It was only a matter of time.
The uncertainty around the COVID-19 pandemic and high school sports forced Fountain Central to cancel a pair of games to start the season, including its opener against Southmont. Now North Montgomery had to go searching this week for a new opponent after Lebanon’s football team was placed in quarantine late last week.
The Chargers will now take their perfect 3-0 record into a home game against non-conference foe Delphi on Friday night.
The last time North Montgomery played Delphi was a 44-18 win in the sectional en route to the 1995 Class 2A State Championship.
No matter the opponent, the Class 3A 10th ranked Chargers are just thankful to be suiting up.
This week will be different since we are switching opponents,” North Montgomery coach Josh Thompson said. “But our players are focused and will be prepared on Friday. They understand that their responsibility is to be ready to play on Friday and that others will take care of finding another opponent. This week will be a good measure of how well we respond to circumstances that are beyond our control.”
North Montgomery has dominated defensively, allowing just three touchdowns in three games. The Chargers’ offense has led with a balanced attack. Zak Searle leads the way with 335 rushing yards, while Donavan Haworth has thrown for 405 yards and 7 scores.
And it’s been the offensive line that has stepped up the most.
“Our offensive line has improved each week,” Thompson said. “That is an expectation for all players on our team but I think they may be the group that has improved the most since week 1.”
Red’s Prediction: North Montgomery 28, Delphi 14
Crawfordsville (0-3, 0-1) at Danville (1-0, 0-0)
Crawfordsville enters week 4 still looking for their first win of the season.
And the task doesn’t get any easier with a road game against SAC foe Danville, a team they haven’t beaten since 2008.
The Warriors are led by quarterback Kale Pane who passed for 164 yards and three touchdowns in Danville’s lone game, which was a 21-7 win over Franklin Community.
“Everybody we play presents a mental challenge,” Crawfordsville coach Kurt Schlicher said. “Danville is a solid team who has not played since week 1, so I’m sure they will be ready.”
The Athenians have been able to rack up yards through three games, including 434 and 4 touchdowns through the air from quarterback Kaiden Underwood, but have struggled specifically in special teams, often giving the opposing team great field position.
“Our special teams have struggled at times, but we are working to improve them,” Schlicher said.
Red’s Prediction: Danville 40, Crawfordsville 21
Southmont(1-1, 0-1) at Frankfort (1-2, 0-1)
It’s back to the drawing board for Southmont after giving up over 200 yards of rushing in a loss to North Montgomery last week and netting just 85 yards of total offense.
The Mounties travel to Frankfort on Friday, looking for a fifth-straight win over the Hot Dogs.
Coach Desson Hannum knows it will take a total team effort to get back on track.
I think it is a collective effort of all positions,” he said. “We can’t just rely on big plays, but rather our offense needs to do a better job this week of sustaining drives and getting first downs.”
Carson Chadd totaled 67 of the Mounties total yards last week on one play, and they only tallied five first downs in the loss.
Defense will be key Friday if Southmont wants to stop Frankfort, who ended a 22 game losing streak two weeks ago with a win over Clinton Prairie.
“We were able to get some stops defensively last week and gave ourselves a chance to stay in the game.” Hannum said. “I think that we have to do a better job of tackling and improving our run fits. We have to win third down this week and get our defense off the field.”
Chadd leads the Mounties with 137 rushing yards on 10 carries, while Frankfort’s Riley Goodnight tops the Sagamore Conference with 426 yards on 55 attempts.
Red’s Prediction:Southmont 27, Frankfort 14
Covington (1-2, 1-2) at Fountain Central (0-1, 0-0)
Fountain Central will look to stop a 14-game losing streak as they host Covington on Friday in their second game of the season. The Trojans have played three contests already, including a 52-22 win over North Vermillion last week.
Coach Ryan Hall is looking forward to getting a second game under the belt after the Mustangs fell at Frontier 32-18 last week.
“Not getting quarantined for 10 days would help,” he said. “That was our 1st game and their 3rd game, obviously there would be a huge difference in play. I was very proud we were able to settle down and start playing.”
