Whitko Wilcats Win Sectional Opener
October 22, 2016 at 6:36 a.m.
By Mark [email protected]
Whitko lost three fumbles in its first-round 2A Sectional 35 game at Central Noble Friday night. But the host Cougars turned the ball over twice, and the Wildcats ground out enough offense to take a 28-24 win and advance to the second round.
The Wildcats couldn’t have scripted a better start. Central Noble sophomore Jesse Jacobs fumbled his return of the opening kickoff, and the Wildcats recovered at the Cougar 24. Whitko’s Garrett Elder then got loose on the left side for a touchdown run, giving Whitko the lead 15 seconds into the contest.
Whitko capped a six-and-a-half minute drive that consumed the latter half of the opening period with a touchdown. On the first play of the second quarter, Robby Owsley took advantage of the defense keying on Elder and Hunter Reed; the duo went right and Owsley went left, outrunning two defenders for the score.
With a 14-point lead, Whitko head coach Jeff Sprunger wondered if his team went into cruise control mentally. On the ensuing possession, Central Noble’s Zach Brazel ran for 26 yards, then senior workhorse Mason Smith blew by the Wildcats for a 40-yard touchdown.
“Sometimes when you get off to a start like that it can get a little scary, because the kids start thinking ‘this is going to be an easy game.’ I think it got to them a little bit,” Sprunger said. “But they bounced back, they battled hard and I’m proud of our boys. A ‘W’ is a ‘W,’ and we’ll take it.”
Whitko lost a pair of fumbles late in the quarter, and Smith scored two more touchdowns to give Central Noble a halftime lead.
“That’s what good teams do; when you make a mistake, good teams take advantage of it. That’s not a bad team we played tonight. They play a tough conference schedule, and they really did take advantage of a lot of the mistakes we made,” Sprunger said.
“Luckily, at the end of the night our kids showed their true grit, got after it, showed we have hustle and heart, and that they’re going to play ball for 48 minutes. We’ve got to continue to clean things up, because each week things are going to get tougher and tougher and we need to get better and better.”
Late in the third quarter, Whitko regained the lead when Colin Craig broke loose for a 44-yard touchdown. Central Noble answered with a touchdown pass to Sam Bortner, who was open as quarterback Jarod Trowbridge rolled out to his right.
The Wildcats took advantage of great field position and a Cougar personal foul to get the winning score. Elder capped a seven-play, 65-yard drive with his second touchdown of the night after grabbing a last-possible-second pitch from Craig on the left side of the line.
Elder finished with 118 yards on 22 carries, and Reed had 124 yards on 23 rushes. But Sprunger noted the Wildcats were able to make Central Noble pay when they keyed on the duo.
“That’s the beauty of this offense; as soon as you start to hone in on one player or two players, there’s two or three others that can always pop a big play,” he said. “And that’s what a lot of the misdirection that comes out of this offense does in the Wing-T. I’m proud of Robby Owsley, he popped a big touchdown to get us our second score. Colin Craig ran that option beautifully. We had a lot of kids step up and play solid football for us.”
Smith finished with a game-high 148 yards on 21 carries, about two-thirds of the Cougar offense, and three touchdowns. But once the Wildcats took the lead in the final period, Central Noble couldn’t cross its own 35-yard line the rest of the way.
“There’s times when our defense would bend, but it didn’t break,” Sprunger said. “We had some big stands, and at the end of the game, when they needed to play, they came out and played well. We need to learn to do that the entire game, not just in critical moments. If we can learn to do that, we could make a deep run in the playoffs.”
In the second round, Whitko (7-3) will host Whitley County rival Churubusco, a 21-16 winner over Eastside Friday night. The Eagles will bring an 8-2 record into South Whitley. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m.
Central Noble finished its season at 2-8.
WHITKO 28, CENTRAL NOBLE 24
W 6 8 8 6 – 28
CN 0 18 0 6 – 24
W CN
1st downs 17 11
Rushing yds 335 191
Passing yds 9 39
Comp-Att-Int 1-6-0 5-13-1
Total yds 334 230
Fumbles/lost 4/3 4/1
Penalties/yds 7/60 10/78
Punts/avg. 2/37.0 5/30.4
First Quarter
W – Garrett Elder 24 run (kick failed) 11:45, 6-0
Second Quarter
W – Robby Owsley 30 run (Elder run) 11:53, 14-0
CN – Mason Smith 40 run (kick failed) 11:33 14-6
CN – Smith 34 run (run failed) 3:25, 14-12
CN – Smith 4 run (run failed) 0:36, 18-14
Third Quarter
W – Colin Craig 44 run (Elder run) 1:16, 22-18
Fourth Quarter
CN – Sam Bortner 26 pass from Jarod Trowbridge (kick failed) 7:50, 24-22
W – Elder 15 run (run failed) 5:27, 28-24
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
Rushing – Whitko, Elder 22-118, Hunter Reed 23-124, Craig 10-59, Owsley 4-34; Central Noble, Smith 21-148, Zach Brazel 3-29, Trowbridge 3-(minus 3), Bortner 2-13, Jacob Brose 2-2, Conner Kirkpatrick 1-3, Nick Rawles 1-(minus 1).
Passing – Whitko, Craig 1-6-9 yds. 0 TD, 0 Int.; Central Noble, Jarod Trowbridge5-12-39 yds. 1 TD, 1 Int.; Smith 0-1-0 yds, 0 TD, 0 Int.
Receiving: Whitko, Owsley 1-9; Central Noble, Bortner 2-38, Rawles 2-2, Jesse Jacobs 1-(minus 1).
