Arabians prepare for HHC opener against New Castle

0
267

PENDLETON — With the beginning of the Hoosier Heritage Conference part of the schedule upon them, Pendleton Heights is working to clean up a few details that surfaced during two non-conference games.

The Arabians are glad to be heading into the HHC opener, at home, Friday against New Castle (1-1), with a 2-0 record, but coach Jed Richman knows there is plenty of work to do in preparation for the Trojans, the first of seven HHC contests.

“They’re a tough opponent coming in this Friday. We’ve got to make sure we get better at the things we weren’t so good at (in our first two games),” Richman said. “They’ll expose us in ways others have not, because of their strengths and they are effective in what they do in the passing game.”

New Castle is averaging 41 points per game, losing 44-34 to Franklin County in its opener before handling Rushville 48-7. Senior quarterback Eli Cooper has seven touchdown passes.

Pendleton Heights is coming off its second straight 21-14 victory, winning the home opener against Mississinewa, then hanging on in a road win at Anderson last week.

Against Anderson, Pendleton Heights led 21-0 at the half in a game that had a 90-minute lightning delay.

The Arabians dominated time of possession, yards gain and a lot of the statistical categories.

“We had long drives that stalled out in the red zone,” Richman said. “We didn’t finish some drives, and that made it closer. At the same time, give (Anderson) credit. They did a good job defensively.”

With the score 21-0 in the fourth quarter, Anderson scored on a long pass play, then, after a mistake on the kickoff return, the Indians jumped on a loose ball in the end zone for a second touchdown in short span.

“It was uncomfortable, for sure,” Richman added. “We’re learning with some hard lessons. The film didn’t lie. They did some nice things, and we left some points on the field. A lot of that was our own doing, either execution-wise or penalties. We need to clean some things up and we will. We have to learn from it and move on.”

Against Anderson, senior quarterback Luke Candiano completed 13 of 24 passes for 132 yards and one touchdown. Senior running back Ethan Ross had 23 carries for 126 yards. Candiano also had 17 rushes for 79 yards and a score.

Junior Jalen Jordan had three receptions for 54 yards, and sophomore receiver Reese Reddington had five grabs for 46.

Dominic Apo hit all three of his point-after attempts.

Four of the Arabians’ seven conference games are at home. Along with Friday’s league opener, the Arabians will play host to Greenfield-Central the following Friday, Sept. 10. Other home conference games are against Delta (Oct. 1) and Shelbyville (Oct. 15).

Road conference games will be at New Palestine (Sept. 17), Mt. Vernon (Sept. 24) and Yorktown (Oct. 8).

“I told people before the season, and I think some people thought it was just coach-talk, but we have no days off,” Richman said. “First off, we’re building and we’re learning every day. We have a solid group of kids and a solid team. I don’t know how good we are yet, and we’re definitely not to our potential. We’re working towards that.

“At the same time, our conference has great parity. There’s obviously some championship elite programs at the top. Everybody else is duking it out. Shelbyville is much improved. They just won their first game. Greenfield-Central is really challenging and very good. New Castle, who we play Friday and who we are most focused on, coach (Kyle) York has done a great job. We’ve had a dog fight when we’ve played them. Last year (a 14-13 PH overtime win) was a hard-fought game. It’s a really good conference right now in football. Makes it a lot of fun, especially for the fans.”