Hughes Breaks Record, Wildcats Still Perfect In TRC
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Ryan Villanueva-
SOUTH WHITLEY — With falling temps and driving rain from earlier in the afternoon, it sure felt like it was going to be a miserable, late November evening at Ryan Huff Memorial Field in South Whitley Friday night. However, the weather proved to be a non-issue for the home team, as the Whitko Wildcats (5-2, 5-0 Three Rivers Conference) completed a 28-0 shutout over the visiting North Miami Warriors (0-7, 0-5 TRC). While the Wildcats maintained their perfect conference record, perhaps the even bigger story was in their senior fullback Tanner Hughes, who needed just 52 yards to break the decade-old school record for career rushing yards held by Brandon Waterson. “He works really, really hard on and off the field and it’s paying off,” Whitko coach Josh Mohr said of Hughes, who broke the rcord by 40 yards. “He’s a kid that is very humble, and he just keeps plowing forward every single snap. We put everything on our offensive line and they need to lead him through. If Tanner finds daylight, he just runs hard and low and goes forward all the time.” Hughes finished the evening with 92 yards on 17 carries, scoring three touchdowns, which seemed like another day in the office for the record-setter. Hughes scored the first points of the game on a 5-yard run after the Whitko defense forced a fumble, giving Whitko a 6-0 lead after the missed extra point attempt. North Miami’s combined rushing from Jacob White, Will Miller, Evan Sumner and Jeff Eckrote tested the Whitko defense early and often, making three trips to the red zone in the first half. However, the ‘Cats held their own and were able to force a turnover on downs on each those red-zone trips. “The defense tightened up whenever they got in the red zone,” Mohr said. “I give all the credit in the world to North Miami and their coaching staff; I told our kids all that they are a lot better than what their record shows.” “They ran the ball very well tonight, and our guys did a great job of stopping them several times and closing the door on them,” he added. Will Bumbaugh scored the only other touchdown for the ‘Cats, a 4-yard run in the fourth quarter. Next week may determine the outright champion of the TRC as the Wildcats will head west to face the Rochester Zebras (6-1, 5-0 TRC), who are coming off of a 35-8 dispatching of the Tippecanoe Valley Vikings. “We know what to expect,” Mohr said. “For the most part, Rochester has been doing the same thing they have done for a long time and they do it very well. We’ve just got to be ready to go and do what we do. Nothing special has to happen. We don’t have to do anything different than what we do, we have just got to show up ready to play and play 48 minutes of hard-nosed football.” North Miami, still seeking itsfirst win, hosts Valley Friday night.
WHITKO 28, NORTH MIAMI 0 NM 0 0 0 0 — 0 W 6 0 15 7 — 28
First Quarter W – Tanner Hughes 5 run (kick failed), 6-0. Third Quarter W – Hughes 9 run (Garrett Elder conversion pass to Will Bumbaugh), 14-0. W – Hughes 1 run (Devin Goggin kick), 21-0. Fourth Quarter W – Weeraphot Bumbaugh 4 run (Goggin kick), 28-0.
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS Rushing — Whitko, Hughes 17-92, Trace Killian 7-41, W. Bumbaugh 5-38, Elder 6-25, Connor Sherwin 3-23, Team 1-23, Zach Hewitt 4-14, Gavin Powell 1-8, Brady Weeks 4-(-1); NM, Will Miller 16-49, Jacob White 10-46, Jeff Eckrote 6-28, Trevor Linn 4-23, Evan Sumner 9-16. Passing — Whitko, Elder 1-6-40; NM, White 2-7-7. Receiving — Whitko, Landon Goff 1-40; NM, Summer 1-6, Dakota Ribble 1-1.
