Southeastern’s stellar season comes to an end
The Hamilton Southeastern football team’s remarkable season came to an end Friday in Fort Wayne.
The Class 6A No. 1 Royals fell to No. 5 Carroll in the 6A north semi-state game 21-15 at the Chargers’ stadium. Carroll never trailed in the game, leading 7-0 within the first three minutes after a one-yard touchdown run by Braden Steely.
“They had some good momentum there in the first play of the drive,” said HSE coach Michael Kelly.
Southeastern got within 7-6 midway through the second quarter after Griffen Haas punched the ball in from the one-yard line. The Chargers scored again on another run by Steely, this time from 15 yards with 2:23 left in the half. Sebastian Lopez made both extra-point kicks.
The lead was 14-6, but the Royals cut into that advantage right before halftime: Ty Bradle threw a 24-yard touchdown pass to Donovan Hamilton. A two-point try didn’t go, so Southeastern trailed 14-12 at halftime.
Carroll moved ahead 21-12 late in the third quarter after another one-yard touchdown run. The Royals fought until the end, giving themselves a chance late after Carter Gutt made a 26-yard field goal with 35 seconds left. Southeastern tried an onside kick, but the Chargers recovered to finish the game.
“We offensively couldn’t get consistency and continuity necessary to sustain drives,” said Kelly. “Credit to them, they played well. They played inspired football. Made it challenging for us to run the football offensively.”
Bradle was 12-of-26 through the air for 140 yards, while Azariah Wallace led the rushing with 78 yards.
Southeastern finished its season 12-1, winning the school’s first football sectional since 2011 and its first regional since 2005.
“There’s a lot of positives, for sure,” said Kelly. He credited the Royals’ “growth and maturity over the course of the year” for the team’s success.
On offense, Kelly said “I thought throughout the year they got consistently better week in and week out,” while the defense was “phenomenal all year long” and “played with an edge to them.”
Kelly also had praise for his seniors and “they maturity level they had.” The seniors “came in and worked hard and made our program better and players better,” said Kelly.
FORT WAYNE CARROLL 21, HAMILTON SOUTHEASTERN 15
Score by Quarters
Southeastern 0 12 0 3 – 15
FW Carroll 7 7 7 0 – 21
Team Stats HSE FWC
First Downs 18 7
By Rush 7 2
By Pass 7 5
By Penalty 4 0
Rushes-Yards 43-155 31-56
Yards Passing 140 120
Comp-Att-Int-TD 12-27-1-1 7-12-0-0
Fumbles-Lost 0-0 1-0
Penalties-Yards 1-5 7-80
Punts-Average 4-26.8 7-33.4
Southeastern Scoring
Second Quarter
6:33 – Griffen Haas 1-yard run (kick failed)
0:00 – Donovan Hamilton 24-yard pass from Ty Bradle (pass failed)
Fourth Quarter
0:35 – Carter Gutt 26-yard field goal
Southeastern individual stats
Rushing: Azariah Wallace 21-78, Ty Bradle 6-47, Jalen Alexander 7-19, Clayton Wilke 5-13, Haas 4-minus 2.
Passing: Bradle 12-26-140, team 0-1-0.
Receiving: Hamilton 5-61, John McCoy 3-19, Wilke 2-43, Silas Newton 1-10, Jack Osiecki 1-7.