By Noah Dalton
MITCHELL – Mitchell closed their regular season on Friday with a Patoka Lake Athletic Conference matchup against Perry Central.
The Bluejackets entered the game on a three-game slide, in stark contrast to the Commodores, who had won three of their last four games.
Perry Central’s hot streak continued against Mitchell, with a 42-14 win, led by a dominant first half performance that saw them end them into the locker room with a 22-0 lead after two
Perhaps most potent for the Commodores in the early stages of play was their rushing attack, which racked up 160 yards on 24 carries in the first half. That, combined with another 80 offense yards from five catches helped them to 14 first downs and three touchdowns in the initial periods.
The Bluejackets have had issues stopping the run over the past two weeks, as they’ve suffered losses against some of the tougher matchups on the schedule against Paoli and Scottsburg, with the two combining for 744 yards on the ground.
Head coach Zach See felt his team’s play on Friday showed an improvement compared to the previous outings, though they’ve still got some room to improve.
“I felt like tonight we were a ton better. I felt like tonight we were in the right spot, we just didn’t buzz our feet, come to balance to make a tackle, or, we were shooting too deep up the field, and they were just running underneath us all night,” he said.
Another area of improvement for Mitchell was their offensive output, scoring two touchdowns and picking up 10 first downs and 248 total yards, nearly double what they’d earned in their past two matchups combined.
They were led in that effort by quarterback Cam Gilstrap, who completed a nearly-perfect 13/14 passes for 151 yards, including a 54-yard touchdown to receiver Malakai Goodman in the third quarter.
Goodman was the team’s top receiver on the night, catching five passes for 100 yards.
“We’ve said it all year long, we think we’ve got some good athletes all over the field, and we want to try to get everyone the ball because we want to put pressure on the defense, to make them know that we have something for every single athlete we’ve got,” said See. “I think we found some things that we liked tonight and some things that we didn’t so, we were trying some new things out, but we’re just trying to get our athletes in space and get our athletes the ball and let them make plays.”
Mitchell will move on to sectional play next, where they’ll face a familiar opponent in Brown County in the opening round.
The two sides met earlier this season in a rare Saturday night game, after extreme weather forced the game to be postponed, with the Eagles coming out on top in a close game, with a 21-12 final score.
The Bluejackets are looking to pick up their first postseason win since the 2020 season.
“I’ve always tried to teach them to have the mentality that it doesn’t matter who you get, no matter who you draw, bring the same intensity, same focus, day in, day out. It is nicer to go up against somebody that you’ve already played for sure, rather than the random opponent you’ve never seen,” said See.
“I think we proved that we can hang with them and we can play with them. I felt like we were a couple plays short of taking that ball game. So, I think our boys are hungry, and I think they’re excited to get another shot at them, because you don’t always get another shot at the same opponent.”
