GOSHEN —
Over the course of Lewis Cass football coach Scott Mannering’s 27-year tenure, the Kings have lived by the catch phrase “Next man up.”
When a starter goes down with an injury or illness, the next player on the depth chart is expected to not bat an eye, step in and help the squad not miss a beat.
When senior fullback Jacob Collins was lost for the season to a leg injury in Week 6, junior Gabe Welch stepped in and, in true Kings fashion, helped the squad keep on rolling.
Friday night, the junior ran for 137 yards and three touchdowns on 17 carries as the No. 7-ranked Kings stifled Fairfield’s offense in the second half of a 46-14 drubbing in a Class 2A Sectional 26 semifinal clash, a game in which Cass finished with 43 unanswered points.
“Coach Mannering has always told us the philosophy of Lewis Cass football is ‘Next man up,’” Welch reiterated. “If one of us goes down, others have to be ready to go and play at varsity speed. ... I came in prepared to step up. I always just try to play hard and play my best, and that’s what I did [Friday] night.”
Cass improved to 10-1, marking the Kings’ seventh season with 10 or more wins in the last 10 years.
The Kings will face North Judson in next week’s Sectional 26 final. The Bluejays (5-6) topped Rochester 20-16 on the road Friday night.
Cass drew first blood on its opening drive. After the drive stalled at the Fairfield 11-yard-yard line, senior Marcus Hedrick booted a 27-yard field goal — the Kings’ first of the year — between the pipes with 6:15 to go in the opening period.
The Falcons (7-4) answered with a pair of touchdowns on long drives. Quarterback Garrett Scott hit wideout Caleb Noble with a 24-yard TD strike to put Fairfield up 7-3 with 1:21 left in the opening stanza, capping an 11-play drive. Following Cass’ only punt of the night, the Falcons marched 54 yards in 10 plays on the ensuing possession to go up 14-3 with 5:03 left in the first half after Scott capped the drive with a three-yard plunge.
“That second touchdown, Scott just walked into the end zone, and I thought, ‘Boy, this could be rough,’” Mannering said. “But, our offense picked it up. We made some plays there in the second quarter, scoring twice within a two-minute span which gave us a big boost going into halftime. The defensive kids, our pass defense got a little bit better every series. They threw the ball very well, but we didn’t get beat deep. Our defense against the run [Friday] night, I was very pleased with.
“Our word this week was ‘Perseverance.’ You have to withstand the trials and keep plugging away, and I thought we did that [Friday] night.”
Cass scored 22 points in the second quarter to take a 25-14 lead into the half. Quarterback Sheldon Slusser hit tight end Kyle Dwiggins with a 63-yard touchdown pass on the next play from scrimmage after Scott’s TD run.
The Kings forced a punt and scored on a wild exchange seven plays later. Slusser handed off to Garrett Riley at the Falcon 24, but Riley flipped the ball back to Slusser after getting stood up. Slusser broke free and finished off the final 20 yards for the score with 1:30 to go in the half.
Fairfield fumbled the ensuing kickoff, and the Kings scored again 36 seconds later on Welch’s 10-yard scamper with 44.6 seconds left in the half.
With a two-possession lead at the break, Cass took the opening possession of the second half 68 yards in eight plays, capped by Drew Shepherd’s five-yard TD run, which put the Kings up 32-14 with 8:23 to play.
Cass’ defense held Fairfield to 19 yards rushing in the second half. And, although Scott finished the night 18 of 33 through the air for 183 yards, Shepherd intercepted a pair of passes from his safety position in the second half to help further bolster a Kings’ defense that was playing without the services of cornerback Justen Downhour, who was out with an injury.
“We lost [Downhour] two weeks ago, and we had to make decisions and adjust on the fly,” Shepherd said. “I was pleased with how everyone stepped up and did their job. Getting picks rallies everyone up and helps out momentum. We thrive on momentum, and that helped a lot in the second half.”
Shepherd’s two picks give him seven for the season.
Slusser finished the night 4 of 10 passing for 130 yards and a TD, and also ran 11 times for 56 yards and a score. Riley added 52 yards on seven carries for the Kings.
Noble ended the night with 10 catches for 112 yards and a TD in his final game for the Falcons.
Mannering celebrated win No. 199 of his career Friday night, all of which have come at Cass.
Sports
Kings pummel Falcons, advance to Sectional 28 final
Cass scores 43 unanswered points after falling behind 14-3.
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Eastern dominates Taylor in softball
GREENTOWN — The third time turned out not to be the charm for the Taylor softball squad as Eastern improved to 3-0 on the season over its backyard rival Wednesday night, ousting the Titans from the Class 2A Eastern Sectional 15-0 in five innings.
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Barnes sets Taylor's career hits record
Taylor baseball standout Logan Barnes made his final game at George Phares Field one to remember.
Barnes pitched four solid innings to lead Taylor past Monroe Central 9-3 Tuesday. In addition, he went 2 for 3 at the plate, pushing his career hits total to a school-record 142. -
Kats drop heartbreaker
When the postseason arrives, emotions surge like a roller-coaster. One minute, it’s a long uphill, then a wild series of events offer a barrage of frights and thrills. And then, for one team, the ride ends and there aren’t any more tickets for another go around.
After two days of chills and thrills, Kokomo’s softball team ran out of tickets Tuesday night in the Class 4A Harrison Sectional. The Kats dropped a 4-3 decision to Harrison in eight innings, giving up a run in the top of the extra frame, and having a runner tagged out at home in the bottom of the frame.
“It was a great game,” Harrison coach Dick Mitchell said. “It’s always nerve-wracking to coach in one of them, but both teams played their hearts out. Nobody deserved to lose that game, but unfortunately somebody does.” -
Comets turn heads at track regional
Heading into Tuesday’s IHSAA girls track and field regional at Fort Wayne Northrop High School’s Spuller Stadium, event workers alike weren’t sure of Eastern High School’s location.
After the dust settled, they may feel compelled to get a map out and find out where Greentown is located.
Led by seniors Sarah Wagner, Brittany Neeley and Bethany Neeley, the Comets qualified for the state finals in six separate events to finish fourth as a team with 55.5 points, behind host and champion Northrop (78), Bellmont (68) and Carroll (Allen) 66. -
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. -
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. -
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. -
Athlete of the week
Cole led the small-school Comets to the Kokomo Sectional title, their first title since 1998.
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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. -
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.
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