Kokomo — Given the recent history of the Kokomo-Muncie Central gridiron rivalry, the Class 5A No. 9-ranked Kats’ 56-14 North Central Conference-opening victory at Walter Cross Field Friday night came as no surprise.
It was Kokomo’s fourth win over the Bearcats in as many years, and Central’s 14 second-half points were the first the Muncie squad had posted against coach Brett Colby’s Wildkats in 13 quarters.
That the Kats won so easily, though, with fewer plays from scrimmage (56-40) and less time of possession (29:32-18:28) might be considered a mild upset without three first-half Kokomo takeaways that led to three scores and a 35-0 halftime lead.
“Time of possession can be deceiving because of turnovers and [Kokomo’s] ability to score quickly,” said Central coach John Hochstetler. “In reality they could have beaten us as badly as they wanted.”
Armon Bridgeforth provided the quick-strike punch. He found the end zone three times on just six carries — a 15-yard TD run the first time he touched the ball, a 30-yarder on his second attempt and a 20-yard score on his final run from scrimmage.
Bridgeforth finished with 129 yards before returning the second-half kickoff 38 yards and taking a seat at the end of the bench.
“He’s a really good back and thank goodness he’s just a junior,” Colby said of Bridgeforth, who now has nine rushing touchdowns this season. “He’s so quick and so elusive in the open field.
“People are so afraid of his speed we haven’t even run any sweeps this year ... but he’s so hard-nosed and he gets [going] downhill. He did a nice job [Friday] night, and so did all of our wingbacks.”
The Wildkats (3-0, 1-0 NCC) rushed the ball 33 times for just 267 yards, 120 yards shy of their season’s average. But 199 kick-return yards and another 118 yards while returning three interceptions — including two for touchdowns — more than made up the difference.
Senior T.T. Catlett was most productive, returning three punts for 54 yards and one kickoff 74 yards to set up a two-play, 24-yard scoring drive to answer the Bearcats’ first score and give Kokomo a 49-7 advantage with 1:33 remaining in the third period.
“We worked an awfully long time on special teams this week and I thought it really paid off,” said Colby. “Maybe our rushing yards were down, but when you have 200 yards in returns you’re going to get good field position.”
Michael Clifton had one of the pick-sixes, a 43-yard return of a Billy Walker errant throw at the 4:44 mark of the second quarter. Michael Copeland took the other interception back all the way, a 55-yarder in the fourth quarter.
Cheyse Swain had the third pick of Walker, who was 9 of 24 passing for 144 yards, and also caught a 44-yard TD pass from Kats quarterback Austin Colby in the third period.
The victory extends the Wildkats’ NCC win streak to 23 games, as Brett Colby has yet to lose a league tilt in now his fourth year at the helm.
“When he got the [Kokomo] job I knew everybody [else in the NCC] was in trouble,” said Hochstetler, whose Bearcats dropped to 0-1 in the conference, 0-3 overall. “The kids buy into his thing. That’s a credit to this staff. They’ve got ’em believing.”
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