PENDLETON — A Senior Night celebration turned into a football victory for the Pendleton Heights Arabians as they earned a commanding 35-14 win Oct. 5 over the visiting Yorktown Tigers.
A second-quarter scoring surge gave the Arabians a 21-6 halftime lead, with both teams scoring in the final few minutes of the half. Yorktown could never recover, despite pulling within striking distance at 27-14 on a short-yardage run and successful 2-point conversion.
After an Arabians punt, the Tigers got to midfield before fumbling the ball, and Joseph Rios recovered for the Arabians.
A Christian Conkling pass to Christian Jones connected for a 47-yard nail-in-the-coffin touchdown pass.
Turnovers were costly for the Tigers, as junior Kamden Early and senior Eli Pancol snagged two interceptions. Early also got to the endzone twice on the ground and had 84 yards rushing. As a receiver, Pancol caught four passes for 74 yards and two touchdowns.
“The kids came to play tonight,” coach Jed Richman said. “It was a great way to cap off the evening and honoring our seniors.”
Conkling, a senior averaging 163 yards passing per game, went 11-20 for 187 yards against Yorktown. Conkling has more than 1,300 yards passing this season with just three interceptions.
“We have to have continuity out there, and he definitely spread it around,” Richman said. “It was nice to see Jonesy get a touchdown there at the end.
“It wasn’t always pretty out there tonight. They’re (Yorktown) a good football team.”
The Arabians defense forced Yorktown into six punts and had two sacks to go along with the fumble recovery and two interceptions.
Richman noted that the play of the special teams contributed a great deal to the team’s success. Anakin Allison had a long punt of the night of 55 yards.
All Arabian senior players had time on the field in their final home game.
“It doesn’t always happen that way. It was good to spread the ball around,” Richman said.
He credited the senior leadership with the improved play in the last two Arabian wins.
“We haven’t beat these guys in a while,” Richman said. “It’s great to keep that momentum going.”
One aspect Richman commented on was the number of penalties against the Arabians. In all, Pendleton was hit with 98 yards of infractions.
“That’s way too many, and we’ve got to get better.”
He did praise the players’ tenacity, though.
The Arabians improved to 6-2 overall (4-2, Hoosier Heritage Conference).
In the final regular season game, the Arabians will travel to Shelbyville on Friday, Oct. 12, for a 7:30 start time.
