BLOOMINGTON ― For the second game in a row, Bloomington South’s football team had to deal with plenty of adversity.
The first time, it was planned well in advance when head coach Gabe Johnson added Class 6A powerhouse Center Grove to the Week 9 schedule. Two weeks later, the IHSAA playoff pairings ad-libbed, and the Panthers faced a new challenge: playing in a close game with their season on the line.
An 11-point win over Martinsville was as close as Bloomington South got to a nail-biter this year. But the Panthers made every play they needed to after turning it over in the red zone with 6:30 left and trailing by one, pulling out a 41-34 victory on Friday, Oct. 31, over Terre Haute South in 5A sectional semifinal game.
“That’s the kind of game that we need,” South coach Gabe Johnson said. “We need to feel stretched. We need to feel pressure, the tightness of situations. We haven’t been there a lot. We hope we can build off that with our kids and be ready to go next week.”
Halloween scare? No doubt about it, but South (9-1) got the treat it was looking for after Ross Ogden picked off a pass with 1:05 to go to salvage a survive-and-advance win.
“I have to thank God,” Ogden said. “Our team’s worked so hard for this moment, and I was just the lucky one to come through and bring home for my guys. We’ve got plenty of stuff to work on. It’s all about survival. Just a great team win overall.”
South had blistered the Braves five weeks ago and they bore resemble to that overmatched unit.
“They definitely had two weeks to prepare,” Ogden said. “They threw in a couple things we hadn’t seen. Running to the weakside more than the strong side. We prepared for that pretty well and we trusted our coaching and came through with the win.”
It took 488 yards of offense to finally get it done as THS piled up 455. Both teams had three turnovers, but the Panthers just happened to nab the last one.
“It was a challenge because we haven’t really seen a game like that this year,” South’s receiver Sam Giles said. “I think it was really important for us to see that in tournament time. Every game is going to be more competitive. It’s win or go home.”
South will stay home next week to face rival Bloomington North (7-3), a 49-0 winner over Terre Haute North, in the sectional final. Likewise, the Cougars no longer resemble the Week 4 version the Panthers handled with ease.
“People have to understand what the tournament is,” Johnson said. “It’s surviving. It’s two weeks getting geared up and they probably geared up a little better than we did.
“That’s a good football team that has been playing well. We didn’t play well at times, but we made enough plays to win the game and that’s what counts. We have to enjoy the win and enjoy the chance to play for a sectional championship.”
Clark, Ogden make winning plays
Terre Haute South (7-3) took a stunning 34-33 lead with 7:15 left in a game that kept looking like whoever had the ball last would win. The Panthers would have to do it with their third string running back, after Braylen Townsend was done at halftime and backup Shaun Cooper got hurt late.
The Panthers opened the next drive with a trick play as backup quarterback Jonathan Winstead tossed a 30-yard pass to Jalen Williams. Cooper had an 11-yard run to the 15, but next play, fumbled and THS recovered at the 20.
With everything riding on a defense that gave up 455 yards of offense, they came through. A holding call led to third and long, which hadn’t been a problem all game for Braves quarterback Maddox Woodcock (14-of-23 for 351 yards), but a sack by Winstead and a short run led to a punt.
With 3:39 left, South got back to work, with Hayden Clark at running back. Winstead caught a 38-yard pass to the 16. From there, it was all Clark and a face-mask call. Clark finished off the last two yards with 1:25 left. Thomas Gill caught the two-point conversion pass and South was celebrating again, up 41-34.
“I’m super proud of him,” Giles said of Clark. “He’s a really hard worker in the weight room. I’m super happy he got to have this moment to shine.”
Woodcock wasn’t done, tossing a 41-yard pass to the Panthers’ 39. But the next play, Ogden picked off his next pass and South ran out the clock on a thriller Vincent Price would have loved.
“There was no doubt in our mind,” Ogden said. “We work so hard every single day. A few things didn’t go our way throughout the game, but at the end of the day, we can trust our process and the hard work we put into it to come out with the W.”
Next man up
The list of heroes for the Panthers went deep into the roster with Winstead and Clark playing key roles late. The game started with safety Rylan Stikeleather out for the season with an elbow injury and the secondary gave up several big plays.
