PENDLETON — It was an exclamation-point end to Pendleton Heights High School’s football regular season.
The Arabians wrapped up their slate with two straight wins and a 6-3 overall record with a commanding 55-8 victory at Shelbyville on Friday. They beat Yorktown the previous week, 38-7.
Pendleton Heights finished 4-3 and in fourth place in the eight-team Hoosier Heritage Conference.
“We’re battled-tested,” coach Jed Richman said of his club, which won the pair of games after dropping three straight. “Those lessons (from losses) are nothing if you don’t put them to good use, and I think we have.
“Now it’s time to go and put it all to use.”
From start to finish at Shelbyville, it was all Arabians. Ricky Howell took the opening kickoff 95 yards for a touchdown. Nick Taylor’s PAT quickly gave Pendleton Heights a 7-0 lead. It scored 21 points in each of the first two quarters and led 42-8 at halftime.
Junior quarterback Luke Candiano would be hard-pressed to have had a better evening throwing the football. He completed 8-of-8 passes for 122 yards and two touchdowns. Both scoring receptions went to his favorite receiver, Tyler McKinley. The senior wide out had three catches for 78 yards to go with his two scores.
Javon Cole and Marvin Jones each had two receptions.
The Arabians had five touchdowns from their running attack, all coming from different players.
Candiano, Evan MacMillan, Braden Gustin, Caden McClain and Justin Beeler all had touchdowns. McClain rushed for 100 yards on just six carries. Candiano had four carries for 44 yards.
Candiano ran and threw for first-quarter touchdowns to get the Arabians out to a 21-0 lead.
Pendleton Heights’ defense had seven tackles for loss, led by Connor Huffman with 1.5. Riley Simons, Karson Petty, Luke Bays, McClain and Gustin each had one TFL. DeMarco Cooley was credited with .5. Bays had a team-high seven total tackles. MacMillan had an interception.
The Arabians move to post season play Friday with a 7 p.m. date at Greenfield-Central, in one of four quarterfinal games in Class 4A Sectional 21.
It is their second meeting at G-C. During the regular season, Pendleton Heights defeated Greenfield-Central (3-4) 35-18. The game was much closer than the final score, with the Arabians holding a slim 21-18 advantage going into the final quarter.
Like the Arabians, the Cougars are getting hot at the right time of the season. Greenfield-Central has won two of their past three, with the lone loss coming at 7-2 Delta, 22-16, on Oct. 9. It also beat Yorktown on Oct. 2, 22-7, and defeated New Castle 42-22 last week in a game the Cougars set a new school mark for single-game rushing yards with 532 yards. Quarterback Lance McKee had 266 yards rushing and three touchdowns.
In the first meeting, McKee ran for 185 yards, two scores and threw for another touchdown, but the Arabians prevailed with their own strong rushing attack.
Jack Elijah (117 yards) and McClain (100 yards) had a score each to go with their 100-yard rushing games. MacMillan also had two rushing touchdowns.
“They were good when we played them (early this season) and they are even better now,” Richman said of the Cougars. “We have nothing but respect for them and what they do. They’re going to be ready. They are really playing well and they have our attention.
“We feel good about our preparation. Our goal is to always be playing our best ball in the tournament. We want to win in the tournament. We’ve got a tough opponent and we’ve got to be ready to play.”