PENDLETON — One game probably is not enough to make Eli Pancol change his mind about his future.
Still, as the Pendleton Heights junior is drawing interest for his basketball talents from several colleges, including Division 1 schools, his football career is off to a promising start.
In his first football game since seventh grade, Pancol caught three passes Friday, Aug. 18, all for touchdowns. He intercepted two passes, returning one for a fourth score, as Pendleton Heights routed Muncie Central 39-6 in its season opener at John Broughton Field.
“He’s a special kind of kid,” Arabian coach Jed Richman said. “He does what he’s asked, he’s disciplined as can be. He makes it easy to coach — he makes us all look smart, that’s for sure.”
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Pancol started the scoring on a seven-yard pass from junior quarterback Christian Conkling, with 5:45 left in the first quarter for a 6-0 lead.
After Conkling lofted a 19-yard strike to junior Tristen Spinks to open the second quarter, he found Pancol deep over the middle for a 67-yard touchdown; the Arabians had a 19-0 lead.
Conkling said having Pancol along with Spinks, the team’s leading returning receiver, on the outside opens up new possibilities for the Arabian offense.
“He’s 6-4, 190 pounds, quicker and stronger,” Conkling said. “He can go up and get the ball, where we really couldn’t do that last year.”
Junior Taylor White scored on a seven-yard run with 2:53 remaining in the first half for a 25-0 lead and a seemingly comfortable cushion.
But Pancol wasn’t done.
He intercepted an overthrown pass from Bearcat quarterback Cam Gillentine and returned it to the Muncie Central 33-yard line.
Following a Bearcat penalty, Conkling found Pancol again for a 14-yard score with 27 seconds left and, following the extra point from Thomas Quiroga, the Arabians took a 32-0 lead into halftime.
Pancol credited the veteran Arabians and coaching staff with helping him learn how to play football all over again.
“At first, I thought it was kind of challenging,” Pancol said. “I didn’t know much about defense, the calls and plays. But my teammates taught me a lot — they’ve been awesome.”
Due to injury, Pancol was pressed into service in the defensive secondary, a move by Richman that paid off again just 20 seconds into the third quarter.
Pancol picked off his second pass, this time weaving his way through the would-be tacklers from Muncie Central, and returned it 65 yards for his fourth touchdown of the night and a 39-0 lead.
“He’s been a backup on defense,” Richman said. “Because of injury, we lost our two starting corners; hopefully they’ll be back. But (Pancol) is a pretty good backup.”
Conkling was efficient in the passing game, completing nine of 12 passes for 149 yards and the four scores. Spinks and Pancol combined for seven catches and 137 yards.
While Pancol provided the points, it was junior Evan Douglas who laid the groundwork for the victory. In addition to running the ball 11 times for 52 yards, he also blocked a punt and recovered a fumble on defense, both of which set up Arabian touchdowns, and had two tackles for loss. All told, nine different Arabians ran the ball 35 times for 122 yards.
“Evan made plays,” Richman said. “It was a great team win, no question.”
The Arabians will try to start the season 2-0 when they travel to Anderson High School for a 7 p.m. kickoff Friday, Aug. 25. Anderson lost to Yorktown 32-0 to start its season.