By Noah Dalton
MITCHELL – Mitchell High School was defeated on Friday at the hands of Patoka Lake Athletic Conference foe Paoli, who were victorious 57-7 behind a huge performance from senior rusher Trey Rominger, who tallied 357 yards on the ground with four touchdowns.
Rominger, already the Ram’s all-time leader in rushing yards, eclipsed 6,000 career yards in the game with a 41-yard touchdown carry in the second quarter. He also set the school’s single-game rushing record, which was previously 340 yards.
Paoli’s offense racked up 625 total yards, most of which came in the first half, where they were able to score 43 points against the Bluejackets.
Mitchell head coach Kevin Kling noted his team’s youth and inexperience against option offense, which dominated the night for the Rams.
“They’re an experienced, veteran team. We’re playing still with sophomores and you’re trying to defend the option with freshmen and sophomores,” said Kling. “Our interior guys are seniors, but we still have a sophomore middle linebacker, you had two freshmen outside linebackers. You’ve got a freshman safety, a freshman corner, senior corner and a sophomore safety. So, they’re an option team, they haven’t ever seen it. There’s no experience in it. It’s kind of hard to do those things.”
After giving up two early touchdowns in the first quarter, the Bluejackets were able to get one back of their own, thanks to a 27-yard touchdown pass from Kale England to Gavin Robinson, which brought it back within one score, before Paoli went on to score 42 unanswered points to secure the win.
On offense, Mitchell were able to move the ball across the field, but fell victim to four turnovers on the evening, three interceptions and one fumble, which erased much of their offensive progress.
“I thought we had things that we wanted, it’s just that we didn’t finish in the end and that’s what I told him at halftime. We just had to finish. We just didn’t finish at the end,” Kling said. “We’ll just keep plugging away. We’ve got Perry [Central] next week and we’ve got the [sectional] draw tomorrow, so we’ll just keep plugging away and see where we go from there.”
England threw for 207 yards and one touchdown, completing 10/28 attempts with two interceptions. The other interception was thrown by freshman receiver Malakai Goodman on a trick play, which saw him attempt a pass in the first quarter.
Goodman was the top target on the night for the Bluejackets, with three receptions for a team-high 76 yards. Ashon Luman caught three passes for 55 yards, Robinson caught four for 61, including the first-quarter touchdown and Kyzen Wigley caught one pass for 11 yards.
Robinson was the leading rusher for Mitchell, with 42 yards on 10 carries.
This win solidified an undefeated season in conference play for the Rams, earning them the PLAC championship.
The Bluejackets, sit at 1-3 in the PLAC, and 2-6 overall on the year. They’ll play one more regular season matchup, traveling to Leopold on Friday to face Perry Central (4-4).
