FB 9/8 Sunday Morning QB: Hoosier Heritage Conference roundup

By Hancock County Sports

The first week of HHC play was for setting the table, but the race really began to shake itself out on the state's biggest stage Saturday with the Hoosier Heritage Conference Horseshoe Classic at Lucas Oil Stadium.

One might have expected Mt. Vernon to remain atop the league -- and it has, topping 50 points for the second time in as many weeks. But surprises await beyond that. Delta's sophomore-laden lineup has allowed just two scores in two games to conference teams and it looks like a typical Delta team -- a solid running back who can control the clock in Joe Spegal, a go-to receiver who seems to make every catch on third-and-long in Jalen Robinson, and a team that can both pound foes up front and then stretch the field when the safeties start creeping forward.

Shelbyville pulled off what appears to be an upset when it beat Pendleton Heights -- Shelby won its first game over an opponent not named Rushville since 2010, while PH saw a nine-game regular-season winning streak snapped. But Jake Laker looked solid running Shelbyville's offense, and the Golden Bear defense flowed to the football and stopped PH's running game.

Mt. Vernon 55, Rushville 14: The Marauders scored early and often in a rout of Rushville in the second game of the Horseshoe Classic at Lucas Oil Stadium. 

Tyler Dicks ripped off a 66-yard TD on the second play of the game. Anthony Burnett followed with a 13-yard TD run -- which followed Jordan Miller's 35-yard pass to Dan Werner -- on the fourth play.

In total, MV scored on its first five possessions, running 2, 2, 4, 5 and 2 plays to score. Burnett made it 21-0 with a seven-yard run at the 6:29 mark of the first quarter. Alec Lohman (38 yards), Dicks (71 & 3) scored second-quarter TDs, giving MV a 41-0 lead at the break.

Dicks finished with 222 yards on 10 carries and four touchdowns -- adding another 24-yard scoring scamper on his only touch of the second half. Burnett ran for 120 yards and three TDs, including a 32-yard scoring run on his only second-half carry.

All told, the Marauders gained 529 yards -- 467 on the ground and 69 through the air on two Miller passes to Werner.

Rushville scored two second-half TDs -- Garett Hittle capped off a 13-play drive to start the third quarter with a one-yard run, and QB Clay Tressler hit Ashton Wilson on a three-yard pass into the end zone with 9:17 left in the game.

Tressler threw for 191 yards, completing 17-of-32 passes.

MV's defense forced three takeaways, as well.

The Marauders are 3-1 overall and in a three-way tie atop the HHC with a 2-0 mark. Rushville is 1-3/0-2. MV visits Pendleton Heights next Friday in our HancockCountySports.com Game of the Week broadcast. Rushville hosts New Palestine.

Archived webcast |

Yorktown 31, Greenfield-Central 14: Yorktown's Chandler Carroll got the Tigers going early and carried much of the load for his team in a victory. Carroll broke a 41-yard TD run on the game's first drive, giving Yorktown a 7-0 lead. He finished with 151 yards on 20 carries, and also threw a 32-yard completion, giving him 183 of Yorktown's 294 yards of total offense.

QB Riley Neal completed 8-of-14 passes for 125 yards to lead Yorktown. He threw two touchdown passes. His first, to Riley Miller with 10:29 left in the second, made it a 14-0 game. Mason Pennington had the big blow for Yorktown, scooping up a fumble and running it in from 42 yards out to give the Tigers a 21-0 lead with 1:38 left in the first half.

Yorktown added 10 more points in the second half before G-C rallied in the fourth. Jimmy Baggott -- on his only snap at quarterback -- hit Blaine Bever in stride for a 32-yard TD pass with 7:26 left. Then, after recovering an on-side kick, the Cougars struck again, with Derek Conley hitting Josh McDonald from 11 yards out.

Conley threw for 100 yards -- completing 14-of-24 -- and ran for 72 of G-C's 142 rushing yards. McDonald had 33 rushing yards and caught four passes for 17 yardsa and a TD. Austin Felts had three catches for 39 yards and was G-C's leading receiver in terms of yardage.

