PENDLETON — It was a Murphy’s Law-like first quarter for the Greenfield-Central Cougars on Friday.
“Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong.”
At John Broughton Field, home of the Pendleton Heights Arabians, the Cougars lost three first-quarter fumbles, two on ensuing kickoffs following Pendleton Heights touchdowns and another one play after receiving another post-touchdown kickoff.
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The Arabians scored four touchdowns and scored 26 points in the final 4:11 of the first quarter.
The Cougars went on to lose to the Arabians 47-6, to drop to 0-4 on the season and 0-2 in the Hoosier Heritage Conference. Pendleton Heights improved to 3-1 and 2-0 in league play.
“We gave them points,” Greenfield-Central coach Travis Nolting said. “We put ourselves in situations where we gave them probably half of the points that are up there by giving them a short field and fumbles.
“But, here’s the thing,” Nolting added. “I’ve got freshman and sophomores out there playing against juniors and seniors. They’re young kids and they made young kids mistakes tonight. They also showed some good things.”
Greenfield-Central fumbled five times in the first half and seven times overall. Five were recovered by Pendleton Heights.
After scoring on a 66-yard drive to open the game’s scoring, Pendleton Heights started its next three possessions at the Greenfield-Central 21, 12 and 18 yard lines.
“I’d like to take credit for a lot of those, but some of them were given, but we took advantage of it,” Pendleton Heights coach Jed Richman said. “Then, we capitalized on most of them. That was really important. Any time you get a turnover, to get something out of it is really big. It’s definitely an emotional thing.”
Twice, Pendleton Heights senior quarterback Kirby Hess threw touchdown passes. The opening Arabians’ drive ended on a 35-yard strike to tight end David Stahly. He also connected to Tristan Ross on a 12-yard score. Caden McClain, on a 3-yard run and Joe Rios, with a 17-yard burst provided the other Pendleton Heights scores.
The Cougars took nearly six minutes off the clock with the game’s opening drive, but they turned it over on downs at the Arabians 34. The next time the Greenfield-Central offense was on the field, the score was 20-0.
The opening drive, and all of the Cougars’ offensive series, were led by freshman quarterback Brodie Mayberry, who finished the game with 16 carries for 64 yards. He was playing for injured starter Lance McKee.
Senior fullback Bradon Nelson had 26 carries for 106 yards to lead all rushers.
The Cougars got on the board in the fourth quarter. Set up by a 36-yard Nelson rush on fourth-and-5, freshman running back Brayden Herrell scored on a five-yard run.
As a team, Greenfield-Central rushed for 200 yards.
“I had a freshman quarterback come in and get his first start,” Nolting said. “Managing the offense as a freshman, that’s tough. You are put in a situation where you’re 15-years old playing against 18-year old men. I think overall he did OK. We moved the ball. The passes were there when we threw them, we just turned the ball over too much. That was the knife in the chest.”
The game was Greenfield-Central’s first road contest of the season. The Cougars are back home next Friday with a Homecoming date with Shelbyville.
Pendleton Heights continues its stretch of Hancock County opponents. They will be on the road the next two Fridays, taking on defending Class 5A state champions New Palestine next week and following with a game against Mt. Vernon in Fortville.
