By CRAIG ADKINS
For The Reporter
We’re now at the point that two regular season games remain, and the high school football season has obviously flown by. And teams are that much closer to finding out their postseason fates, as the sectional draw for the IHSAA football state tournament takes place at 6 p.m. Sunday on www.ihsaatv.org.
Early next week, The Reporter will have a breakdown of the matchups for all eight Hamilton County teams and who they will face in their respective classes to begin the state football tournament.
6A No. 8 Hamilton Southeastern (5-2, 3-2) at 6A No. 12 Franklin Central (4-2, 3-2)
The Royals and Flashes will meet for the seventh time since Franklin Central joined the Hoosier Crossroads Conference. HSE holds a 4-2 record in the first six and has won four in a row after dropping the first two in the series.
Franklin Central took down Fishers at home last week, 22-13.
Noblesville came up on the short end of a back-and-forth battle at home to Hamilton Southeastern. The two HCC rivals traded touchdowns throughout with HSE winning late, 28-21.
Brody Gump got the Millers on the board on the first play of the game with an 80-yard touchdown run, 7-0.
A few minutes later, Kendrick Pennybaker caught a 23-yard pass from Chandler Weston to tie it 7-7.
Noblesville grabbed a 14-7 lead at half on a Ty Holmes two-yard TD run with 58 seconds left in the second.
The Royals tied it 14-14 midway through the third on a Carter Reed run from two yards away.
The fourth became the survival of the fittest. On the first play of the quarter, Vaughan Johnson put HSE out in front 21-14 with a 19-yard run.
The Millers tied it again 21-21 with Holmes’ second touchdown run. Southeastern then stunned the home crowd when Johnson ran in his second score with six seconds left to give the Royals the 28-21 road win.
Reed led the rushing attack for HSE with 156 yards on 21 carries and Johnson was a solid complement with 93 on 11 rushes.
Eastern (Greentown) (3-4, 3-2) at Sheridan (4-3, 4-1)
The Comets and Blackhawks will meet up for the 12th time at Bud Wright Stadium tonight. Sheridan has an 8-3 record so far in the series, although Eastern has won three of the last five, including last year’s 19-14 win on their home field.
Eastern got its second win in a row last week over Tri-Central, 28-6.
The Blackhawks stood the tall task on the road at Delphi last week and came home with a 21-7 victory.
Delphi grabbed a 7-0 first quarter lead and the score stayed the same at halftime.
Sheridan got its offense going in the third and defensively shut out the Oracles in the second half.
Just past the midway point of the third, Alex Cravens scored the first of his two touchdowns, followed by Owen Bell rushing one in for the 14-7 lead. Cravens scored his second with 4:20 left in the game to seal it, 21-7.
A handful of backs combined for 64 carries and 441 yards that was good for 24 first downs. Cravens led Sheridan with a career night, carrying 35 times for 237 yards. Jon Barnes had eight rushes for 109 and Jacob Hall 16 for 83.
3A No. 11 Guerin Catholic (3-4) at Terre Haute North (2-5)
The Golden Eagles hit the road to face the Patriots, a team they faced just once and that was last season. In 2023, Guerin shutout North, 42-0.
Last Friday, Terre Haute North defeated Southport by a slim 15-13.
Guerin just wasn’t able to get in sync offensively, which stemmed into not being able to stop Pike last week.
The first was kept honest with Pike up 7-3. The Red Devils scored another in the second to lead 14-3 at halftime.
The Red Devils’ speed showed out in the second half. They would score twice in both the third and fourth quarters to run away with a 42-3 win back to the upper west side.
Aidan Horn (40), Jack Linden (35) and Kolbe Klee (33) shared the bulk of the carries. Julian Melendez caught three passes for 43 yards.
Hamilton Heights (2-5, 2-1 Big) at Tipton (4-3, 1-1 Small)
The Huskies will head just over the northern border of Hamilton County into Tipton County tonight to face the Tipton Blue Devils.
This will be the 34th meeting all-time between the two neighboring rural communities. Tipton holds a 20-13 mark in those first 33, although Heights has won the last two years’ battles by a combined 85-7.
Tipton lost a road game in the Hoosier Conference Small Division last week at Lafayette Central Catholic, 35-13.
Homecoming was quite the night for the Huskies in a 26-16 win over Twin Lakes. They grabbed a 6-0 lead in the first when Joey Sigler threw a 54-yard TD pass to Tyler Champion.
The Indians tied it 6-6 with a second quarter score, which was the halftime total.
Twin Lakes grabbed the lead 13-6 with a touchdown. Heights jumped back in front 14-13 on a second touchdown pass from Sigler to Champion.
The Indians kicked a field goal at the beginning of the fourth for a 16-14 edge, but that didn’t last long.
Luke Davis ran back a short interception 10-yards for the 20-16 lead that the Huskies never gave back.
In the final minute Sigler completed the hat trick to Champion for a five-yard TD.
Sigler was 14 of 23 for 237 yards through the air, mainly to Champion for 222 yards on 10 receptions. Along with Davis, Nick Bichey also had an interception.
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