Yorktown is now 2-2 on the year and 1-1 in HHC play. G-C is 1-3 (0-2). Yorktown meets Delta next week. G-C travels to Shelbyville.

Archived webcast | Muncie Star-Press |

Delta 21, New Palestine 6: The Eagles set the tone on the game's first drive, grinding out a 17-play, 78-yard, 8:35 monster that led to sophomore fullback Joe Spegal carrying in from six yards out -- on his 10th carry of the drive -- and building a 7-0 lead.

Delta then added two third-quarter scores on its first two second-half drives to put the game away -- Spegal capping a 59-yard drive with 4:44 left in the third, and then Jalen Robinson catching a 28-yard TD pass from QB Cade Jones a shade over three minutes later.

In the interim, it was a game of missed opportunities. NP's first three drives ended in Delta territory, but the Dragons turned the ball over on downs on the Delta 22, had a lost fumble on the Eagles' 26, then had another turnover on downs at the Delta 31. Delta drove to the Dragons' 1 on the final drive of the first half, but time expired when Blake Luker broke up a second-down pass in the endzone intended for Robinson, keeping the game at a 7-0 score.

Spegal led Delta with 113 yards on 27 carries. Robinson caught five passes for 100 yards -- including three receptions to convert third-and-long in the second half.

Delta outgained NP 310-190. The Dragons were led by Collin Hill's 86 rushing yards, and Luker's 92 passing yards. Luker completed 10-of-16 passes to four different receivers, with Tyler Walden catching five for 37 yards.

Delta is now 3-1 and 2-0 in HHC play, meeting Yorktown next week. NP is 1-3 and 0-2 in conference play heading into next week's game at Rushville.

Archived webcast | Muncie Star-Press

Shelbyville 17, Pendleton Heights 14: The Bears' Alex Booth hit a 31-yard field goal with 2:30 left and then stopped PH's final drive on downs to pull off the upset victory and knock the Arabians from the ranks of the unbeaten.

Shelbyville seized possession of the HHC Helmet after the Arabians held it for one week.

Shelbyville ran for 238 yards, and forced PH to gain its yards through the air. PH gained 229 yards of total offense, but only 40 came on the ground.

Shelbyville is now 2-2 overall and 2-0 in the HHC heading into next week's home game against Greenfield-Central. PH is 3-1 overall and 1-1 in the HHC and will host rival Mt. Vernon next week in our HancockCountySports.com Game of the Week.

Anderson Herald-Bulletin

Looking ahead

Next week features a couple of big games between 1-1 and 2-0 teams -- Delta/Yorktown and Mt. Vernon/Pendleton Heights. Should Delta & MV win, it would give them a significant upper hand en route to the conference title, with Shelbyville remaining in the mix if it can beat Greenfield-Central. Essentially, it would give all of them a two-game lead on the rest of the field with four to play and make it a three-way race. If PH and/or Yorktown win, or if Greenfield-Central beats Shelbyville, suddenly the HHC race becomes wide-open. New Palestine/Rushville is the lone matchup of 0-2 teams. NP has faced two pretty solid outfits so far in Pendleton Heights and Delta.

HHC standings (conf/overall)

Delta 2-0/3-1

Mt. Vernon 2-0/3-1

Shelbyville 2-0/2-2

Pendleton Hts. 1-1/3-1

Yorktown 1-1/2-2

Greenfield-Central 0-2/1-3

New Palestine 0-2/1-3

Rushviile 0-2/1-3

Next week's schedule (all games at 7:30 p.m. Friday, September 14)

Mt. Vernon at Pendleton Heights (webcast: Hancock County Sports)

Greenfield-Central at Shelbyville (webcast: www.wsvx.com)

New Palestine at Rushville (webcast: www.wifefm.com)

Delta at Yorktown (webcast: Delaware County Voice)