By George Bremer
The Herald Bulletin
PENDLETON, Ind. —
They’re called growing pains for a reason.
And an improving Pendleton Heights football team learned a hard lesson Friday night in a 20-3 loss to Hoosier Heritage Conference rival New Palestine.
“This was a good measuring stick for us,” Arabians coach John Broughton said. “We would have loved to have won the football game, don’t get me wrong. It would have been big in the conference race. But we’re still in the conference race.”
By all appearances, in fact, Pendleton Heights (2-1) still is headed in the right direction.
The defending sectional champion Dragons, however, provided a brief detour.
New Palestine (3-0) hasn’t lost to the Arabians since 2002, and it won both a regular season and postseason game between the schools in 2009.
But Dragons coach Tim Able spent a nervous week of preparation even after his team’s 24-14 victory against Delta.
He knew Pendleton Heights had improved, and he wasn’t sure he was going to be able to get that fact across to his players.
“Sometimes it’s hard to get the kids to understand,” he said. “They’re a better team than they were last year, and we found that out in the first half.”
New Palestine’s Brett Jackson returned the opening kickoff 53 yards to the Pendleton Heights’ 44-yard line, setting up a quick seven-play march into the end zone. But the Dragons gained just 43 total yards the rest of the first half and took a slim 7-3 lead into the locker room.
The Arabians had a 63-yard march of their own spanning the end of the first quarter and the beginning of the second. Junior quarterback Mitch Patishall and senior wide receiver Brad McNeil nearly connected for a tying score, but Pendleton Heights was forced to settle for a 25-yard field goal from Jon Furrow.
Senior running back Dezmon Nunn, who came into the game with 294 yards rushing, was held in check all night.
New Palestine concentrated on stopping the Arabians’ powerful sweep and held Nunn to just 36 yards on 18 carries.
But all that focus on quickness down the line of scrimmage helped the Pendleton Heights offensive line in pass protection. They gave Patishall plenty of time to throw all night, but the Arabians simply couldn’t make plays when they had to.
Patishall was intercepted at the Dragons’ 33-yard line on the first drive of the second half, and he and Nunn failed to connect on a long touchdown pass that would have cut the Arabians’ deficit to 14-10 in the third quarter.
“We’ve gotta execute better,” Broughton said. “If you don’t stop them any better than we stopped them, you’ve got to play well on offense. We’re not going to win many games scoring three points.”
New Palestine took control of the game in the second half with a rushing attack that chewed up 229 yards. Senior Austin Cahoy led the way with 105 yards on 17 carries and two touchdowns.
Junior quarterback Connor Simmons gave the Dragons some breathing room with a 1-yard touchdown run with 4:31 to play in the third quarter. Then Cahoy broke the Arabians’ backs.
After a long Pendleton Heights drive ended at the New Palestine 23-yard line, the Dragons took possession with 11:44 to play in the fourth quarter, Cahoy did most of the heavy lifting on the enusing 77-yard drive, including a 15-yard run on fourth-and-two from the Arabians’ 36-yard line, and capped the scoring with a powerhouse 10-yard run.
A bad snap cost New Palestine on the extra point attempt, but the damage already was done.
Pendleton Heights got the ball back with a 17-point deficit and just 4:23 remaining in the game.
“What really killed us was that drive in the fourth quarter,” Broughton said. “They dominated us in the fourth quarter. That’s my biggest concern.”
Pendleton Heights had an emotional week following the death of freshman wrestler Zach Wise, a friend and teammate of many of the Arabians’ football players, and Broughton said his team will get the weekend off to help heal some of the wounds.
Then it’s back to work with a long road trip to Shelbyville ahead next week.
“We’re not where we want to be,” Broughtons said. “But we’re gonna get there. We just need to get better.”
