LINDEN — To beat the same team twice in a season is very difficult. That’s the task the North Montgomery football had in front of them on Friday when they welcome the Western Boone Stars back to Charger field for a re-match in the Class 3A Sectional 29 opener. Back on Sep. 15 the Chargers bested WeBo 20-17 in a thriller. This time the Chargers were able to dominate their SAC rival in what resulted in a 20-7 Charger win as North moves on to the sectional semi-finals while the season comes to an end for the Stars.
“Our kids played really well tonight and I’m proud of them,” Charger coach Josh Thompson said. “We had a good week of practice and our kids were focused every day. It’s hard sometimes when it’s fall break but they didn’t have school to focus on so they were able to focus on football.”
Western Boone didn’t score until the 1:32 mark of the third quarter when Marcus Fortner caught a 19-yard touchdown pass from Brandon Potter. After both teams exchanged punts on their opening drives, the Chargers got on the board in large part to a big 45-yard catch from Kelby Harwood which set up a Noah Hopkins 2-yard run. North’s defense held like they did the entire night and the Chargers scored again this time on a 4th & goal from the 13-yard line. Harwood made a leaping grab in the end-zone to put North up 14-0.
Momentum then began to turn in the second half. Both teams once again exchanged punts and then came Fortner’s score to make it 14-7. North’s offense couldn’t do anything but neither could the Stars. The dagger came with 6:31 left in the final quarter. Thompson and the Chargers had something up their sleeve and it was a good old halfback pass which worked to perfection. Austin Sulc fired it 33 yards to Harwood who dragged his defender into the end-zone to make the score 20-7.
Harwood ended the game with six catches for 116 yards and two scores.
“We came in Monday and were locked in from there because we knew it was going to be a tough game,” Harwood said after the win. “They (WeBo) wanted to come in and avenge that loss from earlier. We knew that we’d have to get off to a good start and that’s what did.”
For the game, as they have all season long, the Charger offense was balanced. Ross Dyson threw for 152 yards and add on Sulc’s 33 yard pass to finish with 185 through the air. Dyson was the leading rusher with 13 carries for 79 yards while Noah Hopkins added 49 yards on nine carries as North tallied up 154 rush yards. In total they out-gained WeBo 339 to 133.
The trick play that grabbed the momentum back for North Montgomery (6-4) wasn’t something that was out of the norm for them as Sulc has done that multiple times in his Charger career. Thompson and Harwood both talked about how the play came to fruition.
“It was a great play call and we felt it was the right time in the game to do it,” Thompson said. “Kudos to out kids for executing that very well because if one small thing doesn’t go right, that play doesn’t happen. We had the blocking right, sold the run very well and then Kelby set up like he was blocking then took off and made the play.”
Harwood saved his best performance for when the team needed him most.
“I was just able to use my ability on both of those touchdown to go up and get it,” Harwood said. “We knew that we were probably going to run that tonight and I’m glad it worked.”
With the win the Chargers advance to the sectional semi-finals next Friday night where they’ll be back at home for another Sagamore Conference re-match when they take on the SAC champion Tri-West Bruins. Tri-West defeated Hendricks County rival Danville 42-7. The Bruins bested the Chargers 38-0 back on Sep . 29. Thompson knows that his team will have to clean up some of the mistakes they made to have a more successful out-come.
“There’s always something to work and areas where we can and know we have to get better,” Thompson said. “That’s what this upcoming week is all about is getting better. It comes down to us staying focused on the process.”
