By Noah Dalton
PAOLI – Paoli entered Friday night’s matchup against Mitchell in the midst of an unbeaten season, which has seen them ranked as one of the state’s top 2A teams, ranked #7 in the most recent IHFCA poll.
The Bluejackets stood as the lone team in the Patoka Lake Athletic Conference remaining with an opportunity to defeat the Rams, who had steamrolled through the conference’s other teams to that point with dominant wins each time.
That streak continued for Paoli, who emerged from the matchup victorious in a 64-0 shutout to secure sole ownership of the PLAC crown, their second in a row, after an unbeaten season in conference games in the previous season as well.
Mitchell head coach Zach See commended the Rams’ program and their consistent success in recent years, saying he sees what they’ve been able to do as something he strives accomplish during his time leading the Bluejackets.
“They’re a good team. They’re heavy with seniors this year, and that’s a good program. And, like I told our guys over there, I said, until we start getting more than 20-25 kids out in the summer, until we start sacrificing every day in the summer, you guys start coming to practice every day, you guys start doing every little thing, right? That’s where it gets you,” said See.
“That is a program, it does everything right from the top to the bottom, and that’s where I want us to be and that’s why I’ve referenced Paoli a lot this year. I’ve referenced [Springs] Valley a lot this year. I’ve referenced Perry Central. I’ve referenced Brownstown Central. If we want to see success like these other teams, we’ve got to be willing to do those things.”
Having only attempted two passes on the night, Paoli’s run game played a major role in their success against Mitchell, with the Rams rushing for a staggering 458 yards in 36 attempts.
They were led by two ball carriers who racked up triple-digit yards; Fletcher Cole, who had 125 yards and two touchdowns, and Justin Thorton, who was just behind him with 122.
“We were out strength up front and they had some experience on us up front with more seniors. That’s where being a young team, that’s where you get your advantages, hitting the weight room, being able to go on to being disciplined, not having mistakes,” See said. “But as far as giving us trouble up front, that’s just from them, they work hard all the time, and that’s where we need to get to.”
The Bluejackets will take the field next Friday for their final game of the regular season, another conference matchup against Perry Central (4-4).
See hopes facing a team at the level of Paoli can serve as motivation for his team moving forward, showing an example of what they can achieve in the future. He said the team will go over the tape from this matchup in the coming week as they look to end their season on a high note against the Commodores.
“I gave my kids some tough love tonight because I want to get to this point. This is what I want them to experience. But, I still told them at the end of the day, I’ll still ride with every one of you. I still love every one of you and I wouldn’t choose anybody over you. I still want them to know that and I still believe in us 100%,” said See.
“We’re gonna go back on film and in every negative there’s a positive and we’ll find positives in this film. We’ve just got to go through, find what worked for us, find what didn’t this week, and then try to build off things that did work, and maybe cut out the things that didn’t and just find our bread and butter and what works for us.”