A bright spot in the loss came in the running game behind junior Austin Pickett, who rushed for 90 yards on 14 carries. Owen Acton added 80 yards and quarterback Seth Gayler another 48.
“We were able to run the ball versus a team that was bigger than us. Our running backs ran hard,” Hall added.
Red’s Prediction: Fountain Central 30, Covington 24
Stat Leaders
PASSING PERCENTAGE
Name C A %
Kale Payne (DV) 23 27 85
Kai Ross (TW) 53 75 71
Elliott Young (WB) 16 28 57
K. Underwood (CHS) 48 87 55
Donavan Haworth (NM) 25 47 53
S. Michael (FF) 21 40 53
Garrett Harker (LB) 18 38 21
PASSING YARDS
Name G Yds P/G
Kai Ross (TW) 3 572 190
K. Underwood (CHS) 3 434 144
Donavan Haworth (NM) 3 405 135
S. Michael (FF) 3 307 102
Elliott Young (WB) 3 255 85
Garrett Harker (LB) 2 226 113
Kale Payne (DV) 1 164 164
PASSING TOUCHDOWNS
Name G TD
Donavan Haworth (NM) 3 7
Kai Ross (TW) 3 7
K. Underwood (CHS) 3 4
Elliott Young (WB) 3 4
Kale Payne (DV) 1 3
S. Michael (FF) 3 1
RUSHING YARDS
Name Att. Yds
R. Goodnight (FF) 55 426
Robby Taylor (WB) 67 406
Zak Searle (NM) 84 335
Garrett Cora (TW) 45 280
Trevor Winkles (LB) 33 263
Kaigen Fields (CHS) 33 162
S. Michael (FF) 29 147
Carson Chadd (SM) 10 137
RECEIVING
Name C Y
Bryce Hendershot (TW) 22 204
JC Reese (LB) 11 186
C. Garrity (WB) 6 173
Logan Kelly (NM) 10 173
J. Mohr (TW) 8 149
K. Earl (FF) 7 118
Andrew Martin (CHS) 14 118
Mikale Willis (CHS) 12 93
Ethan McLemore (CHS) 5 86
Total Touchdowns
Name Ru. Rec. T
R. Goodnight (FF) 7 1 8
Garrett Cora (TW) 5 2 7
Zak Searle (NM) 4 1 5
Robby Taylor (WB) 5 0 5
K. Ross (TW) 3 0 3
Trevor Winkles (LB) 3 0 3
Logan Kelly (NM) 0 3 3
Connor Garrity (WB) 0 2 2
Mikale Willis (CHS) 0 2 2
Elliiott Young (WB) 2 0 2
Skyler Marlowe (TW) 0 2 2
J. Mohr (TW) 0 2 2
Kaigen Fields (CHS) 2 0 2
Carson Chadd (SM) 2 0 2
DEFENSE TACKLES
Name Solo As.Total
G. Chavez (FF) 30 21 51
Luke Marsh (WB) 27 12 39
V. Carreras (FF) 8 26 34
Evan Chaney (CHS) 15 16 31
L. Todd (FF) 9 21 30
Trevor Weakley (WB) 16 14 30
Cannon Brunes (WB) 16 12 28
Cardenas (CHS) 12 13 25
Alex Hernandez (CHS) 11 14 25
Ethan Powell (CHS) 14 10 24
Austin Bowman (WB) 11 13 24
R. Mitchell (FF) 17 6 23
Nick Norman (NM) 10 13 23
Stats compiled by those submitted by the coaching staffs.
SAC Standings
N. Montgomery 3-0, 1-0
Danville 1-0, 0-0
Southmont 1-1, 0-1
Frankfort 1-2, 0-1
Tri-West 2-1, 1-0
Crawfordsville 0-3, 0-1
Lebanon 0-2, 0-0
Western Boone 1-2, 1-0
This Weeks Games
Crawfordsville at Danville
Delphi at North Montgomery
Southmont at Frankfort
Western Boone at Tri-West
