DOVER — The North Montgomery Chargers came into Friday night’s matchup against Western Boone hoping to be 5-0 for the first time since 2008. However, the Stars came in looking to prove that they are still a force to be reckoned within the Sagamore Conference, and they prevailed with a 38-16 win over the Chargers.
The high-powered Charger offense was held to just 105 total yards in the game as the Stars were able to control both sides of the line of scrimmage all night long.
“We weren’t ready to play this game tonight and that starts with me,” coach Josh Thompson said after the game. “I have to make sure the kids are ready to go and we just simply didn’t get it done. We got beat on both sides of the ball tonight and we’re better than that.”
The Stars (2-3 1-1 SAC) got an opening field goal on their first drive of the game, then on the very next play Gabe Laws returned the kickoff 82 yards to get the Chargers (4-1 1-0 SAC) on the board. They failed to score again until 1:55 left in the fourth quarter when Zak Searle scored from two yards out.
“I thought we played our style of football on that kick return,” Thompson said. “The rest of the game was not our style of play and that’s what I told our kids after the game.”
For the Stars, senior running back Robby Taylor who came into Friday nights game with 492 yards rushing went down early with a hip injury. Fellow senior Luke Marsh stepped right in and was able to end the night with 27 carries for 157 yards and three total touchdowns.
“I thought they did a great job of running the ball hard tonight,” Thompson said of the Stars running game. “At the same time, we didn’t tackle well at all tonight. All we can do is get back to practice and improve for next week.”
Next up on the schedule for the Chargers, they will host county rival Crawfordsville (0-5 0-3 SAC) next Friday. A win for the Chargers would secure the county title which is always one of Thompson’s goals for his team in a season.
“That’s the awesome part of high school football,” he said. “You have one night to either celebrate or get over a loss. We have to learn form our mistakes tonight and go out and be ready to play Crawfordsville if we want to be county champs this year.”
Western Boone 38, N. Montgomery 16
Score by quarters
N. Montgomery 8 0 0 8 — 16
Western Boone 10 14 14 0 — 38
Score by quarters
First quarter
WB Josiah Smith 24-yd. FG, 8:33
NM Gabe Laws 82-yd. Kickoff return, Zak Searle 2-pt conversion, 8:19
WB Luke Marsh 9-yd. pass from Elliott Young, Smith kick, 3:01
Second quarter
WB Connor Garrity 41-yd. pass from Young, Smith kick, 8:13
WB Marsh 7-yd run, Smith kick, 4:24
Third quarter
WB Marsh 8-yd. run, Smith kick, 4:46
WB Garrity 42-yd. pass from Elliott, Smith kick, :26.3
Fourth quarter
NM Searle 1-yd. run, Searle 2-pt. conversion, 1:55
Game Statistics NM WB
First Downs 8 23
Rushing yards 68 202
Passing yards 37 175
Total yards 105 377
Turnovers 1 2
Penalties 10/55 5/40
Individual Statistics
Rushing:
N. Montgomery: Searle 14-56, Braun 4-15, D. Norman 1-14, N. Norman 1-1, Donavan Haworth 10-(-18)
Western Boone: Luke Marsh 27-157, Rob Taylor 3-29, Mason Tomes 3-5, Ryan Taylor 3-7, Ethan Bayler 1-0, Rowin Durbin 3-2, Elliott Young 2-2
Passing:
N. Montgomery: Haworth 6-14-0-37
Western Boone: Young 9-19-3-175
Receiving:
N. Montgomery: Logan Kelly 3-16, Braun 1-0, Searle 1-7, Laws 1-5, N. Norman 1-9
Western Boone: Garrity 6-135, Casey Baird 3-34, Marsh 1-8, Mitch Miller 1-(-2)
