For The Tribune
New Albany held an 18-6 lead against Seymour midway through the second quarter of Friday night’s Hoosier Hills Conference game at Bulleit Stadium — until the Owls used a 38-yard kickoff return, a fumble recovery and recovered an onside kick to score three times in the final 6:11 of the second quarter before added scores in the third and fourth periods for a 42-26 win.
“We played pretty well offensively,” Owls coach Josh Shattuck said. “We really made some adjustments that got things fixed quickly on the defensive side of the ball. They’re just a nightmare to defend with a couple kids they’ve got. They just feel like they can score a touchdown on any play.”
“It was a great job by our defense. Coach (Ryan) McCartney is very experienced.”
The Bulldogs scored on their first two possessions as they marched 71 yards in eight plays for their first score, a 2-yard run by Darquan Richardson.
The Bulldogs picked up first downs on four straight running plays when Richards, Rondale Moore and Justin Ricketts took turns running the ball.
Ricketts raced 60 yards for a score on the Bulldogs’ second possession, and the senior quarterback ran 22 yards at 7:16 of the second period to put the Bulldogs on top 18-6.
In between the first two scores, the Owls lit up their side of the scoreboard when Alan Perry ran 49 yards for a score.
Following New Albany’s third TD, Evens Cribs returned the kickoff 32 yards to the New Albany 38, and Perry passed 3 yards to Evan Frische for a score with 6:11 on the clock.
Frische then recovered a fumble on New Albany’s next possession and the Owls turned that into a 6-yard TD run by Zach Carpenter.
After the Owls (2-5, 1-5 HHC) recovered an onside kick, Perry passed 5 yards to Chris Knight for a touchdown with 13.6 seconds left in the half.
Perry scored on a pair of 1-yard runs in the second half, while Richardson scored on a 57-yard run with 8:43 remaining in the fourth period that cut the Owls’ lead to 34-26.
Perry rushed 15 times for 114 yards and completed 19 of 25 passes for 263 yards.
Frische also had an interception in the second quarter.
“I didn’t know what senior night was all about until this year,” Frische said. “This is very specials to get a win on my last regular-season home game.
Moore topped the Bulldogs (3-5, 2-4 HHC) in rushing with 144 yards in 11 carries, Richardson gained 90 yards on seven carries, and Ricketts had 80 yards on 13 carries.