PENDLETON — As they have been with all of their 2023 opponents but two, Pendleton Heights was dominant on defense on Friday night.

That defensive effort helped the Arabians cap off a 7-2 season with a 28-7 win over Shelbyville.

With postseason play on the horizon and a rematch against a high-powered Greenfield-Central offense looming, the win was one final tune-up.

Earlier in the season the Arabians fell to the Cougars at home 43-38, and last year lost twice to the Cougars, once during the regular season and then again in the opening round of the sectional 34-28.

While Pendleton Heights starting quarterback Isaac Wilson is one of the many seniors on the team, it was the Arabians other quarterback, junior Colton Frank, who opened the scoring on senior night.

After marching downfield easily on the opening drive, Frank punched in the score from 1-yard out on a quarterback keeper.

The Arabians second drive of the night went to the senior, Wilson, and he and the Arabians offense scored just as easily. He scored his first of two rushing touchdowns on a 6-yard run.

A botched snap on the third Pendleton Heights drive of the night gave Shelbyville the ball in the red zone for the first time. But as they’ve done all season long, the Arabians defense stepped up.

Drake Stevens intercepted the Golden Bears first play and took it back 90 yards for the touchdown to boost the Arabians lead to 21-0.

The Pendleton Heights defense forced another Shelbyville turnover on the ensuing drive. Nolan Souders stalled a drive in which Shelbyville was moving the ball with an interception of his own.

In heavy rain, the Arabians intercepted another pass from Shelbyville quarterback Eli Chappelow early in the third quarter. This time, it was Wesley Kupferer jumping the passing lane.

Wilson added a third-quarter touchdown run to put the Arabians ahead 28-0, and a Shelbyville touchdown on the final play of the game was their only score of the night.

Souders intercepted a second Chappelow pass in the fourth quarter for his sixth of the season, and as a team, the Arabians forced four turnovers.

Eli Arthur and Rylan Keesling led the Arabians with one sack each. Nick Trout was the top tackler with 11, Eli Libler added 10 tackles and one tackle for loss, and Bo Surface had nine tackles.

On offense, Wilson completed 12 passes for 157 yards and ran for 35 yards and two touchdowns.

Frank ran for seven yards and the other Pendleton Heights offensive touchdown.

Reese Reddington caught four passes for 60 yards, Nate DeRolf added 46 yards, Stevens made an impact on both sides of the ball with four catches for 32 yards, and Caden Sims caught one pass for 28 yards.

The rematch between Pendleton Heights and Greenfield-Central will be at 7 p.m. tomorrow, Friday, Oct. 20, at Greenfield-Central.