MADISON — Seymour enjoyed its most dominant football performance in three years Friday night, scoring 36 unanswered points en route to a breezy 36-14 Hoosier Hills Conference win at Madison.
The victory allowed the Owls (3-6, 2-5) to end the regular season with three wins in four games — its best stretch since a four-game winning streak during the second half of the 2012 season.
“When we started this three years ago; we knew this would go in phases,” third-year Seymour coach Josh Shattuck said. “We knew we would lose big, lose medium, then lose close games and then hopefully turn a corner. I’m definitely not ready to start promising big wins, but our players are getting better every week.”
The Owls now must prepare for their Class 4A Sectional 23 opener vs. Franklin County (6-3) on Friday.
“They’re very physical and like to run down hill,” Shattuck said. “We’re going to have our hands full, it will be a tough game. But we will be ready. We’ve been stressing all year that we need to be playing our best football by the end of the year, and we are.”
Friday’s dominance at Madison (0-9, 0-7) started with a simple quarterback sack. With two minutes left in the first quarter, Seymour linebacker Evan Frische broke through the Cubs line and sacked Alex Wilson for a 12-yard loss.
Frische’s play seemed to ignite the Owls’ defense. On the next play, Todd Kiewitt intercepted a Wilson pass at midfield, which in turn spread the excitement to the Seymour offense, which scored on four consecutive possessions and posted 30 points before halftime.
Kiewitt’s interception led to a 41-yard touchdown pass from Alan Perry to Chris Knight.
On the ensuing kickoff, Nickson Cribs recovered a fumble by Madison’s Jake Bell at the Cubs 19-yard line. Four plays later, Perry found Jackson Morris on an 11-yard scoring pass, pushing the Owls in front 14-0.
Over the remainder of the first half, Seymour limited the Cubs to five offensive yards on eight plays from scrimmage and forced two punts.
Seymour’s offense, meanwhile, kept up the pressure with 10-play scoring drive capped by a Perry 2-yard run and a 13-play, 98-yard drive that ended with a 1-yard Perry-to-Knight touchdown pass.
Zach Carpenter added an 18-yard scoring run in the third quarter, bumping the to 36-0.
“We’re improving offensively every week,” Shattuck said. “We liked our matchups this week and were able to exploit the perimeter a lot. Our run game is getting better and better.”
The Owls finished with 423 total offensive yards, 270 of which came via the run game. Carpenter led with 89 yards on 16 carries, followed by Morris’ 86 yards on 11 attempts.
Perry ended with 148 yards and three TDs on efficient 13-for-17 passing. Knight was his favorite target with 49 yards on three catches.
Gavin Blanton added an interception in the fourth quarter. Alex Holt, Evens Cribs and Carpenter led with five tackles each.
