LINDEN — North Montgomery was not able to overcome adversity and lost to Sagamore Conference foe Frankfort 16-14 in the Chargers’ annual Homecoming game Friday. Losing two key players along with untimely penalties proved to be too much to prevent the Hot Dogs from defeating North Montgomery for the first time since 2009.
The Chargers lost senior running back Zak Searle midway in the second quarter. Searle’s injury appeared to be during a non-contact play when he fell to the ground in wide-open space.
North Montgomery also lost senior fullback and defensive end Jacob Braun due to injury early in the third quarter. Braun’s one-yard run put North Montgomery (5-3, 2-3 SAC) up 8-0 with 38 seconds left in the first half. The fullback attempted to return to the game after being attended to on the sidelines, however the decision was made to keep him out of the game after one offensive series.
North Montgomery did not go down easily. It took Frankfort’s Ramsey Mitchell’s 65-yard interception return to give the Hot Dogs their first lead of the game with 4:51 left in the third quarter.
North Montgomery’s defense kept giving the Chargers opportunities to retake the lead, but Frankfort’s defense made plays when it counted to keep the Chargers scoreless in the second half.
Charger Coach Josh Thompson was disappointed in the loss, however he did say he thought his players never quit play hard.
“Our team played hard and did everything the could to push through the adversity,” Thompson said. “We just could not overcome it tonight.”
Charger sophomore Gage Galloway replaced Searle and did an admirable job. Galloway, who has been the starting safety all season, collected 64 yards on 13 carries and scored on a 27-yard pass from quarterback Donavan Haworth with 5:00 left in the first half. The touchdown gave the Chargers a 14-0 lead.
“You always look for kids to step and we had some tonight,” Thompson said.
Using a stingy second half defense, which held Frankfort to only 15 yards in the third quarter, it appeared the Chargers were going to take the lead when wide out Logan Kelly scored on a 35-yard pass, however North was called for holding. The Chargers were forced to give up the ball on downs and Frankfort retained their lead.
Neither team was able to get any sustained offense going in the final stanza. Frankfort was able to get one of their only three second-half first downs to run out the clock with less than two minutes on the game clock.
Frankfort had 234 total yards and North Montgomery accumulated 242 yards. Frankfort’s Riley Goodnight totaled 99 yards on 24 carries.
Frankfort will entertain Crawfordsville next week while the Chargers travel to tough Danville.
“We will learn from this and start getting ready for Danville on Saturday,” Thompson said. “We will figure out what we have to do to go over and beat Danville.”
Frankfort 16, North Montgomery 14
Frankfort 0 8 8 0 – 16
N. Montgomery 8 6 0 0 – 14
Score by quarters
1st quarter
NM Jacob Braun 1-yd. run, Kolton Scimmager 2-point conversion pass from Donavan Haworth, :38.5
2nd Quarter
NM Gage Gallow 27-yd. pass from Haworth, run failed, 5:00
FF Riley Goodnight 2-yd. run, Goodnight ran for 2-pt. conversion, 2:39
3rd quarter
FF Ramsey Mitchell 65-yd interception return, Goodnight 2-pt. conversion, 4:57
Game Statistics FF NM
Rushes/yards 36-121 44-174
Passing yards 113 68
Total yards 234 242
Fumbles/lost 1/0 1/0
Penalties 7-62 5-42
Individual statistics
Rushing:
FF: Goodnight 24-99, Sam Michael 10-6, Reese Mitchell 1-3, Jade Ayer 1-13.
NM: Galloway13-64, Zak Searle 8-52, Jacob Braun 12-52, Haworth 10-1, Nick Norman 1-5.
Passing:
FF: Michael 11-20-113
NM: Haworth 10-29-68
Receiving:
FF: Kyle Earle 6-72, Jade Ayers 3-37, Team 1-4
NM: Gabe Laws 3-16, Galloway 1-27, Searle 2-11, Logan Kelly 3-14
