IHSAA football What we learned Week 7: Plainfield's plan works, Mr. Football race heats up

What we learned from Week 7 of the Indiana high school football season:

Plainfield's plan works

Hiring a coach-in-waiting is an unusual move at the high school level, but it is difficult to argue with the results at Plainfield.

Tyler Bless was hired at Plainfield last year as the replacement for Brian Woodard, but with the stipulation Woodard would coach a 17^th and final season before turning over the reins to Bless, who had worked the previous three years as the offensive coordinator for his uncle, Tim Bless, at Columbus North.

Woodard ended his tenure at Plainfield by leading the Quakers to the program’s first sectional championship in 22 years. Plainfield lost in the regional to eventual Class 5A state runner-up Whiteland, but the Quakers took the momentum of a 6-6 season and sectional title into the offseason.

“I think it was honestly the best thing that probably could happen to me and to our program,” Bless said. “I just really had the year to get to know our players and get to know our coaches and then just build those relationships. As soon as our opportunity ended last year, it was kind of like the keys were turned over to me and we just went full steam ahead. The kids got behind me and just have bought into everything we’ve asked them to do.”

Bless credited Woodard for having the coach-in-waiting idea and making it work. Plainfield returned a lot of talent from last year’s team, including senior quarterback Hunter Newell and senior receivers Isaiah Miller and Caden Vanderbush on offense and senior Landon Drennan, junior Alex Holsclaw and senior Seth Martin on defense, among others.

The eighth-ranked Quakers (6-1) look like a veteran team, coming back from a three-point loss to Decatur Central two weeks ago to roll 38-3 over Franklin at home Friday. Newell is completing 58.5% of his passes for 1,014 yards and 10 touchdowns with no interceptions and sophomore Luke Starnes has emerged as the top rusher, going for 750 yards and 11 TDs through seven games.

“We won our first sectional in 22 years last year and it was a big deal for us,” Bless said. “I think it let our kids know that we’re capable of doing it. I think it gave us a lot of confidence that we probably all needed.”

That confidence is obvious. The Quakers have a big game this week at Whiteland and close the regular season the following week vs. Martinsville. Then they'll have to get ready for a competitive four-team Sectional 13, where all four teams have a winning record, including Decatur Central (5-2) and Harrison (6-1). Plainfield beat Harrison 15-14 in Week 2.

“Before last season it felt like we knew we were going to lose games,” Newell said. “Showing this community that you can win and you can win a sectional is huge. It changes the whole momentum of his whole town.”

Getting out of the sectional will be tough. But the winner there is likely the favorite to win the regional and potentially see either top-ranked Bloomington North (7-0) or No. 3 Bloomington South (6-1) in the semistate with a state finals spot on the line.

Indiana Mr. Football talk

Some of the players we have previously discussed as potential Mr. Football candidates had big performances Friday night:

>> Brownsburg running back Garrett Sherrell ran for 340 yards and four touchdowns on just nine carries in the 6A top-ranked Bulldogs’ 59-21 win over Zionsville. Sherrell now has 1,525 rushing yards and 13 rushing TDs through seven games.

>> Cathedral quarterback Danny O’Neil had a big game on the road in Cathedral’s 39-26 win at Cincinnati LaSalle as he was 22-for-30 passing for 150 yards and three TDs and ran for 166 yards and two TDs on 11 carries.

>> Ben Davis quarterback Thomas Gotkowski was 20-for-31 passing for 214 yards and three TDs and ran for 67 yards on 14 carries in the 6A third-ranked Giants’ 45-16 win over Carmel.

>> It was not much of a game but East Central’s Josh Ringer ran for five touchdowns in the 4A top-ranked Trojans’ 64-0 win over Connersville.

>> Center Grove quarterback Tyler Cherry was 13-for-16 passing for 211 yards and three touchdowns in essentially one half as the 6A second-ranked Trojans rolled to a 48-17 win over Pike.

Surprises of the week

How does this make sense?

Two weeks ago, Ben Davis needed a dropped pass and a missed field goal to avoid an upset bid by Warren Central in a 31-28 victory. Last week, Ben Davis scored 55 points in the first half and rolled to a running clock 62-14 victory over Lawrence North.

This week? Obviously, Lawrence North jumps all over Warren Central by 41 points at halftime and rolls to a stunning 48-7 victory.

