28 North Knox 42, Washington 24 Springs Valley 38, North Daviess 11 Sullivan 48, Indian Creek 38 Tecumseh 50, Dugger Union 0 Vincennes Lincoln 46, Princeton 12 END REGULAR SEASON IHSA A TOURNAMENT FRIDAY, OCTOBER 21 CLASS 5A Sectional 16 Terre Haute North Vigo at Evansville North Castle at Terre Haute South Vigo CLASS 4A Sectional 24 Evansville Harrison at Owen Valley Boonville at Evansville Bosse Jasper at Northview Evansville Reitz and Evansville Central CLASS 3A Sectional 32 Pike Central at Gibson Southern, 7:30 p.m. Princeton at Washington Evansville Memorial at Heritage Hills Mount Vernon (Posey) at Vincennes Lincoln CLASS 2A Sectional 40 North Posey at Linton-Stockton South Spencer at Southridge Evansville Mater Dei at Tell City Forest Park at North Knox CLASS 1A Sectional 48 North Daviess at Eastern Greene Wood Memorial at Tecumseh North Central (Farmersburg) at Springs Valley deep as the Vikings' 11-yard line, when a holding penalty on 4th-and-3 nullified a run by Alvey – which would have given Pike Central a new set of downs – with 2:37 remain- ing in the first half. Instead, faced with 4th- and-18 at North Posey's 25 -yard line, the Char- gers turned the ball over on downs on an incomplete pass by Alvey intended for senior wide receiver Clint Boger. "In high school football, it seems like a lot of those penalties get thrown by the guy standing on the other sideline," Mattingly said. "It's funny how that kind of works, especially in those situations. But that's the way it went, and that was the call. We tried to get our way out of it and weren't able to do it." A fter a holding penalty backed the Vikings up to their own 17-yard line, North Posey drove 83 yards in 13 plays, the last a seven-yard touchdown pass by Rogers to junior wide receiver Dal- ton Cox to extend the Vi- kings' lead to 27-0 with 19 seconds left in the second period. The Pike Central offense, which turned the ball over on downs at North Posey's 20 -yard line on its first pos- session of the second half, started its next drive at its own 9 -yard line after the Vi- kings – on a six-yard touch- down pass by Rogers to se- nior wide receiver Jesse Kis- sel and the point-after kick by senior Carter Martin – extended their lead to 24- 0 with 3:51 left in the third period. A seven-yard run by Al- vey, a 19 -yard run by Boger and a 15 -yard facemask pen- alty against North Posey ad- vanced the ball to midfield. Four plays later, on 4th- and-1, Alvey ran for two yards to give the Chargers a fresh set of downs. On the next play, howev- er, a holding penalty against Pike Central wiped out a 13-yard run by Alvey, back- ing the Chargers up to their own 49 -yard line, where they faced 1st-and-22. The setback proved mo- mentary, as a 15 -yard run by Boger, a three-yard run by O'Neal and an 11-yard run by Alvey gave Pike Central a first down at the Vikings' 22-yard line. A fter ripping off an 18 -yard run, Alvey finished the drive with a four-yard touchdown run. On the two-point conver- sion attempt, Fields com- pleted a pass to senior tight end Zach Pancake, cutting North Posey's lead to 34-8 with 10 :01 remaining in the game. North Posey, with junior quarterback Jarrett Motz taking over signal-calling duties, started its next pos- session at the Chargers' 47-yard line but – four plays later – turned the ball over on downs with 7:39 left af- ter picking up just three to- tal yards. A fter Alvey picked up 34 yards to the Vikings' 22-yard line, O'Neal followed with a 22-yard touchdown run, pull- ing the Chargers to within 34-14 with 7:23 remaining in the fourth period. North Posey, recovering the ensuing onside kick by Pike Central junior Christan Benson at midfield, rein- serted its starters back in- to the game, who generated a seven-play, 50 -yard drive capped by a 31-yard touch- down pass from Rogers to Cox with 3:34 left, extend- ing the Vikings' lead to 40 - 14. The Chargers might have been down by 26 points, but they were not out, as they drove from their own 35 -yard line to North Posey's 8 -yard line in six plays. A fter an eight-yard touch- down run by Sisk was nulli- fied by an illegal procedure penalty against Pike Cen- tral, Sisk followed it up by barreling his way 13 yards into the end zone for the first touchdown of his high school career. Sisk, who began the sea- son as an offensive guard, was moved to fullback fol- lowing the Chargers' sea- son-opening 19 -0 loss at Evansville Bosse. "We switched him to full- back and made that posi- tion more of just a straight- up blocker as opposed to not much of a threat running the ball," Mattingly said. "He's done a great job as a block- ing back for us." Mattingly added that he was happy to see Sisk score. "It's a great feeling," Mat- tingly said. "I'm happy for him. I'm happy for him not because I care about the touchdown. I was happy for him because I knew it meant something to him. And I want to see him have success. I want to see good things happen for him be- cause he's a great kid." Mattingly said that he was pleased with how the play- ers responded during the second half. "We talked at halftime about what it takes to be a leader and what it is to be a part of a brotherhood," Mat- tingly said. "Everybody can stand there before the game and talk about how they're family and how it's great to be a part of this brotherhood that is a high school football team." "But can guys do it at half- time of a game when you're down 27-0, when all the chips are down? " Mattingly continued. "What's going to happen then? Who's going to be saying that or who's going to be turning on each other? We talked about that, and I thought they did a re- ally good job of coming out and giving a united effort in the second half." Boger, who had one pass reception for three yards, added 86 yards on seven running attempts. Mario Fields, meanwhile, added 44 yards on 10 carries, and O'Neal gained 25 yards on two carries. Pike Central will return to action on Friday, Oct. 20, when the Chargers will play at Gibson Southern – which is ranked No. 1 in Class 3A – in the opening round of the sectional tournament. Pike Central dropped a 63-6 loss to the Titans on Friday, Sept. 29, at home. "We've played them be- fore," Mattingly noted. "It's a great opportunity to go prove that we're a bet- ter football team than we showed the last time we played them." "This game is all about trying to get better, and we're going to spend four days trying to get better, and come in throwing hay- makers, because that's what it's going to take," Matting- ly added. "It's versus a good tea but, like I said, it's an op- portunity to go show we can play them better than we did two Fridays ago." Kickoff is set for 7:30 p.m., Eastern time. Pike Central High School sophomore running back Mario Fields (5) tries to get past North Posey junior linebacker Dalton Cox (28) during game action on Friday, Oct. 13. Ed Cahill photo Pike Central High School senior defensive back Clint Boger (15) forced North Posey junior wide receiver Dalton Cox to fumble the ball as Char- gers sophomore defensive lineman Zeb Frasure (32) closes in during game action on Friday, Oct. 13. Cox caught 10 passes, including two for touchdowns, as the visiting Vikings won, 40-22. Ed Cahill photo Pike Central High School sophomore lineback- er Ian Allen (25) tries to tackle North Posey se- nior running back Alex Stewart during game ac- tion on Friday, Oct. 13, as Chargers senior defen- sive lineman Tyler Vickers (65) closes in. Ed Ca- hill photo Pike Central High School senior quarterback Christian Alvey (16) protects the ball while run- ning for a big gain during game action against visiting North Posey on Friday, Oct. 13. Alvey gained a game-high 223 yards on 32 carries and scored one touchdown in the Chargers' 40-22 loss. Ed Cahill photo Pike Central Middle School eighth grade foot- ball player Zane Collins (21) makes a tackle during game action at Tecumseh on Thursday, Oct. 12. The Chargers defeated the Braves 40- 8. Ed Cahill photo