INDIANAPOLIS
In a season filled with narrow losses and disappointment, Whiteland’s football team was bound to change the script in Friday’s Class 5A sectional semifinal at fourth-ranked Decatur Central.
For most of the first half — and for a few minutes midway through the fourth quarter — it looked as though the Warriors might pull it off.
Whiteland, which lost to Decatur Central 42-29 at Devere Fair Stadium on Sept. 6, led into the second quarter Friday. The Hawks responded by taking a 21-7 lead, but the Warriors drew within a touchdown with eight minutes to play.
Decatur Central’s big-play capability — which Whiteland contained as well as anyone had all season — struck on the Hawks’ next possession. It led to a game-sealing Decatur Central touchdown and a 28-14 victory.
The win enabled the Hawks (7-2) to advance to next week’s sectional championship game against No. 5 Plainfield.
The Warriors (4-5) cut the Hawks’ lead to 21-14 with 8:43 remaining after a vintage Whiteland touchdown drive that took seven minutes, 21 seconds and included 15 plays for 62 yards. It practically mirrored the Warriors’ game-opening touchdown drive (12 plays, 67 yards, 6:29).
Whiteland appeared poised to get the ball back with a chance to tie the game when it forced Decatur Central into a third down and 22 from the Hawks’ 25-yard line on the next possession. But Decatur Central quarterback Bo Polston found Fa’Rel Carter down the middle of the field for a 42-yard reception. That gave the Hawks the ball at the Whiteland 33, and Decatur Central scored the game-sealing touchdown five plays later with 2:58 to play.
The Hawks entered the game averaging 37.4 points on offense and had scored at least 35 points in every game since a season-opening 41-15 loss to Class 6A No. 7 Columbus North.
“Our defensive staff had a great game plan,” Whiteland coach Darrin Fisher said. “I thought we did a good job of bracketing the ball on the outside and forcing them to run the ball inside at us. If our kicking game had put us in a little better field position and they would have had longer fields to drive, I think that would have made a big difference.”
Instead, Whiteland’s four punts netted just 106 yards for a 26.5-yard average. In addition, a mishandled snap on the Warriors’ first punt attempt of the game forced Zander Hite to attempt a run, which Decatur Central snuffed out at the Whiteland 21-yard line. The Hawks scored two plays later to tie the game, 7-7.
As for the Hawks’ critical third-and-22 conversion, Fisher said it played out similarly to an incomplete Whiteland pass that could have gone for a touchdown just before halftime. On both plays, the Decatur Central player went high for the ball to make the play.
“I don’t think we went after the ball as hard as they did,” Fisher said. “We tried to play the ball down low, and they played the ball up high. They were more aggressive when the ball was in the air.”
During Whiteland’s two touchdown drives, the Warriors earned eight first downs and gained a combined 129 yards. But the offense stalled in between. They didn’t gain a first down from the two-minute mark in the first quarter until almost the end of the third period — a span of nearly 24 game minutes.
Slate Valentine scored both Whiteland touchdowns on 6- and 5-yard runs, respectively. He finished with a game-high 103 rushing yards but needed 24 carries to do it.
The loss ended a season in which Whiteland’s four wins came by an average of 20.5 points, but a pair of midseason losses — 20-13 at Martinsville and 24-21 to Mooresville — along with a lightning-shortened game at Kokomo kept the Warriors from a winning season.
“They stopped leading, and they never stopped fighting,” Fisher said of Whiteland’s seniors. “That core group was super resilient. They brought me back. The two losses at the end of the game (to Martinsville and Mooresville) almost ripped my soul out of my body, and they brought me back every week with the way they tightened their boots a little tighter and went back to work.”