“We’ve got guys in position, we’ve got to make plays,” Johnson said. “We’ll clean it up.”
And Giles was everywhere, catching six passes for 79 yards and a TD as Duncan Combs tossed for 274 yards. He also ran back a kickoff 89-yards for a score and got plenty of reps helping out in the secondary. Connor Parker also caught four balls for 76 yards and a score after being in and out of the lineup this season due to injury.
Through it all, South was resilient, answering the bell every time THS scored. The Braves were just as tough. Panthers never led by more than nine and could not put it away in the third, with two holding calls inside the five, forcing two field goal tries, one missed. leaving only a 33-27 lead early in the fourth.
“It was good for us to keep fighting,” Giles said.
North romps by Terre Haute North
Bloomington North had no problems holding up its end of the anticipated all-Bloomington sectional final with a 49-0 pasting of winless Terre Haute North.
The Cougars (7-3) led 42-0 by halftime to trigger the running clock to finish it out. A touchdown run by Carter Matthew, Anthony Wrancher’s pick-6 and a TD run by Alan Hays built a 22-0 lead after one quarter. John Bargen ended the half with a pair of TD passes to Nate Walker.
Other notable sectional finals next Friday, Nov 7: Sectional 16, Evansville North (8-2) at No. 9 Floyd Central (9-1); Sectional 13: No. 2 Cathedral (7-3) at No. 1 New Palestine (10-0) and Sectional 14: No. 8 East Central (8-2) at No. 7 Whiteland (9-2).
BLOOMINGTON SOUTH 41, TERRE HAUTE SOUTH 34
Terre Haute South (7-3) 7 | 14 | 6 | 7 — 34
Bloomington South (9-1) 9 | 14 | 7 | 11 — 41
FIRST QUARTER
THS: Chase Maxwell 26 pass from Maddox Woodcock (Meredith Toomey kick), 7:07. THS, 7-0.
BS: Safety, punter tackled in end zone, 2:57. THS, 7-2.
BS: Connor Parker 45 pass from Duncan Combs (Cohen Fischer kick), 2:20. BS, 9-7.
SECOND QUARTER
THS: Woodcock 2 run (Toomey kick), 9:17. THS, 14-9.
BS: Sam Giles 89 kickoff return (Fischer kick), 9:02. BS, 16-14.
BS: Jalen Williams 29 pass from Combs (Fischer kick), 7:46. BS, 23-14.
THS: Samuel Weihert 47 pass from Woodcock (Toomey kick), 4:05. BS, 23-21.
THIRD QUARTER
BS: Giles 36 pass from Combs (Fischer kick), 10:24. BS 30-21.
THS: Tyisaac Corbin 5 run (kick blocked), 5:24. BS, 30-27.
FOURTH QUARTER
BS: Sam Stolberg 28 FG, 11:50. BS, 33-27.
THS: Corbin 2 run (Toomey kick), 7:15. THS, 34-33.
BS: Hayden Clark 2 run (Thomas Gil pass from Combs), 1:25. BS, 41-33.
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING
Terre Haute South (39-104): Tyisaac Corbin 26-92, Maddox Woodcock 12-11, Josiah Bennett 1-1.
Bloomington South (31-184): Shaun Cooper 14-92, Braylen Townsend 7-57, Hayden Clark 7-20, Duncan Combs 3-15.
PASSING
Terre Haute South (15-24-1-351): Woodcock 15-23-1-351, Mayson Lewis 0-1-0-0.
Bloomington South (17-24-1-304): Combs 16-23-1-274, Jonathon Winstead 1-1-0-30.
RECEIVING
Terre Haute South: Lewis 5-160, Samuel Weihert 3-93, Chase Maxwell 3-70, Rylan Hoole 3-20, Bennett 1-14.
Bloomington South: Sam Giles 6-79,Connor Parker 4-76, Jalen Williams 4-75, Winstead 2-44.
This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: Bloomington South football pushed to limit, holds off TH South in sectional opener
Reporting by Jim Gordillo, The Herald-Times / The Herald-Times
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