Whitko lost three fumbles in its first-round 2A Sectional 35 game at Central Noble Friday night. But the host Cougars turned the ball over twice, and the Wildcats ground out enough offense to take a 28-24 win and advance to the second round.
The Wildcats couldn’t have scripted a better start. Central Noble sophomore Jesse Jacobs fumbled his return of the opening kickoff, and the Wildcats recovered at the Cougar 24. Whitko’s Garrett Elder then got loose on the left side for a touchdown run, giving Whitko the lead 15 seconds into the contest.
Whitko capped a six-and-a-half minute drive that consumed the latter half of the opening period with a touchdown. On the first play of the second quarter, Robby Owsley took advantage of the defense keying on Elder and Hunter Reed; the duo went right and Owsley went left, outrunning two defenders for the score.
With a 14-point lead, Whitko head coach Jeff Sprunger wondered if his team went into cruise control mentally. On the ensuing possession, Central Noble’s Zach Brazel ran for 26 yards, then senior workhorse Mason Smith blew by the Wildcats for a 40-yard touchdown.
“Sometimes when you get off to a start like that it can get a little scary, because the kids start thinking ‘this is going to be an easy game.’ I think it got to them a little bit,” Sprunger said. “But they bounced back, they battled hard and I’m proud of our boys. A ‘W’ is a ‘W,’ and we’ll take it.”
Whitko lost a pair of fumbles late in the quarter, and Smith scored two more touchdowns to give Central Noble a halftime lead.
“That’s what good teams do; when you make a mistake, good teams take advantage of it. That’s not a bad team we played tonight. They play a tough conference schedule, and they really did take advantage of a lot of the mistakes we made,” Sprunger said.
“Luckily, at the end of the night our kids showed their true grit, got after it, showed we have hustle and heart, and that they’re going to play ball for 48 minutes. We’ve got to continue to clean things up, because each week things are going to get tougher and tougher and we need to get better and better.”
Late in the third quarter, Whitko regained the lead when Colin Craig broke loose for a 44-yard touchdown. Central Noble answered with a touchdown pass to Sam Bortner, who was open as quarterback Jarod Trowbridge rolled out to his right.
The Wildcats took advantage of great field position and a Cougar personal foul to get the winning score. Elder capped a seven-play, 65-yard drive with his second touchdown of the night after grabbing a last-possible-second pitch from Craig on the left side of the line.
Elder finished with 118 yards on 22 carries, and Reed had 124 yards on 23 rushes. But Sprunger noted the Wildcats were able to make Central Noble pay when they keyed on the duo.
“That’s the beauty of this offense; as soon as you start to hone in on one player or two players, there’s two or three others that can always pop a big play,” he said. “And that’s what a lot of the misdirection that comes out of this offense does in the Wing-T. I’m proud of Robby Owsley, he popped a big touchdown to get us our second score. Colin Craig ran that option beautifully. We had a lot of kids step up and play solid football for us.”
Smith finished with a game-high 148 yards on 21 carries, about two-thirds of the Cougar offense, and three touchdowns. But once the Wildcats took the lead in the final period, Central Noble couldn’t cross its own 35-yard line the rest of the way.
“There’s times when our defense would bend, but it didn’t break,” Sprunger said. “We had some big stands, and at the end of the game, when they needed to play, they came out and played well. We need to learn to do that the entire game, not just in critical moments. If we can learn to do that, we could make a deep run in the playoffs.”
In the second round, Whitko (7-3) will host Whitley County rival Churubusco, a 21-16 winner over Eastside Friday night. The Eagles will bring an 8-2 record into South Whitley. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m.
Central Noble finished its season at 2-8.
WHITKO 28, CENTRAL NOBLE 24
W 6 8 8 6 – 28
CN 0 18 0 6 – 24
W CN
1st downs 17 11
Rushing yds 335 191
Passing yds 9 39
Comp-Att-Int 1-6-0 5-13-1
Total yds 334 230
Fumbles/lost 4/3 4/1
Penalties/yds 7/60 10/78
Punts/avg. 2/37.0 5/30.4
First Quarter
W – Garrett Elder 24 run (kick failed) 11:45, 6-0
Second Quarter
W – Robby Owsley 30 run (Elder run) 11:53, 14-0
CN – Mason Smith 40 run (kick failed) 11:33 14-6
CN – Smith 34 run (run failed) 3:25, 14-12
CN – Smith 4 run (run failed) 0:36, 18-14
Third Quarter
W – Colin Craig 44 run (Elder run) 1:16, 22-18
Fourth Quarter
CN – Sam Bortner 26 pass from Jarod Trowbridge (kick failed) 7:50, 24-22
W – Elder 15 run (run failed) 5:27, 28-24
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
Rushing – Whitko, Elder 22-118, Hunter Reed 23-124, Craig 10-59, Owsley 4-34; Central Noble, Smith 21-148, Zach Brazel 3-29, Trowbridge 3-(minus 3), Bortner 2-13, Jacob Brose 2-2, Conner Kirkpatrick 1-3, Nick Rawles 1-(minus 1).
Passing – Whitko, Craig 1-6-9 yds. 0 TD, 0 Int.; Central Noble, Jarod Trowbridge5-12-39 yds. 1 TD, 1 Int.; Smith 0-1-0 yds, 0 TD, 0 Int.
Receiving: Whitko, Owsley 1-9; Central Noble, Bortner 2-38, Rawles 2-2, Jesse Jacobs 1-(minus 1).
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