.png)
BY VAL TSOUTSOURIS
Sports Editor, RTC
Winamac (5-2) at South Central (Union Mills) (4-5), 7:30 p.m.
After allowing Trace Schuh’s 6-yard touchdown run, the Winamac defense girded itself, stayed disciplined and stopped Triton’s 2-point conversion attempt and hung in for a 10-9 win last week.
“The big thing that I emphasized with the kids was don’t make this a one-and-a-half yard play,” Winamac coach John Hendryx said. “I figured they’d probably try to get us to jump offsides and even shorten that up some more. But our kids didn’t and played with a lot of discipline, and man, we really got off the ball. We probably had about three guys a yard deep just instantly. And they didn’t even get the play off. We ended up causing a fumble. It was just a really nice play by our kids.”
Russell Compton scored Winamac’s only touchdown on a 25-yard run in the fourth quarter and also had an interception on defense.
Trent Fox accounted for 54 yards of offense and also had an interception on defense.
Overall, Winamac had only 134 yards of offense but forced four turnovers with their defense.
“The thing about high school kids that happens, and it’s obviously not the first time since I’ve been coaching that this has happened, but we have some struggles offensively, and then when it’s winning time, hey, this is it, we’ve got to go score, it’s almost like you look like a different team, and we just go right down the field and move the ball and score. And so, I credit our kids that they were able to play with that sense of urgency when they needed to. It would be nice if we played with that sense of urgency for 48 minutes.”
Winamac will carry a four-game winning streak into its Class 1A, Sectional 41 quarterfinal against South Central. Winamac hasn’t had a five-game winning streak or won as many as six games in a season since 2016.
That was also the year of their most recent sectional title.
Meanwhile, South Central comes into the postseason coming off a 48-0 loss to Hanover Central in their regular season finale last week. All four of South Central’s wins have come against teams with losing records.
Senior quarterback Brady Glisic leads the South Central offense with 923 yards rushing and another 636 passing. Glisic has also accounted for 25 touchdowns – 17 rushing and eight passing. Wide receiver Trent Hudspeth and slot back Brandin Young also have big-play potential, and Glisic will also throw to 6-8 tight end Brendan Carr.
“He’s got a couple good targets, and the tight end is 6-8,” Hendryx said. “You don't have to deal with that at any level very often. So that’s obviously a concern. … So they’ve got some weapons, and they’re playing at home. So it’s going to be a challenge.”
South Central plays a 3-4 defense, and Hendryx said that the offensive line must be ready for stunting combinations from their defense, especially with their linebackers.
This is the first time in his 28-year head coaching career that Hendryx has ever coached against South Central.
Winamac has won the last two meetings with the Satellites, knocking them out of the 2011 and 2017 sectionals. South Central has not won a sectional since 2010. They beat Winamac 52-0 in the sectional quarterfinals that year. They have not beaten Winamac since.
The winner plays South Newton, who received a bye, in the semifinals.
Comentarios