Friday takeaways: Decatur Central hawkish on defense, run game
It was a big deal when Decatur Central's football team got sophomore quarterback Bo Polston back from a scary injury in Week 3.
He was taken off on a stretcher after being bent backwards awkwardly.
“I lost all feeling from my legs down,” Polston told the Indianapolis Star after Friday's 41-7 whipping of Whiteland in their Class 5A regional game. “Probably the scariest moment of my life. Being able to come out and play them again, get the win and play our style of football just means so much to me. It was personal to me because of what happened earlier in the year.”
He visited Notre Dame and already has offers from Indiana, Akron, Toledo and Central Michigan and last week, Michigan chimed in.
But also keep an eye on the Hawks' defense, which has allowed just 24 points in four postseason games, including a pair of shutouts in the sectional. After allowing an early 69-yard touchdown gallop, they shut down the Warriors' vaunted running attack.
At semistate, DC (10-2) will face a team in Bloomington South (11-1) that owns the school record for most 40-point games in a season with 10. No other Panther group had more than eight.
And DC's run game was actually the potent part of its attack as Polston threw for just 68 yards. Three different backs found the end zone in the first half to put the Hawks on top, 24-7. N'Po Dodo had 159 yards on 17 carries and KC Berry added 117 on nine carries as DC finished with 362 to just 189 for Whiteland.
Overall, Polston has tossed for 1,544 yards with 19 TDs and eight interceptions, while Dodo and Berry have combined for nearly 1,800 yards.
Up north, the other 5A semistate pits Merrillville (10-2) at Fort Wayne Snider (11-1) at 7:30 p.m.
Snider escaped Mishawaka when sophomore kicker, Mang Tung, just barely got a 45-yard field goal over the crossbar on the last play of the game for a 19-18 win. Incredibly, the Cavemen had just taken an 18-16 lead with 46 seconds left on its own clutch field goal.
It was just his second made field goal in three tries this season. Snider took over at their own 43 yard line with 39 seconds remaining. Runs of 19 and eight by the QB gave Tung his chance. Mishawaka lost its top ball carrier on the first play of the game.
Merrillville held off defending champ Valparaiso in the other regional, 24-20, rallying from a 10-point deficit in the final six minutes and then breaking up a potential game-winning TD pass in the end zone as time expired.
The last three games between those two rivals have been decided by a total of seven points.
Reunion with Enright
Bloomington South fans of a certain age will recognize the opposing coach.
In a twist, the Hawks are coached by Kyle Enright, son of former South head coach Dave Enright (1982-86), well known for wearing shorts on the sidelines regardless of the weather. He went to Perry Meridian then to DC from 1994-2000 as an assistant under Mike Gillen.
Kyle led the Hawks to the state championship game in 2018, where they lost to New Palestine, 28-14. During that run, they beat South, 28-0 in the regional, after escaping perennial power Cathedral, 21-14, in the sectional final.
Back in 1995, Kyle Enright returned to Huff Memorial Field as a then 220-pound fullback and inside linebacker for the Hawks. But South won the sectional battle, 17-8.
Enright's 2022 squad was just 4-7 last year, but incredibly lost four games by 1, 2 or 3 points. This year's group has won eight straight
Tickets for Friday's game at Decatur Central, which kicks off at 7 p.m., must be purchased online at public.eventlink.com/tickets?t=58880
This will be South's 12th semistate appearance and the Panthers are 3-8 all time. The last win came in 1998. Since then, South has lost to Ben Davis (1999), Cathedral in overtime (2014), Columbus East (2016) and New Palestine (2019).
Another strong second half for the D
Often, South's second-half stats are skewed by the running clock that often accompanies the big leads it forges.
For instance, against Seymour, the Owls generated just 13 rush yards and 41 through the air after halftime.
That was not the case against Evansville North, but the Panthers still put a clamp on the Huskies, who ran the ball just seven times for 17 yards and its quarterback was just 5-of-13 for 71 yards outside of the shocking 87-yard TD pass in the fourth quarter.
Overall, South is giving up just 13.4 ppg. The Panthers are one of 11 teams in the top 25 in defensive scoring average to play this weekend. Only five of the top 25 in offensive scoring average (and South is one of those, No. 5 with at 46 ppg) are left.
Panthers moving up the ladder
Bloomington South's prolific postseason through the air has moved quarterback Jarrin Alley and two of his receivers up the ladder to the second floor among the all-time bests in school history.
With 2,621 yards and 38 TDs passing, Alley is now No. 2 behind Rex Grossman (3,080 and 44) on South's single-season best list. And receivers D'Andre Black (15) and Lucas Waldon (14) trail only Keenan Franz (16). They are tied with John Earl Rochell-Manns (15) and Tom Hayes (14).
In three playoff games, Waldon is averaging 20.7 yards per catch and Black 15.3.
Contact Jim Gordillo at jgordillo@heraldt.com and follow on X (Twitter) @JimGordillo.
This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: Friday takeaways: Decatur Central hawkish on defense, run game
