DELTA — Pendleton Heights heads into its final two regular-season games looking to build momentum for the playoffs after snapping a two-game losing skid, downing host Delta 35-16 on Sept 28.
Pendleton Heights takes its 5-2 record (3-2, Hoosier Heritage Conference) into Senior Night at home against Hoosier Heritage Conference foe Yorktown at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Oct. 5, before wrapping up the regular season Friday, Oct. 12, at Shelbyville.
“Yorktown is a very good football team — well-coached and very hard-nosed,” Arabians head coach Jed Richman said. “Their players play very hard and are very aggressive. They always play us tough, and we expect the same Friday.”
The Arabians put a damper on the Delta homecoming, dominating the game on both sides of the football.
Pendleton Heights had a balanced attack with 195 rushing yards and 107 passing and converted 6-of-9 third-down conversions, while the defense held the Eagles to 5-of-12 third-down conversions. Kicker Nick Taylor hit on all five of his extra-point attempts.
“We always look to take what the defense gives us, and there were opportunities to run a balanced attack Friday,” Richman said. “Christian Conkling did a really nice job running the offense, and the offensive line did a great job coming off the football.”
Delta ate up most of the clock in the first quarter with a long drive, but the Arabians’ defense kept it out of the end zone and forced a 21-yard field goal for a 3-0 lead.
The Arabians countered when Conkling ran for a 1-yard touchdown after a nice drive of their own, taking a 7-3 lead after the first quarter.
Pendleton Heights scored early in the second quarter, during which Conkling threw a 32-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Eli Pancol, giving the Arabians a 14-3 lead at the half.
As they’ve done in past victories, Pendleton Heights came out strong in the third quarter and completed a time-consuming drive capped off with a 10-yard touchdown run by Conkling to give the Arabians a 21-3 lead.
In the fourth quarter, Pendleton Heights kept it on the ground as Conkling went up the middle for a 14-yard touchdown. Delta tried to get back into the game and countered with back-to-back touchdowns with a pass from Brady Hunt to Tyler Gilland for 10 yards and then a Hunt to Dalin Case 9-yard touchdown pass play.
But it was too little too late, and the Arabians’ Kamden Early sealed the game with a 2-yard touchdown run up the middle to cap off the 35-16 win.
Early finished the night with 86 yards on 13 carries, while Pancol had three catches for 67 yards and one touchdown.