The result should not be all that surprising. Lawrence North has now won four consecutive regular-season games against Warren Central (the Warriors won the rematch in the 2020 sectional), two of those coming by 21 points. But after watching the Warriors two weeks ago and seeing how many juniors are on the roster, I thought Warren Central was trending up.

Lawrence North (5-2) is a dangerous team. Pat Mallory’s Wildcats are averaging 32.1 points and can run two quarterbacks out there — junior Tanner Aspeslet and senior Montez Jones — who have different skill sets, a lot of speed at receiver and a freshman running back who is only about 100 yards away from 1,000 on the season. Cathedral (5-2) is still probably the favorite in Class 6A Sectional 6, but Lawrence North is right there.

A couple other results from the “surprise” category Friday night:

>> Terre Haute South knocked off Brebeuf Jesuit 32-25 as junior running back Zyeiar White ran for 191 yards and three TDs, including the game-winner with 2:14 left. Brebeuf (3-3) had defeated Terre Haute South five years in a row, including a 27-0 win last year. Terre Haute South, a 5A program, improved to 3-4.

>> Not necessarily a big stunner, but Southport ended its 28-game losing streak in a big way with a 43-7 home victory over Terre Haute North. Congrats to the Cardinals and coach Alex Bettag, who won his first game at Southport in his third season as coach. Bettag was the defensive coordinator at Terre Haute North prior to Southport.

Random musings

>> I remember reading books about NFL history when I was young and learning about Jim Marshall of the Minnesota Vikings. Marshall, a star defensive end, picked up a fumble in a game against the San Francisco 49ers in October of 1964 and ran the wrong way toward his own end zone, resulting in a safety for the 49ers.

I was reminded of that Friday night covering the Plainfield-Franklin game. In the first quarter, a punt snap sailed over the head the Plainfield punter, who chased it down and punted it directly into the Franklin line. A Franklin player snagged the ball and started running the wrong way toward his own end zone. Running in traffic, he only made it about 10 yards before he was tackled. I’m not sure if he would have continued another 50 yards or so, but kind of wanted to find out.

That play got a good laugh out of the crowd and led to the Plainfield students chanting, “Where you going?!”

>> Hamilton Heights is putting away more donuts than Homer Simpson. The 3A fourth-ranked Huskies (7-0), a 43-0 winner over Tipton, have now blanked five consecutive opponents. Hamilton Heights hosts a South Bend Washington team this week that is 2-5 and was shut out each of the past two weeks.

>> From down three touchdowns to winning by three touchdowns? It happened Friday when Decatur Central rallied for a 63-42 win over Greenwood, outscoring the Woodmen 21-0 in the fourth quarter.

>> Class A feels like it is already decided, doesn’t it? Lutheran, the back-to-back defending state champion, is now 7-0 after a 49-14 win over Monrovia. The Saints haven’t had a game closer than 28 points and are winning by an average of 35 points per game. No offense to any other team out there, including second-ranked Adams Central, which has lost to Lutheran the past two years in the state championship, but this is feeling like a runaway.

>> The sectional draw is set for Sunday at 6 p.m.

Big win in an IPS battle

Crispus Attucks and Shortridge both have strong teams this season and it played out that way Friday night at Shortridge. The Blue Devils, playing at home, led by eight points at halftime and it stayed that way until the final three minutes of the game.

After an Attucks touchdown, the Tigers went for the 2-point conversion in an attempt to tie the score. Running back Darrell Taylor was hit in the backfield after the shotgun handoff and was twisted down. But before his knee hit the grass, Taylor flipped the ball back to quarterback Corshawn Sartin, who outraced the Shortridge defense to the right corner of the end zone and a 22-22 tie.

Attucks got the ball back and scored on Sartin’s 2-yard run with 27 seconds remaining for a 28-22 victory. The Tigers improved to 6-1 with the win and are likely to finish the regular season at 8-1 with games remaining against Washington and Southside Homeschool. Shortridge dropped to 3-4.

The unfortunate part for both programs is that they are 4A with participation numbers that are closer to 2A and in the same sectional with programs like Brebeuf Jesuit, Roncalli and Mooresville. But these two programs have developed a good rivalry the past few years and some continuity. It would be nice of the sectional draw lined them up to play again in a few weeks.

Call Star reporter Kyle Neddenriep at (317) 444-6649.

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Indiana high school football: What we learned from Week 7