Even in defeat, the Seymour Owls football team sent a message that they are not to be overlooked.
With the stats stacked up against them, the Owls hung tough with Columbus East for four quarters in a surprising 14-7 loss to the Olympians.
Seymour coach Mike Kelly was proud of his kids and their performance against East, especially the defense, which contained the orange-clad team from up north to their second-lowest offensive yardage output of the year (347 yards).
Only Pickerington Central High School in Ohio held the Olympians to fewer yards.
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The Owls also hemmed the East passing attack, which only threw for 49 yards — their lowest total for the year.
Weather may have helped play a factor in that stat, but the Owls were also able to control the game with their running attack, which rushed for nearly 200 yards and a score from Brendan Smith.
They’ll need similar production on Friday when Floyd Central, and Wenkers Wright, comes to town.
Wright has just fewer than 1,500 yards this season, which is top-five in the state, and has churned out 19 touchdowns as well.
Perhaps the most eye-popping stat is that he’s averaging 10 yards a carry.
Containing him will be priority No. 1 for the Owls’ defense in their final home game of the season.
Down in Scottsburg, the Warriors will face the newly-minted Class 3A No. 4 Brownstown Central Braves.
The Warriors are in their fifth season since the program was revived in 2015 and Braves’ coach Reed May lauds their success in such a short time.
Though it’s been some time, May knows the struggles of starting over with a program.
He did so with Brownstown Central 27 years ago.
Prior to May’s arrival, the Braves hadn’t had a winning season in a decade and were coming off a winless year.
"When I started, I had the seven building blocks to success and luckily we were able to turn things around in Year 1," he said. "It’s a little different than starting a program from scratch. When you do that, nobody knows anything about what to do."
May was happy to see programs like Scottsburg and Silver Creek join the field of football teams over the last decade.
He jokes he was embarrassed about the Mid-Southern Conference when he served as president of the IFCA because of not having the Warriors and Dragons playing the sport.
At the time, Scottsburg and Silver Creek were the two biggest schools in the state that didn’t have football teams.
With a tough sectional game on the horizon against Charlestown, May knows his boys will need to be focused if they want to finish the regular season undefeated.
It’ll be especially tough on May to keep his team focused this week with Brownstown Central schools on fall break. Still, he’s confident they can earn their seventh straight win over the program.
A win would also clinch the outright Mid-Southern Conference title for BC. It’d be their 21st overall and second in a row.
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Hoosier Hills Conference standings
Team;HHC;All
Columbus East;5-0;6-2
Floyd Central;4-1;6-2
Jeffersonville;3-2;3-5
Seymour;2-3;4-4
New Albany;2-3;3-5
Bedford North Lawrence;2-3;2-6
Jennings County;1-4;3-5
Madison;1-4;1-7
Mid-Southern Conference
Team;MSC;All
Brownstown Central;7-0;8-0
Silver Creek;6-1;7-1
Charlestown;5-2;6-2
Salem;5-3;5-3
North Harrison;3-4;3-4
Scottsburg;3-4;3-5
Clarksville;2-5;2-6
Corydon Central;1-6;2-6
Eastern (Pekin);0-7;0-8
Class 5A Sectional 14
Team;Class;All
Franklin;2-0;7-1
New Palestine;1-0;8-0
Seymour;1-2;4-4
Whiteland;1-2;5-3
Class 3A Sectional 31
Team;Class;All
Lawrenceburg;4-0;7-1
Brownstown Central;4-0;8-0
Greensburg;2-1;4-4
Charlestown;4-1;6-2
Franklin County;2-2;5-3
Batesville;1-3;2-6
Scottsburg;1-4;3-5
Rushville;0-3;1-7
Jackson County leaders
Passing
Player;Com;Att;Yds;TD;I
Smith (S);46;108;814;9;7
Thompson (BC);24;42;471;6;0
Receiving
Player;C;Yds;Avg;TD
Henderson (S);16;310;19.4;3
D. Vehslage (S);12;278;23.2;5
Barker (S);6;100;16.7;1
Cope (BC);9;218;24.2;2
Brown (BC);6;118;19.7;2
Kruse (S);1;33;33;0
Elmore (S);3;22;7.3.0
Lowe (S);2;10;5.0.0
K. Tiemeyer (BC);5;84;16.0;1
Rushing
Player;Att;Yds;Avg;TD
Thompson (BC);131;1233;9.4;12
Drummond (S);156;1010;6.5;8
Smith (S);96;473;4.9;7
Greathouse (S);56;415;7.4;4
Walker (BC);49;398;8.1;3
Brown (BC);25;248;9.9;0
K. Tiemeyer (BC);30;183;6.1;2
Hines (BC);24;140;5.8;2
Huber (BC);20;90;4.5;1
Defense
Player;T;A;TT
Pennington (S);45;58;103
Hines (BC);28;48;76
Corwin (S);35;46;81
Weddell (S);25;34;59
Walker (BC);12;29;41
James (S);23;16;39
Schroeder (S);15;25;40
Huber (BC);12;15;27
J. Tiemeyer (BC);5;20;25
Neal (S);11;20;31
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What: Floyd Central (6-2) at Seymour (4-4)
When: 7 p.m. Friday
Radio: 92.7 Nash Icon
Where: Bulleit Stadium
Last meeting: Seymour 27-22, Sept. 7, 2018
Series past 35 years: Seymour 12-10
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What: Brownstown Central (8-0) at Scottsburg (3-5)
When: 7 p.m. Friday
Radio: 96.3 WJAA
Where: Scottsburg High School football field
Last meeting: Brownstown Central, 51-7, Oct. 12, 2018
Series past 35 years: Brownstown Central, 2-0
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