By CRAIG ADKINS
For The Reporter
Carmel
The Greyhounds will hit the road one last time in the regular season and face yet another former MIC foe when they travel to the eastside of Indianapolis to play the Lawrence Central Bears (3-5). LC has played up-and-down football of late, but took top-ranked Ben Davis down to the wire before losing 26-23 at home last Friday. Carmel has a remarkable 11-0 record against the Bears and hope to make it an even dozen heading into the idle week prior to sectional.
Last week, the 10th-ranked ‘Hounds had quite the battle on their hands at home. Trading touchdowns, the game was tied at 14-14 in the final minutes when head coach John Hebert called on his kicker. Josh Placzek nailed a 37-yard field goal with 1:19 left to lift the Greyhounds to a 17-14 win over rival Warren Central. Quarterback Anthony Coellner led Carmel with 96 yards on the ground, including a big 59-yard touchdown that helped make it 7-7 at halftime. Christian Peterson would also catch a 20-yard TD pass from Coellner.
Norvil Tucker (350) and Colin Johnson (298) are leading the Greyhounds in rushing, while Nick Rodgers has caught 25 of Coellner’s 65 passes. Jimmie Winbush (68 tackles), along with Charles Marsh (64) and Artemus Bryant (64) lead a solid Carmel defense. Its defensive backfield has also caused havoc, intercepting the opponent nine times in eight games so far, including two each from Drew Cannon, Eyoel Belete and Dominic Shockley.
Fishers
The Tigers get the comfort of home field before the tournament starts. To finish out the regular season and HCC slate, Fishers will host Zionsville (3-5, 1-5 HCC) in what looks to be a fairly evenly matched game. The overall series leans to a 10-7 advantage for the Tigers, winning six of the last 10 matchups.
No. 11 Fishers (5-3, 3-3 HCC) lost a tough one on the road to a one-loss Westfield team, 28-14. The Shamrocks were in control the majority of the night, but the Tigers were within striking distance, but just couldn’t keep up. Khobie Martin added to his rushing stats by running for 122 yards on 27 carries and a score. Gage Sturgill made his first start in place of the injured Bennett Gorak, completing 13-of-27 for 122 with Millen McCartney catching three of those passes for 56 and a TD.
Martin continues to lead the county in rushing with 1,047 yards and has done that in just seven contests to average 149.6 per game. Despite just 19 yards on five grabs against Westfield, JonAnthony Hall stays atop the receiving leaderboard with 53 and 796 yards with four touchdowns.
Guerin Catholic
The Golden Eagles will finish the regular season on the road and face a team that they haven’t lost to yet. Guerin has won all four matchups against the Culver Academy Eagles (3-5) and hope to make it five as they head into the Class 3A tournament next week. The Eagles have lost four of five since starting off the season 2-1.
Homecoming was really good to second-ranked Guerin Catholic last week, as they were able to cruise to a 42-0 win over Terre Haute North. Leading rusher Peter Rooney ran for two scores on nine rushes and 69 yards, but it was sophomore Jack Linden that took almost twice as many carries. Linden ran 16 times for 110 and two touchdowns himself. Because of this backfield duo, quarterback Ryan Zimmerman didn’t have to throw much. He went 8-for-11 for 133 yards and two TDs, one to Luke Baldwin and the other to Hayden Cler.
Rooney is fifth in the county in rushing with 789 yards and six touchdowns, while his backfield cohort Jack Linden has 301 on 56 carries and scored four times. Zimmerman has 1289 yards through the air for 13 TDs, with four of his Golden Eagle pass catchers having each caught 16 passes.
Hamilton Heights
The Huskies have a chance to do something on Friday night that they haven’t done in a while. They head to West Lafayette (6-2, 4-0 HC West) to face the Red Devils, who won the West Division, while Heights won the East. The two square up for the right to be crowned Hoosier Conference champions, something Hamilton Heights hasn’t done since 2012, the same season they went all the way to the 3A state championship game, falling to Chatard, 30-13.
Last Friday, the No. 8 (fifth in the AP poll) Huskies (8-0, 3-0 HC East) had no issues at all with South Bend Washington at home, rolling the Panthers, 51-6. Eric Balcom ran all over Washington for 156 yards on just 15 carries with three TDs. Jaylyn Pugh also returned a punt 63-yards for a score. Up 31-0 at half, the Huskies allowed six points from the visitors from South Bend, but that’s all they would get in the 45-point rout.
Bodie Derrer has completed 66 percent of his passes for 1,336 yards and 12 touchdowns. Missing one game, Owen VanHaaren has 641 yards and six scores and has a solid back taking his place in Balcom, who now has 305 yards and a handful of rushing TDs. Tyler Champion is having a great junior season and is third in the county with 535 yards on 35 catches and a half dozen times in the end zone.
