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| Indians take down Cardinals |
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9/15/2017
By Dan Manley
Advocate Sports Editor
Nobody could have seen this one coming.
The Clark County Cardinals entered Friday night’s matchup with Montgomery County at Cunningham Field having allowed just 89.3 total yards per game and just 52 yards per game on the ground through their first three contests that yielded a 2-1 record.
The Cards were the second ranked team in Class 6A in both rushing and passing defense and second in points allowed.
Forget those numbers.
Friday night the Indians scored on every possession except the final time they had the football when they ran out the clock at the end of the game.
The Tribe finished with 417 yards of offense and rolled to a 51-21 victory over their border rivals, winning the grudge match for the fourth time in the last six years.
Wingback Charles Andrew Collins and fullback Josh Wheaton each rushed for three touchdowns, Pharoah Davis caught a 68-yard scoring pass from sophomore signal caller Trey Ishmael and sophomore Zane Carter remained perfect on extra points and also kicked a 32-yard field goal as the Tribe scored on eight straight offensive possessions.
“Taking what the defense gives you,” was how coach Jamie Egli characterized the Indians’ offense.
What the Cardinals gave up a lot was the dive play out of the Wing-T that resulted in Wheaton, only a sophomore, carrying the football 19 times for 93 yards including three short scoring runs.
Collins scored on runs of 13, 37 and 43 yards, giving him 10 touchdowns on the season. He rushed for 168 yards on just 13 carries and caught two passes for 18 yards.
Deferred
Montgomery County won the toss and Egli elected to defer the decision to take the football until the start of the second half.
The Tribe defense proved that to be a good decision.
Even with a fumble on the Cardinals first punt that allowed them an extra possession the Montgomery County defense held them to 11 yards on their first seven offensive plays.
The Indians got the football on what turned out to be their only offensive chance of the opening quarter and matched 68 yards in 12 plays with Collins scoring from 13 yards out as the Tribe went ahead 7-0.
The Cardinals bounced right back with a 63 yard drive in 12 plays with Natavious Thomas scoring from four yards out on the first play of the second quarter to tie the score.
Then the Indians got rolling. They scored 28 points in the next 10 minutes, starting with the Ishmael-Davis hookup of 68 yards on the very next play after the Cardinals had tied the score.
Following the Indians’ kickoff, Drew Mathis picked up a fumble on the second play of Clark’s next series and four plays later Wheaton scored from four yards out to make it 21-7.
The Cardinals moved the football down to the Tribe 34 yards line on their next opportunity but were stopped on downs.
That led to a 66 yards drive by the Tribe in just five plays as Collins raced 22 yards to set up his own 37 yard scoring run that made it 28-7.
Three plays later Mathis intercepted a Clark County pass and this time Collins ran 43 yards for his third touchdown of the first half to make it 35-7.
That’s how the first half ended.
Drain the clock
With a comfortable lead the Indians took the second half kickoff and ran 14 plays and took almost seven minutes off the clock to score again.
Wheaton went in from four yards out with 5:19 to play in the third quarter as the lead swelled to 41-7.
The Cards bounced back with a 59 yard drive in eight plays to cut the lead to 41-14.
Then came a nine-play, 63-yard drive that saw Wheaton get his third score of the night on a four-yard run and it was 48-14.
First field goal
Mathis recovered the kickoff at the Clark County 20 yard line when Carter booted the ball just over the head of a Clark receiver who failed to beat Mathis to the football.
That set up Carter’s first field goal opportunity of the season, the first of his career. He hit it right down the middle from 32 yards away to produce the running clock on the mercy rule as the Indians took a 51-14 lead.
With the Montgomery County defensive reserves on the field, Thomas had runs of 31 and 28 yards, back-to-back that set up a short scoring run for the Cardinals as they made the final score 51-21.
Ishmael almost
perfect
Ishmael had an almost perfect game at quarterback for the Tribe.
He directed an offense that didn’t have a turnover and scored on every one of their possessions.
He also finished the game six of eight through the air for 106 yards and a touchdown and rushed for 11 yards on two carries and was never sacked.
Line play
“What a great job he’s doing and what a tribute to our offensive line,” Egli said. “Trey’s doing exactly what we’re asking him to do and the O-line is making it so much easier for him with the job they’re doing.
“He’s getting more comfortable all the time and we mixed in a little bit more of the passing game tonight. The big thing for the passing game right now is it gives us the ability to stretch the field with Pharoah and that loosens the defense up a lot.
“When teams have to double cover him then we’ve got an advantage in numbers when we run the football.”
Great defense
Although Thomas finished with a whopping 199 yards on 29 carries for the Cardinals, most of that came when the game was essentially over.
Thomas we held to just 51 yards on his first 15 carries during which time the Indians moved out to a 28-7 lead.
He gained 98 of those yards after the Indians were in front 41-7.
Fleming next
The Indians will play their fifth straight home game Friday night when they host unbeaten Fleming County at Cunningham Field.
The Panthers are unbeaten (3-0) thus far and are led by senior quarterback Josh Crump.
Crump is a dual threat who compiled more than 2,900 yards as a junior rushing and passing and accounted for 37 touchdowns.
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