By Noah Dalton
MITCHELL – As they near the end of the regular season, Mitchell played host to Scottsburg on Friday night.
After a competitive first quarter, which saw both sides at an even score for most of the duration, the Warriors quickly began to pull away, one their way to ultimately heading home with the win, 56-7.
Scottsburg made quick work of their first drive, moving downfield to set up a nine-yard touchdown completion from quarterback Nathan Byrd to Matthew Wickey in just five plays.
Not to be outdone, Mitchell countered with touchdown of their own in just three plays, the capper being a 70-yard completion from Cam Gilstrap to Blake King.
For the remainder of the first, the Bluejackets managed to largely contain the Warriors, aside from another touchdown, this time a 16-yard completion to Joshua Thomas, which was given up after a Mitchell fumble gave Scottsburg possession of the ball near the redzone.
From there, the Warriors would go on to score to outscore the Bluejackets 42-0, cementing a comfortable win despite the well-contested first quarter.
“In the first half, I felt like, for the most part, especially the first quarter, I felt like we did the little things that I’ve been talking about this whole year. I felt like we did the little things right in the first quarter” said Mitchell head coach Zach See.
“That’s what I told them over there. I said, when you guys do the little things right, you can hang with anybody. You can play with anybody. But I said we played well in the first quarter, probably the best first quarter we played all season against a very good team.”
Scottsburg’s rushing attack, led by Landon Shuck, took over as the game progressed.
Shuck tallied 234 yards and two touchdowns in just 16 attempts
It was the opposite for Mitchell, who struggled to find success on the ground after a solid showing in previous weeks.
The Bluejackets totaled only 6 total rushing yards across 14 carries, including two which resulted in fumbles.
“We had a tougher time this week running, for sure. But they have some athletic and big linebackers and they’ve got an athletic D line, and I felt like the speed got to us a little bit. Again, we’re young all the way across the board. We’re starting three freshmen on the front line and it’s a different type of speed out here on Friday night,” said See.
We knew, and we’ve always known, that there’s gonna be some road bumps along the way with young kids. That’s just how it is. But I think their speed got to us a little bit, and they were blitzing quite a bit, which I think got to us a little bit, and it was tough for us to get outside with those ends real wide. So, it’s just making those adjustments and us knowing and getting more experience.”
Gilstrap completed 8/22 attempts for 101 yards, including his touchdown in the opening drive and a late game interception.
His top target on the night was King, who had three catches for 82 yards. Malakai Goodman added 19 yards in two receptions.
Next, Mitchell will make the short trip to Paoli to take on an unbeaten conference foe in the Rams (7-0).
Ranked in the top 10 2A teams in the state in the USA Today Network, IFCA and AP Media polls, Paoli is likely positioned as the toughest opponent on the Bluejackets’ schedule.
According to See, discipline and improving their run game will need to be the focus as they prepare for this matchup against the Rams.
“When we do those little things, we’re okay. And that’s a big thing, and you have to play all the way, because they like to take advantage of you when they’re on offense. They take advantage of your mistakes. So our big key next week is, how disciplined can we be? Can we be disciplined enough to know, hey, I may not make this tackle. I may not make a tackle all night, but if I’m sitting out here waiting on the quarterback or, you know, the wide play, I did my job. So, that’s got to be our big thing going into next week, because you’re not going to make every play, but if you’re in your spot and you do your job, then there’s nothing else that we can ask of you,” See said.
“The other thing that we’ve got to clean up is the run game, because they’re physical up front. They got some athleticism as well, so it’s going to be similar to tonight. So, we just got to get used to that, that speed, and playing at this speed every night on Friday, and just be able to adjust on the fly.”
