Hamilton Southeastern dropped its first game of the season on Friday, falling to North Central 31-13 at Reynolds Royals Stadium.
The Class 6A No. 10 Royals scored the first touchdown of the game on a pass from Kody Sparks to Deandre Rhoads in the first quarter. The Panthers answered with a touchdown, and the period ended with a 7-7 tie.
North Central scored again before halftime to lead 14-7. Southeastern opened the third quarter with a Matt Harris touchdown, putting the Royals ahead 14-13 with 8:51 left. But the Panthers scored two more TDs in the third and not permit HSE another score.
“I think we just wore out in the fourth quarter,” said Royals coach Adam Morris. “Defensively, I thought we played hard. Just got gassed at the end of the game. Offensively, we had some series where we were going up-tempo and some good things happened. But just too many three and outs, too many incompletions.”
Despite the loss, Morris saw several good things from his team.
“When we needed a stop defensively, we got one,” said Morris, who also liked that his kids kept fighting in the game.
Southeastern is 1-1 and will begin Hoosier Crossroads Conference play next week at Avon.
Stats were unavailable at press time and will be published in a later edition.
Hamilton Southeastern coach Adam Morris addresses his team after the Royals fell to North Central 31-13 in their home opener. Morris told his players that he was no less proud to be a Royal than he was last Friday. (Kirk Green)