By RICHIE HALL
INDIANAPOLIS – Playing a football team like Warren Central brings to mind a well-known sports cliché: “You can’t stop them, you can only hope to contain them.”
No team was able to stop the Warriors in 2018. Carmel was the last team standing to try to stop Warren, but the Warriors completed their undefeated season by beating the Greyhounds 27-7 in the Class 6A state championship game, which took place Friday night at Lucas Oil Stadium.
The Warriors only used one runner during the game, senior Romeir Elliott, but that turned out to be all they needed. Elliott, headed to Southern Illinois, scored the game’s first touchdown late in the first quarter on a 35-yard run, this after WC quarterback Jayden George made a 51-yard pass to Jordan Hodge. Warren had started this drive on its own 20, and needed only three plays to go 80 yards.
“I think they just made too many explosive plays,” said Carmel senior Beau Robbins. “They got some really good players over there. We let them loose and give them some room to make plays, it’s just hard to come back from that. And I felt like we fought, but just made too many mistakes early to really come back from that.”
The ‘Hounds fought. In fact, they fought right away after the Warriors scored: Nate Frey blocked Warren’s extra point attempt. But Carmel was held to a three-and-out in its next possession, and that led to the Warriors’ next touchdown.
This time, Elliott provided the set-up, as his 28-yard run got Warren into Carmel territory at the 24. That was all George needed, as he threw to Montrez Stanley for the TD. The Warriors’ Jason Ramirez made good on the extra point this time, making the score 13-0.
Carmel, true to form, fought back again. On the next series, the Greyhounds used a nine-play drive to get their lone touchdown. Quarterback Gabe Quigley and running backs Dylan Downing and Zach White took turns carrying the ball, with a Quigley pass to Aiden Ellison also moving the ball forward.
The drive got Carmel to the WC 9, and Quigley threw another pass to Ellison in the end zone. Spencer Hanna converted the extra point kick, and the ‘Hounds were within 13-7, which is where the first half ended.
But in the second half, the Warriors’ defense began to assert itself even more. Carmel got the ball to start the half, and was making a promising drive that got the Greyhounds down to the WC 18. But a sack pushed Carmel back to the 25, and Jaiveon Standberry intercepted a pass on the next play.
“They put a lot of pressure on you,” said Greyhounds coach John Hebert. “Their defense is relentless. You’re always looking over your shoulder for somebody coming. I think it forced us into some bad decisions and they made some plays. One right before the half that took us away from getting points off of a turnover we created, and then once after a nice long drive we had at the start of the third quarter. You can’t do that against a team of Warren Central’s caliber. That’s why they’re the state champions.”
The Warriors wasted no time in getting points from the turnover: Two plays later, Jayden sent a screen pass to Elliott, who found room and was soon gone to the end zone. It was a 65-yard touchdown pass, with Elliott collecting the majority of the yards.
Warren Central scored one more touchdown in the fourth period, this one on a 12-play drive. Elliott did most of the work here, and was rewarded with a two-yard touchdown run with 3:54 left. Ramirez made the extra point kick, making him 3-for-4 on the night.
“We played hard,” said Hebert. “We knew that, we knew our kids were going to play hard. We made some uncharacteristic mistakes. Turning the ball over is not something that we’ve done in quite a while. In the past, the games that we have done that, we have not won. It goes to prove it again, you got to take care of the football. You got to take advantage of opportunities that you have and we didn’t do that.”
Carmel was held to 95 rushing yards, with Downing gaining the most ground, 51 yards on 13 carries. White had 35 yards on nine rushes and Quigley carried the ball 14 times for 25 yards. Quigley completed 4 of 9 passes for 41 yards and the touchdown.
Warren Central’s Elliott collected 162 yards in 25 carries, while George went 14-of-18 for 219 yards and the two scores.
On defense, Ryan Tilev led Carmel with five total tackles (four solo and one assist), while William Padgett had four solo tackles. A handful of Greyhounds had three solo stops and one assist: Ty Wise, Robbins, Jake Paris, Owen Schafer and Frey. Dominic Padjen (two solo, two assists) and Tommy Spraetz (one solo, three assists), also totaled four tackles.
Robbins won the Phil N. Eskew Mental Attitude Award for Class 6A football at the conclusion of the game. Robbins was a three-year starter for the ‘Hounds, has achieved a 3.8 grade-point average and will study business and play football (on a full scholarship) at Indiana University next fall. Robbins spoke highly of his coaches and teammates afterwards.
“I think I’ll look back at this as one of the best times in my life and I’m so grateful to have gotten to play through such a great program and so many great coaches,” said Robbins.
The win gave Warren Central its ninth state title and a 14-0 record. The Greyhounds finished the season 11-3, and were making their 15th appearance in a state championship contest, tying a record with Bishop Luers and Cathedral.
“Great season and one of the best that I can ever remember,” said Hebert. “After you give yourself a little bit of time to let the sting subside, you start really appreciating how great a team was and how great a season was.
“Well, I know it right now. I don’t need the time. This was just an amazing year and I love these kids. They’ve done so much for our program and they’ve influenced our younger guys to really aspire to be more. Their impact and legacy are going to live on for a long time.”
Warren Central 27, Carmel 7
Score by Quarters:
Warren Central 6 7 7 7 – 27
Carmel 0 7 0 0 – 7
Team Stats
WC CHS
First Downs 12 12
By Rush 5 5
By Pass 7 4
By Penalty 0 3
Rushes-Yards 28-159 38-95
Yards Passing 219 64
Comp-Att-Int-TD 14-18-1-2 7-15-2-1
Fumbles-Lost 0-0 2-0
Penalties-Yards 8-92 2-11
Punts-Average 3-29.3 5-35.4
Scoring
First Quarter
WC – Romeir Elliott 35-yard run (kick blocked), 1:47
Second Quarter
WC – Montrez Stanley 24-yard pass from Jayden George (Jason Ramirez kick), 9:47
C – Aiden Ellison 9-yard pass from Gabe Quigley (Spencer Hanna kick), 5:13
Third Quarter
WC – Elliott 65-yard pass from George (Ramirez kick), 3:19
Fourth Quarter
WC – Elliott 2-yard run (Ramirez kick), 3:54
Warren Central Stats
Rushing: Elliott 25-162, team 3-minus 3.
Passing: George 14-18-219
Receiving: Stanley 4-41, David Bell 4-35, Elliott 2-68, Derek Allen 2-15, Jordan Hodge 1-51, De’Marcus Brown 1-9.
Carmel Stats
Rushing: Dylan Downing 13-51, Zach White 9-35, Quigley 14-25, Tyler Trent 1-minus 5, team 1-minus 11.
Passing: Quigley 4-9-41, Trent 3-6-23.
Receiving: Ellison 3-36, Haakon Von Beynen 2-14, Sam Rogers 1-9, Zach Gish 1-5.
The Carmel football team lines up to accept the runner-up medals after the Class 6A state championship game Friday night at Lucas Oil Stadium. The Greyhounds lost to Warren Central 27-7. (Kirk Green)
Carmel’s Beau Robbins won the Phil N. Eskew Mental Attitude Award for Class 6A football at the conclusion of the game. Robbins, who received a full football scholarship to Indiana University, is pictured with his mother Anne Robbins. (Kirk Green)