advertisement

Prep Football: Harrisburg stumbles in second half

By MICHAEL DANN

mdann@dailyregister.com

BOONVILLE, Ind. - For all that was going right for Harrisburg through the first half, unraveled at the seams in the second half on the road Friday night in Boonville, Ind.

The Pioneers (2-2) scored 15 unanswered points over the final 24 minutes to rally past Harrisburg (1-2) 29-22.

Tyler Johnson, who finished with 103 yards on 12 carries went to work in the second half, knotting the game at 22-all with his touchdown run from 10 yards out, while Luke Connor completed the two-point conversion.

After a string of three-straight penalties stalled Harrisburg's drive midway through the fourth quarter at around midfield, Johnson broke lose on a 32-yard run up the gut to get Boonville in position. A first down from Alex Beavin and Jackson Phillips, set up Johnson's 19-yard plunge into the end zone to give the Pioneers a 29-22 advantage with 40 seconds to play, a lead they would not relinquish.

"I was probably more upset with our defense," Harrisburg head coach Al Way said. "We tackled so poorly and Boonville knocked us off the ball. As the game went on, they just got more and more momentum and we couldn't stop them. We let them score with 40 seconds to go and when you have to turn around and go the length of the field, that's a tough charge to make."

Harrisburg took over at the Boonville 33-yard line with 35 seconds to play, but their attempt at airing it out was not meant to be as they would turn the ball over on downs with just under four seconds to play.

A poor passing game, parlayed with penalties late is what stalled Harrisburg's drive in the second half. It also diminished a solid rushing attack from the Bulldogs, led by Matt Upchurchs' 22 carries for 172 yards.

"It's something that we have talked about since Week 1, we don't have the ability to break the big play," Way said. "We're always one guy away from breaking one and therefore, you have to have a team that doesn't make mistakes and doesn't have penalties. Tonight, first down, first down, first down and then five-yard penalty and now we're looking at first and 15 and unfortunately our passing game is very bad right now. Either our pass blocking breaks down or we drop a pass or we have a guy open and we don't get it to him. It's not one person, it's a combination of everything.

"You have to make the plays," Way added. "Good teams make the plays when they have to. Even late in the game, we dropped a wide open pass on the sidelines, we had another guy on a wheel route wide open and we over threw him, desperation double-pass and the guy was open and we over threw him. If you make the plays you win, if you don't, you lose."

Harrisburg got the board first when Jordan Bartok scored from two yards out, giving the Bulldogs an 8-0 lead. Boonville responded when Johnson found paydirt from four yards out, tying the game at 8 with 1:30 to play in the first quarter.

Dylan Ragsdale then put Harrisburg back on top with a two-yard scamper into the end zone with 9:37 to play in the first half and after Johnson punched in his fourth TD of the game - this one coming from 10 yards out - had Boonville down by one, 15-14 after the Pioneers failed on the two-point conversion.

Upchurch, whose only score on the night came from 19 yards out on a third-and-three situation, put Harrisburg on top 22-14 with 54 seconds to play before halftime.

Harrisburg won the ground game 297-220 and Way said that was his teams M.O. in the second half, controlling the line of scrimmage and the clock, but much like against Mt. Carmel Week 1, penalities seemed to do his team in.

"They never really stopped us, it was always us," Way said. "When we could stay in a 1st-and-10 where we had three or four downs to get a first down, they couldn't stop us. Then we get the five yard penalty and now we're 1st-and-15 and maybe we get two yards on the next one. So now we have to throw it, spread it out and then they stopped us.

"Our offensive line blocked really well. Our backs ran hard, but we lose our fullback (Jordan Bartok) in the first quarter and Bartok is such a good player, and not to take away from (Dylan) Ragsdale, but you lose about 60 pounds and a veteran at that and that takes away from our offense greatly. It's the mistakes that stooped us"

It was a non-conference stretch to start the season that Way knew would be a crucial one as the Bulldogs opened up with Mt. Carmel, Du Quoin and Boonville, but the two hour trek back to Saline County will leave a sour taste in the mouth of the Bulldogs' head coach.

"We should be 2-1," Way said. "Give Mt. Carmel credit, they are darn good. This is a game we should have won. You can look at it any way you want, but this is a game we should have won. We gave it away and now we put ourselves behind the eight ball. We have to win four more games just to have a winning season. You win tonight and you're sitting there 2-1 coming into the conference schedule and things are looking pretty rosy."

Michael Dann covers prep and college sports for the Harrisburg Daily Register and Eldorado Daily Journal. Follow him on Twitter: @spydieshooter.

Harrisburg 08 14 00 00 - 22

Boonville 08 06 08 07 - 29

Scoring Summary

First Quarter

HBG - Bartok two run (Bartok conversion), 3:42

BON - Johnson four run (Johnson conversion), 1:30

Second Quarter

HBG - Ragsdale two run (Drone kick), 9:37

BON - Johnston 10 run (conversion failed), 2:42

HBG - Upchurch 19 run (Drone kick), :56

Third Quarter

BON - Johnson 10 run (Connor conversion), :24

Fourth Quarter

BON - Johnston 19 run (Miller kick), :40

Team Statistics

HBG BON

First Downs 21 17

Total Yards 332 304

Rushes-Yards 50-297 33-220

Comp-Att-Int 4-15-1 7-11-1

Passing Yards 35 84

Fumbles-Lost 1-1 1-1

Penalties-Yards 5-30 4-35

Individual Statistics

Rushing: HBG - Upchurch 22-172, Doss 6-39, Bartok 5-21, Smith 12-51, Ragsdale 3-9, Hefner 1-18, Saulsberry 1-(-13). BON - Johnson 12-103, Connor 9-94, Phillips 8-13, Beavin 4-10.

Passing: HBG - Saulsberry 4-14-1 35, Gould 0-1-0 0. BON - Phillips 7-11-1 84.

Receiving: HBG - Smith 2-24, Hefner 1-5, Gould 1-8. BON - Miller 5-45, Connor 2-39.