By CRAIG ADKINS
For the No. 6 Sheridan Blackhawks and the No. 4 Monroe Central Golden Bears, it looked to be a sectional championship game that would come down to the wire, at least that’s what head coach Bud Wright and his team were hoping would be the case.
Unfortunately, things didn’t turn out how Sheridan would have liked on Friday night, as they dropped the Class 1A Sectional 44 championship game to Monroe Central, 26-7.
Monroe Central head coach John Hochstetler made it known to his team following their sectional championship that they had just won a sectional title on hallowed ground and that Sheridan is one of the best program’s in the state of Indiana.
“It had to be a team thing, because they are a really good team. We were not going to beat them with individuals tonight,” said Hochstetler on his Golden Bears playing a complete team game in their sectional championship game at Sheridan.
The first possession of the game was a quick one for Sheridan and it ended like plenty of other did throughout the season, with a Joe Callahan touchdown, in typical fashion from 38 yards away for an early 7-0 Blackhawk lead.
Monroe Central made quite the impression on the ensuing drive as they would use up just over six minutes of clock in the first quarter before Israel Nash would punch it in from the one-yard line for the first Golden Bears score of the night. The two-point conversion pass attempt failed, leaving Sheridan still up 7-6.
After the Golden Bears put a stop to the Blackhawk offense, they punted the ball right back to Monroe Central.
Casey Conatser and his offense found ways to make things happen and they did it the rest of the night.
Fullback Keegan Kane bowled his way, with the help of his offensive line, into the end zone for a six yard touchdown run. Conatser completed the two-point conversion pass to Seth Wilson to put Monroe Central on top with a 14-7 lead, one they wouldn’t give back.
On the first play of the third quarter, Monroe Central continued making a statement. Nash would take an inside handoff and rushed his way 49 yards into Sheridan territory down to the 24, setting up another pivotal score.
Three plays later, the visiting Golden Bears were faced with a fourth and 18 from the 20 and converted it into a 20-yard touchdown pass to Matt Poole. The two-point pass failed for the second time, but Monroe Central extended its lead to 20-7.
The biggest thing that Monroe Central accomplished as a team on Friday night was bottling up leading rusher Joe Callahan and preventing him from his normal dominance.
“The thing about them is, they’re so good up front that it was gonna be tough and our guys battled,” Hochstetler said on his team’s tremendous effort to keep Callahan’s offensive output well below his normal game average.
Showing a little different scheme in the fourth, Wyatt Snyder lined up under center and scored on a four yard bootleg, pretty much sealing the game with 6:43 left in the game, pushing the score to what would be the final score of 26-7.
For a majority of the night, Sheridan’s offense looked completely uncharacteristic compared to normal.
“On offense, we blocked wrong. Play after play, we didn’t block here or we didn’t block there,” Sheridan head coach Bud Wright said on Sheridan’s offense playing out of sync for a majority of the night in their sectional title loss to Monroe Central on Friday night.
“The fact is, you can’t make mistakes in big ball games and win and that’s what we did. That, along with penalties. I think every touchdown drive they had, we had a penalty on it,” Coach Wright said on his teams costly penalties leading to each Monroe Central score.
Midway through the fourth with the Blackhawks driving down the field, the drive fell apart when quarterback Drake Delph tossed an interception to Israel Nash.
From that point forward, the Golden Bears ran the ball, eating up all the clock they could en route to their sectional win.
The Sheridan Blackhawks ended their season at 9-3. Joe Callahan capped off his senior season with 260 carries for 1803 yards and 28 touchdowns to lead Hamilton County, but was held to just 76 yards on 15 carries in his final game.
Monroe Central (11-1) advances to the Regional Championship next week at home against Southwood (11-1), who beat Adams Central on Friday, 50-27.
Sheridan’s Joe Callahan finished his senior year for the Blackhawks with 28 touchdowns and 1803 yards. Sheridan fell to Monroe Central 26-7 in the Class 1A Sectional 44 championship Friday at Bud Wright Stadium. (Kent Graham)