JEFFERSONVILLE
If the first 32 years of being a head coach taught Darrin Fisher anything, it’s that there is no such thing as midseason form in August.
However, the Warriors’ 50-20 defeat of Jeffersonville on Friday makes for a nice start.
Last year’s Class 5A state runners-up scored the first 30 points against the Red Devils to basically pick up where they left off last season in terms of execution, enthusiasm and momentum.
During the opening half, that is.
The frustratingly plodding pace of the final two periods due to a blizzard of penalty flags, injuries, officiating uncertainty and any number of other factors made for a football game that took three hours and 20 minutes to finish.
By the time the game concluded, two officials had exited the action due to injury, the last by ambulance with 48 seconds remaining in the final period.
With the ambulance still on the Red Devils’ turf, those officials still remaining allowed the final seconds to tick off.
Junior running back Slate Valentine carried 17 times for 156 yards and a pair of touchdowns. Classmate Maalik Perkins did his part with 10 totes of the rock for 101 yards and two scoring runs himself.
Jeffersonville, a program that has experienced seven consecutive losing seasons under three different head coaches, scored a morale victory just in the fact they prevented a running clock from being incorporated.
The Warriors’ offense accumulated 279 total yards, all via the running game, over the first two quarters to hold a commanding 30-6 lead by halftime.
A 6-yard touchdown run by Perkins at 7:26 of the opening quarter capped a 10-play, 80-yard drive for a quick 6-0 advantage.
The defense then got in the act, tacking on two points of its own when the Red Devils, pinned deep in their own territory on the ensuing drive, saw running back Brandon Harris wrapped in a bear hug by junior defensive lineman Ayden Shaffer for a safety.
Senior Gunnar Hicks added a 1-yard TD run for Whiteland at the 1:36 mark of the first, making it a 14-0 game. Perkins added his second trip to the end zone on the first play of the second, upping the margin to 22-0, before Valentine made it a 30-0 score with his 1-yard burst 4:27 before halftime.
Jeffersonville finally put points on the board at :47 of the second, punctuating an 8-play, 63-yard series with a 19-yard touchdown pass from senior quarterback Nik Schindler to junior Robert Tucker.
Second-half touchdowns scored by the Warriors came on Valentine’s 1-yard run, a 13-yard jaunt to the end zone from junior Hank Trimble and sophomore Christian Magness cashing in near the end of the fourth quarter.
Before entering Mid-State Conference action, the Warriors line up against another first-time opponent next week when they host Kokomo.
