By JAMES SEAY
For The Reporter
FISHERS – The Class 6A No. 4 Hamilton Southeastern Royals rallied with 17 unanswered points to defeat the 6A No. 1 Brownsburg Bulldogs 31-28 to capture the Hoosier Crossroads Conference championship Friday at Southeastern’s TCU Field.
This marks the fourth outright championship for the Royals since the inception of the HCC in 2000.
In the final week of the regular season, two of Indiana’s top five teams met to decide who might ultimately finish the season atop the AP rankings. Both teams got off to a great start as they traded touchdowns early. HSE was able to capitalize on a muffed punt to take an early 14-7. Then the Bulldogs scored 21 unanswered points to close out the first half. The Royals rallied with 17 points and the second half and were able to close the game out by blocking a Brownsburg 25-yard field goal attempt near the end of the fourth quarter.
Junior Donovan Hamilton was a critical part of Hamilton Southeastern’s first drive as he was able to secure a circus catch on a 36-yard pass from senior Ty Bradle on the opening drive to help put up the first points of the night for HSE. The drive featured three fourth down conversions including the touchdown run from the do-it-all senior Griffen Haas who also happens to lead the team in tackles.
After the impressive opening drives for both teams, both defenses were able to get together stops to force a punt. The Royals were able to take advantage of a miscue with a muffed punt as Haas was able to recover the fumble in the red zone. Bradle wasted no time connecting with junior Rylan Hastings to race out to the 14-7 lead.
In true No. 1 team fashion, the Bulldogs responded strong with defense and turnovers to score 21 consecutive points. Late in the second quarter, HSE fumbled and Brownsburg cashed in its final score with 10 seconds left in the first half. It would be the last points of the game for the Bulldogs.
“We found a way to overcome a lot of adversity in the first half and used the run game and defense to come away with the win in the second half,” said Royals head coach Michael Kelly after the win.
HSE spent a lot of the first half airing out the ball, but the second half belonged to junior Tackle Styles Prescod and the three headed running attack of juniors Jalen Alexander and Clayton Wilke and sophomore Azariah “AZ” Wallace. On multiple occasions Prescod was able to block multiple defenders while the threat of Hamilton in the pass game opened up several running lanes.
Azariah Wallace scored the go-ahead touchdown with 6:50 left in the fourth quarter. (Joshua Herd)
“Donovan [Hamilton] is a special kid, his ball skills are unbelievable but he opened up the running lanes for Brownsburg’s tough defensive front,” according to Kelly.
Wallace was the recipient of the open lanes and his shouldered a big load in toting the ball consistently over several of Hamilton Southeastern’s long second half drives.
The message from Coach Kelly was clear to Wallace going into the second half according to Wallace: “Coach challenged us to do our jobs and I wanted to respond,” said the underclassman. His hard running led to two second-half touchdowns, including the go-ahead score with 6:50 left in the fourth quarter.
With HSE nursing a 31-28 lead late in the fourth quarter, Brownsburg continued to fight with a methodical drive from their terrific running back duo of Garrett Sherrell and Caleb Marcus all of the way to the Royals red zone. The Royals’ defense was able to stand strong and force the field goal attempt to tie the game, but junior Jaren Bush had another plan. He was able to race through the line of scrimmage and block the kick to seal the game.
“I have been on special teams a lot and I know the game isn’t over, until it is over. I know have been kicking all year. I just seen our defensive line, quarterback giving their all and I know I had to get it done,” said Bush while sporting the coveted turnover belt.
The win caps off the first undefeated season for the third-year coach Kelly. The Hamilton Southeastern Royals (9-0) will kick off the postseason with a match against the Homestead Spartans (4-4) at 7 p.m. on Oct. 28.
NOTE: Stats were unavailable at press time and will run in a later edition.