Hamilton Southeastern
Once again, for the second season in a row, the Hoosier Crossroads Conference title will come down to the final game of the regular season. The Royals need a huge road win in order to tie their AP top-ranked Brownsburg (8-0, 6-0 HCC). The two have split the last 10 meetings 5-5.
No. 4 Hamilton Southeastern (7-1, 5-1 HCC) came to play on defense at home last week against Franklin Central, holding the Flashes to just a field goal in a 19-3 win. All it took offensively for HSE was two quarter-ending field goals in the first and second from Hugo Belmonte field goals and rushing touchdowns from Jalen Alexander and Chandler Weston. Alexander also ran for 116 yards on the night to pace the offense. Defensive back Braden Myers had an interception late in the game to secure the win.
Alexander is just shy of 1,000 at 984 yards on the season and has 11 touchdowns. Weston has connected on 62 percent of his throws for 1,078 yards and 13 TDs. Donovan Hamilton is second in the county in receptions (35) and yards (713) for eight touchdowns. Judah Parker and Jack Osiecki both have 76 tackles to lead the HSE D, with Osiecki totalling eight sacks.
Noblesville
The Millers take a trip to Hendricks County to finish the regular season and face the Avon Orioles (1-7, 1-5 HCC). They look to grab a win heading into the state tournament and avoid finishing last in the conference standings. The Orioles lead the all-time series with an 18-4 record against Noblesville. Including winning 15 of the last 16. Noblesville won a 43-41 thriller last year.
Noblesville played the AP No. 1, IFCA third-ranked Brownsburg better than any of its previous seven opponents and just about pulled off the upset of the Bulldogs. Brownsburg scored early in the fourth on a 75-yard Garrett Sherrell touchdown run. Neither team would score again, giving the Bulldogs the 27-22 come from behind road win. Gage Gulley ran for two touchdowns and Logan Shoffner another, along with Jack Letourneau booting a pair of field goals, but that was unfortunately not enough. Shoffner would run for 190 on the night on 26 carries.
Those 190 yards jump Shoffner to 992 on the season on 121 rushes and seven touchdowns. Gulley has come on of late and proved to get more touches. On 85 carries, he has 444 yards and leads the Millers with nine touchdowns. A third option in the backfield, Gabe Bellan has 300 yards and four scores.
Sheridan
Even though the Blackhawks lost their first Hoosier Heartland Conference game at Eastern (Greentown) last week, Sheridan still has a shot to tie and at least share the HHC title with Carroll (Flora) (8-0, 6-0 HHC). That also means they have to beat the Cougars on Friday. The ‘Hawks have won 10 of the 15 overall meetings and have also gone 6-4 in the last 10.
Last week, 1A No. 9 Sheridan wasn’t able to muster up as much offense as they normally do. Trailing Eastern 13-0, the Blackhawks were able to come back and take the lead 14-13. But, the Comets were able to score with 2:13 left in the fourth to grab a 19-14 lead that would turn out to be the final. A three-headed monster in the backfield could pose a good threat to Carroll this week. Nolan Page (106), Zach Bales (92) and Eli Kolb (89) combined for 287 between them.
Kolb now has 13 touchdowns and 829 yards on the ground to lead the ‘Hawks. Bales has 284 and six times in the end zone and also leads the defense with 69 tackles. Joe Franco has 67 stops and 11 for a loss, while Parker Williams has 63 and nine tackles for a loss.
Westfield
The ‘Rocks travel to Franklin Township to face Franklin Central (4-4, 2-4 HCC) to wind down the regular season. Westfield leads the short overall series over the Flashes with a 5-0 mark. Winners of two in a row, the Shamrocks could finish in a three-way tie in the HCC, if HSE pulls off the road win at Brownsburg.
In Week 8, No. 7 Westfield (7-1, 5-1 HCC) kept the Fishers Tigers at a distance all night on their way to a 28-14 win. Two big pass plays from Jackson Gilbert to Gabe Aramboles (72) and Maximus Nosler (70), along with Mikeah Webster and Kendall Garnett rushing scores and the ‘Rocks made things happen offensively and held them off enough on defense to secure the league win. Aramboles wound up with 91 yards on three catches and Gilbert went 7-for-13 for 200 yards. Garnett had 80 yards on 17 runs.
Gilbert is now at 63 percent on completions for 1,469 yards and 14 TDs. Aramboles has caught 31 of those for 480 yards and four touchdowns. Nosler provides great depth at receiver with 426 yards on 26 catches. Garnett has also ran for 682 yards and six touchdowns. Webster is also leading the defense with 92 tackles, 7.5 for a loss.
