ANDERSON — This year’s Pendleton Heights Arabians are proving to be a tough team to prepare for. After throwing for four touchdowns in their Week 1 victory, the Arabians turned to the ground game in a visit to Anderson and found just as much success, if not more.
Juniors Evan Douglas and Taylor White combined to rush for nearly 300 yards Friday, Aug. 25, and the Arabians outgained Anderson on the ground nearly four to one, as Pendleton Heights passed its first road test of the year with a 49-28 victory.
The Arabians improved to 2-0 and will play host to New Castle at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Sept. 1, in its first conference game of the year. Anderson fell to 0-2.
Douglas carried the ball 18 times for 168 yards and four touchdowns, while White rushed 11 times for 122 yards and another score.
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Coach Jed Richman said Anderson was keying on the passing game, which dictated that his offense was going to have to run the ball.
“We ran the ball 46 times and threw it 14 times, because that’s what the defense was telling us to do,” Richman said. “We executed and took advantage of that.”
One of those 14 passes was a 12-yard touchdown strike from Christian Conkling to Eli Pancol near the end of the first quarter to open the scoring and give the Arabians a 7-0 lead.
The remainder of the game was dominated by Douglas, White and the Arabian offensive line.
“Those guys are really good players on the defensive side, too,” Richman said of Douglas and White. “So, they are able to get a blow on the sideline for a play or two before they go back in. What I found most rewarding was how hard they blocked for one another. It’s that unselfish team mentality. Evan had a big block down the sideline in the third quarter, and Taylor actually grabbed Evan and pulled him out of a tackle to try and get him to the end zone. That teamwork was fun to see.”
That teamwork helped result in points on the scoreboard for the Arabians.
Douglas scored twice in the second quarter — a 21-yard run with 7:53 left and a five-yard score with just 30 seconds left until the break — for a 21-0 Arabian lead.
Anderson twice tried to claw its way back into the game with big plays. Keyounis Woods returned the second half kickoff 94 yards for a touchdown and added an 89-yard return later in the half for another score, but each time, the Arabians had an answer.
White and Douglas each scored on short touchdown runs in the third quarter to extend the Pendleton Heights lead to 35-7 after Woods’s first score. After his second kick return for a touchdown, Douglas responded with his fourth touchdown of the night, a 10-yard run with 5:06 left in the third quarter.
“We responded with long drives after those returns, primarily by running the football,” Richman said. “They knew what was coming; we just enforced our will on them. That’s a testament to the kids.”
Sophomore Kamden Earley added a 26-yard touchdown run in the closing moments for the final margin of victory and capped an evening when Pendleton Heights outrushed Anderson 408-106. Conkling did not throw the ball much, but when he did, junior Tristen Spinks was his favorite target, catching six passes for 29 yards.
