By CRAIG ADKINS
The Noblesville community was amped up for their Homecoming matchup with Hoosier Crossroads Conference rival Zionsville Friday at Hare Chevrolet Field, and the football Millers were aiming for their first victory of 2017. Unfortunately, the Eagles denied Noblesville that first win, as they beat the Millers 41-27.
With the game as the focus for the night, the halftime portion of the night was all about the crowning of the homecoming royalty. The Millers crowned senior girls soccer player Tessa Scalzo as 2017 Homecoming Queen and senior Curtis Taylor as the King.
Zionsville came over from Boone County to Hamilton with a purpose and they got started on that mission right away.
The Eagles used almost four minutes of clock to travel 67-yards in 10 plays to set up Chris Freeman’s 27-yard field goal to get Zionsville up 3-0.
After the Eagle defense forced Noblesville to punt after five plays, Andrew Broecker and his offense got back to it.
Starting the drive at their own 43, they took less than two minutes to put their first touchdown on the scoreboard. Broecker found Jordan Hull for a 24-yard TD for a 10-0 Zionsville score.
Noblesville got themselves on the scoreboard with on the ensuing possession. Christian Collier returned the kickoff 50 yards to the Eagles 44. The Millers wouldn’t get too far on the drive, but got down far enough for Jack Knight 48-yard field goal, cutting the Z-ville lead to 10-3.
Zionsville didn’t let their foot off the gas in the second quarter. Freeman tacked on a field goal from 38-yards away, pushing the lead back to ten at 13-3, early in the second.
A little trickery on the part of the Eagles’ special teams, as Freeman would tap an onside kick and recovered it himself, giving Zionsville the ball at midfield, completely catching the Millers off guard.
Tommy Fossett capped off the short series with a six-yard touchdown scamper, extending the lead now to 20-3.
The visiting Eagles had things in cruise control and they were doing exactly what it took to keep Noblesville’s offense off the field.
“Well, we knew we had to put pressure on their quarterback. If we gave him time to run around, he can create some big plays, like he did there at the end,” Zionsville head coach Pat Echeverria on his defense’s containment of Noblesville quarterback Grant Gremel.
“We did a great job early on of getting pressure and getting after him,” Echeverria on his defense keeping the Millers from moving the ball like they were able to last week at Westfield.
Late in the second quarter, Mitchell Canada hauled in a five-yard touchdown grab from Broecker, giving the Eagles their halftime lead of 27-3.
It seemed like Zionsville had pretty much put their HCC road game to bed, but there was still a half of football to play. They almost made it look too easy in the first half.
“It’s never easy. I mean, Coach Simmons does a fantastic job and that’s a really, really good football team and we just played about as well as we can play for about two and a half, three quarters tonight. Again, our kids executed and I was really happy how the executed the game plan,” said Echeverria, tipping his hat to Noblesville and its team as a whole.
Noblesville’s defense was down, but not fully out of this one. Zionsville kept the Miller defense on the field much longer than they wanted to, much like they were during the first three weeks of the season.
“Yeah, I thought they ran the ball then they wanted to,” said Noblesville head coach Jason Simmons on Zionsville’s offensive consistency.
“We didn’t do a good enough job getting off the blocks and we certainly didn’t do a good job making plays in the secondary. And conversely, we’ve got to do a better job up front on the offensive side of the ball, get movement, get a push and grind out first downs,” Simmons on the Millers’ inconsistencies on offense.
Noblesville had great field position to start the second half, thanks to a big Jazz Terrell kickoff return to the Zionsville 46. The Millers again weren’t able to drive too far, but they were able to get Knight another chance to kick. This time, Jack Knight booted a career-high 49-yard field goal to cut the deficit to 27-6.
Broecker made good use of speedy wide receiver Tommy Fossett, hitting him in stride for a 51-yard touchdown pass to give Zionsville a 34-6 lead.
With a four touchdown cushion, it was time for a backup to get time at tailback. Kyle Callahan was called upon by Echeverria and showed he’s very capable, sprinting 78-yards to the house for a 41-6 score.
The Eagles had plenty of talent to go around, as they use all of their speed to their advantage.
“When it came down to it, their guys made plays and our guys did not,” Simmons on Zionsville’s ability to make plays all night at will.
Noblesville wasn’t going to roll over and play dead when they got down big.
Collier once again returned the kick to midfield. This time, the drive didn’t end in a field goal attempt. Instead, the Millers marched down all the way inside the five, where Collier finished off the drive with a four-yard dive over the goal line. This made it 41-13 and gave the Millers signs of rejuvenation.
The Miller offense had awoken from that first half slumber, but it was too little, too late.
“I feel like we made some adjustments in the second half and moved the ball better, but we can’t wait three quarters to do that. We can’t wait three quarters to get a stop. There’s a lot of things we can’t do and there’s a lot of things we can’t do and that starts with me,” Simmons on his team’s second half effort that eventually came up short.
Up by four scores, the Eagles had pretty much called off the dogs. Senior backup QB Sam Monachino tossed an interception right into the hands of cornerback Aaron Brewer, returning the pick to the Zionsville 10.
A few plays later, Zach Gruver caught a six-yard touchdown pass from Grant Gremel, trimming the Eagles’ lead to 41-20.
The Millers forced Zionsville to punt on their final possession, giving them another chance to score, but there wasn’t a whole lot of time left.
Gremel and company had to start from their own 18, but they knew what they had to do.
This drive ended with Gremel being flushed out of the pocket and eventually rushing to the front corner of the end zone for a TD from eight yards out. This made the score 41-27 and would be all Zionsville would allow.
Chase Evans tried an onside kick that was recovered by the Eagles and they would milk the rest of the clock, putting this game away.
Zionsville moves to 3-2 overall and 1-1 in HCC play and hosts upswinging Hamilton Southeastern (2-3, 1-2 HCC) in Week 6. The Royals upset previously unbeaten Westfield at home Friday, 13-0.
Noblesville drops to 0-5 on the season and 0-3 in the HCC. The Millers hit the road north next week and play out of conference at Hamilton Heights (1-4), which beat Northwestern on the road Friday night, 14-7.
Noblesville’s Zach Gruver scored a fourth-quarter touchdown for the Millers during their Homecoming game with Zionsville Friday at Hare Chevrolet Field. (Kent Graham)