ANDERSON, Ind. —
Homecoming games are usually held a little later during football season. But tradition was the farthest thing from the minds of Anderson Indians coach Randy Albano and his Fighting Indians football team as they picked up their first victory of the 2010 season.
Anderson defeated North Central Conference foe Richmond Red Devils 32-7 on Friday at Lyboult Stadium where Albano suited up for the Red Devils as a quarterback once upon a time.
“It’s kind of neat, although I’m used to being on the (home sideline),” said Albano a 1974 graduate of Richmond High School. “It feels way different than when I played here. I’ve been back a few times when Highland scrimmaged against (Richmond). But I’ve never really coached a game against them here. It was a big win in my hometown. My mom and friends were all here.”
The victory ended a 14-game losing skid for the Indians on the gridiron against Richmond. It also marked the Tribe’s first victory on the field since the 2008 season. AHS had one victory by forfeit last year.
Anderson’s defense forced two Richmond three and outs on the first two possessions of the game for the Devils. The second defensive stand negated an early interception. On AHS was set up with excellent field position as a bad snap on the second punt attempt gave AHS the ball at the Richmond 23 yard line.
From there the Indians used six plays to traverse the 23 yards and went up 6-0 on a 4-yard run by tailback Isaiah Johnson.
For the game Richmond ended the night with just six first downs and did not pick up one until their fifth possession of the game.
“Our kids played really well, especially on defense. We didn’t get beat on anything deep like we did last week. We’ve got some athletes and some quickness. We were swarming to the ball and making tackles instead of watching. We’ve improved every game and that’s all we can ask.”
The Indians went ahead 14-0 on another scoring run by Johnson that capped off another big drive for the Tribe. Anderson ran eight plays to cover 55 yards and left just over 12 seconds on the clock when they kicked the ball back to the home team.
For the game Johnson ended his evening with four touchdowns to highlight a 22-carry, 129-yard performance.
“We just put it together tonight, offense and defense,” Johnson said. “I just tried to get what I could get in the game, my line did a good job.”
“We’re doing the same thing we’ve been doing; we’re just executing,” Albano said. “It seemed like our kids did a better job of adjusting tonight.”
A slightly new wrinkle showed that the Indians can put points on the board in the air regardless of who is under center. Normally, Anderson junior Shannon Swain is considered a running threat when he’s taking snaps for the Indians. But he showed why the offense is called the option when he found tight end Lavonte Allensworth down the field for a 40-yard scoring strike that put the Red and Green up 20-0 with 10:15 to go in the second quarter.
Johnson would score twice more on the ground on runs of 3- and 15-yards for the Indians.
Part of that adjusting was not having a letdown in the second half with a 26-0 advantage. Last week at Lucas Oil Stadium, the Indians clawed their way back against Southport to tie the game at 21-all with just over two minutes left in the first half. Then a 72-yard scoring play took the wind out of the Tribe’s sails.
While the Indians’ offense didn’t match its output on the scoreboard in the second half, the defense matched their first-half intensity by adding two sacks and a turnover to nail down the victory.
Anderson held the Red Devils to just eight rushing yards in the game on 21 attempts. Richmond completed 13-of-23 passes for 126 yards.
The Red Devils lone score came after Devils linebacker Eli Garland picked off another AHS pass and returned it to the Anderson 2-yard line. Richmond running back Michael Farris scored the touchdown on a short running play.
Anderson (1-2 and 1-0 NCC) will host Logansport next Friday at Collier Field at 7:30 p.m.
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