By Travis Whitton
For The Herald Bulletin
LAPEL, Ind. —
Lapel football coach Nate Andrews had enough on his mind, as three of his key players were lost to suspensions before Friday night’s game against Cardinal Ritter. What made matters worse for Andrews was that he would lose three more to injuries during the Bulldogs’ 48-20 blowout loss to the Raiders.
The Bulldogs had a chance to play the No. 3-rated team in Class 2A on their home field. This was going to be their chance to knock off a football powerhouse in front of a big crowd and with Fox 59 on hand.
Unfortunately for Lapel, it suffered the suspension of arguably the best player on its team, Chandler Guion. The Bulldogs also had to play without juniors Clayton Savage and Jeff Lovetinsky for a violation of school rules.
Complicating matters was the fact that Andrews and his team lost Jordan Maxey, Hayden Heeb and Logan Alberts to injuries during the game.
Lapel had no answer for the Raiders, falling behind 21-0 in the first quarter. Kyle Nardi put the Bulldogs on the board with 7:33 left before the half on a 15-yard scamper.
Cardinal Ritter tacked on two more scores prior to the half and found themselves with a comfortable 35-6 lead heading into halftime.
The Bulldogs were in a position where they could’ve hung it up and quit, but that would not be acceptable to Andrews and his coaching staff. He has routinely complimented their ability to hang tough in adverse situations.
“That’s what we try to do — talk about all the time,” Andrews said of not quitting. “Never give up, and hold your heads high no matter what. This group does that. This group, I really like. It’s a good group.”
They proved their meddle by outscoring their opponent 14-13 in the second half. Quarterback Zack Farley took an end around down the right sideline 77 yards for a score to make it 48-13.
With 2:40 left in the game, Tyler Lovetinsky ran in another score down the right side for the final score of the night for either team.
Andrews said despite the bad luck this week he feels he has a group that cares about each other. He said that is the mark of a good team.
“Even though we’ve had some bad circumstances this week, they’ve hung in there,” said Andrews. “They care about each other, that’s the thing about it. No matter what, they care about each other, and that’s a positive thing. That’s what good teams are all about.”
