Huskies rough up Panthers

Sports

Discussion

October 6, 2012

Huskies rough up Panthers

Rash of turnovers leads to Western’s first shutout loss since 2001.

By Josh Sigler Tribune sportswriter The Kokomo Tribune Sat Oct 06, 2012, 12:03 AM EDT

Russiaville — With a chance to turn the Mid-Indiana Conference football standings on its ear Friday night, Western ran into a formidable opponent in Mother Nature.

With standing water visible on the turf between the hash marks and a steady rain throughout the Panthers’ showdown with Class 3A No. 4-ranked Hamilton Heights, a slippery track and slippery football led to four first-half fumbles and three turnovers for Western.

Those turnovers helped Heights sprint to a 26-0 lead by the half, and the Panthers never recovered in a 33-0 loss to the Huskies on senior night.

“The weather definitely hurt,” Western coach Nate Andrews said. “Some people were saying that it was going to help us. You never know when you have a group of kids, a group of young people. But, we definitely did not get off on the right foot. And, because of that we could never regain our momentum.”

Western suffered its first shutout loss since a 57-0 loss to Frankfort in Week 1 of the 2001 season.

After Heights (7-1, 6-0 MIC) scored on the game’s third play from scrimmage on a 55-yard run from Conner Faulkner, Western put together its best drive of the night, marching 59 yards in eight plays down to the Heights 17-yard line, but could not connect on a field goal attempt.

The Panthers (4-4, 4-2) forced a three-and-out on Heights’ next possession but fumbled the ball away two plays later. Western fumbled away two of its next three possessions. Those fumbles sandwiched a bad long snap on a punt which set Heights up deep in Panther territory.

The Huskies capitalized with a pair of touchdown runs from Faulkner in that stretch, while Grant Weatherford’s 50-yard punt return for a touchdown with 5:44 left in the first half put Heights up 26-0.

Faulkner scored his fourth TD of the night on a four-yard run to cap the Huskies’ first drive of the second half. The junior finished the night with 165 yards and four TDs on 19 carries.

Heights wrapped up at least a share of the MIC crown with Friday night’s win. The Huskies can win the title outright with a victory over Peru next Friday in Arcadia. Cass is a game back of Heights.

The Panthers wound up out-gaining Heights 249-219 for the game, but the Huskies won the turnover battle 4-1. Senior fullback Hudson Featherstone ran for 116 yards on 28 carries for Western, while classmate James Davis finished with 97 yards on 18 carries on what could be the final home game of the current senior class’ careers, depending on the outcome of Sunday’s sectional draw.

With one game left before the postseason, Andrews wants to see his team put Friday night in the rear-view mirror and focus on what it still has to play for.

“Unfortunately, that’s the only thing we can do,” Andrews said about bouncing back. “We can’t sit here and dwell on this. We can learn from it and try to cry to correct not necessarily our mistakes, but all the things that add up to this performance. The great thing about the state of Indiana is that everyone has a postseason, so that’s what we have to look forward to.”

Text Only | Photo Reprints

Sports

GASKINS: Hibbert’s block was thing of beauty
For the better part of the NBA season, ESPN devoted all kinds of time on SportsCenter episodes to replays of two dunks. Anyone who watches any ESPN at all surely knows the two to which I’m referring: 6-foot-11 DeAndre Jordan of the Los Angeles Clippers posterizing 6-3 Brandon Knight of the Detroit Pistons, and 6-8 LeBron James of the Miami Heat hammering home a dunk over 6-2 Jason Terry of the Boston Celtics.
Day after day, ESPN commentators lavished endless praise, which quickly grew tiresome. The dunks were strong, but Jordan and James were much taller and heavier than Knight and Terry and the dunkers also caught perfect alley-oop passes with the defenders in poor positions to defend. Still, ESPN commentators loved these plays.
I kept wondering if a great defensive play would receive the same kind of love.

May 21, 2013 1 Photo
Coons, Walker, Glassburn reach Victory Lane
When the dust settled Sunday evening at the Kokomo Speedway, a pair of drivers who have visited Victory Lane in the past at the local oval found themselves there once again while a talented up-and-comer hit the hallowed ground for the first time.
Jerry Coons Jr. had his way in the sprint car feature and Craig Walker seemed to get faster as the laps wound down to win the Street Stock main event, however Kokomo High School sophomore Kory Glassburn had to scratch and fight before scoring the first feature win of his career in the Thunder Car A-main.

May 21, 2013
Field is set for Indianapolis 500
After being bumped from the starting field while sitting on the qualifying line on pole day, Josef Newgarden turned the fastest time on bump day, assuring himself a spot in the Indianapolis 500.
The field of 33 cars will have one final opportunity to practice on Friday before next Sunday’s 97th running of the 500.
One year ago the Sarah Fisher Racing Team withdrew Newgarden’s entry on the first day of qualifying and had to qualify on bump day. This year the team decided not to make another qualifying run and got bumped.

May 20, 2013 1 Photo
Athlete of the week
Cole led the small-school Comets to the Kokomo Sectional title, their first title since 1998.

May 20, 2013 1 Photo
Kats regain tennis throne
At 10:51 a.m. Saturday morning, the bulk of Kokomo’s girls tennis team sprinted from the viewing hill to the east entrance of the tennis courts to mob No. 1 singles player Morgan Mohr as she came off the court following her 1-6, 6-1, 6-1 victory over Eastern’s Courtney Clark.
The No. 3 singles match was still raging, but the team match was already won. The Wildkats had reconquered the throne from two-time defending champion Eastern and were once again champions of the Kokomo Sectional.

May 19, 2013 1 Photo
Eastern boys track claims first sectional title since 1998
The boys track and field coach at Eastern High School from 1987 until last season, Paul Nicholson’s parting message to his team was simple: “Don’t deny the gift.”
That motto left such a lasting impression on the Comets’ returning athletes that they had it screen printed on their 2013 season T-shirts.
With Nicholson in attendance to celebrate with them, new coach Austin Roark and the Comets outlasted host Kokomo to win their first sectional title since 1998 Thursday night, topping the Wildkats by 3.5 points, 124.5-121.

May 17, 2013
Eastern, Kokomo favored in boys track sectional
Some of the names and faces have changed, but the plot remains much the same.
The Kokomo boys track and field sectional, much like last year, will likely be a two-horse race between the host and three-time defending champion Wildkats and Eastern, a team looking to break through and win its first sectional title since 1998.

May 16, 2013 1 Photo
Cole to jump at Miami University
Eastern athlete Grant Cole has only been a long jumper for two seasons, but being turned on to the event late in his career has landed him a scholarship to Miami University.

May 16, 2013 1 Photo
Comets roar to sectional title
As the old adage goes, it’s harder stay on top than it is to reach the top.
Eastern’s girls track and field team entered the 2012 postseason hoping to put in a strong enough effort to claim the program’s first sectional title.
Having done so, the Comets entered Tuesday’s postseason opener — the Madison-Grant Sectional — with a much larger bull’s-eye on their backs than in previous years.
Eastern proved up to the challenge, scoring a landslide victory to repeat as sectional champions with 125 points.

May 15, 2013 1 Photo
Dexter leaving Eastern
Eastern girls basketball coach Jeremy Dexter has stepped down from the Comet program after accepting the AD job at Churubusco last week. Churubusco is in Whitley County about 15 minutes west of Fort Wayne.
Dexter led the Comets to a Class 2A state runner-up finish this past season.

May 15, 2013 1 Photo
More Sports Headlines

Sports

Search Results

Discussion

Huskies rough up Panthers

Rash of turnovers leads to Western’s first shutout loss since 2001.

Site Map

Contact Us