Seymour’s football season ends in sectional

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WHITELAND

If the rules were different, it would have been a running clock in the first half. It got there soon enough for Seymour, Friday night, as host Whiteland piled up touchdowns almost faster than the seconds could tick off.

At halftime, the Warriors were celebrating Valentine’s Day. By then running back Chase Valentine had amassed 201 yards rushing and five touchdowns and Whiteland had a 56-0 lead.

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That guaranteed the teams would play running time in the second half of this opening game of a 5A sectional, and ended the Owls’ season on a disappointing note, a 66-0 finale.

Time ran out for Seymour almost before it officially began, spiking thoughts of an upset by the heavily underdog visitors who not only were easily scored upon by Whiteland, but could not budge the ball on offense much either. It was a tough night all around for the Owls, who went three-and-out their first three possessions, unable to gain a first down.

The third time around ended with a block of a Caleb Elliott punt and the Warriors recovered on the Owls’ 14-yard-line and quickly lifted a 14-0 lead to 21-0.

Whiteland just seemed quicker with the ball and getting to the ball. The Owls did not help themselves by committing two fumbles and throwing one interception, as well. Turnovers kill and these came under the heading of aiding and abetting.

Senior quarterback Cody Ruble kept scanning downfield, looking to find receivers gaining a step on the defensive backfield, but connecting was a challenge. After coach Tyson Moore began calling for screen passes, little flares out of the backfield, the Owls mounted some gains, but could not take the ball all the way.

The hottest Seymour play of the first half was one of those maneuvers where Ruble found Colin Greathouse in the flat and Greathouse lugged the ball 45 yards. But the Owls could not put the ball in the end zone.

One of the plays of the game that looked crisp and could have helped Seymour early was a long throw to receiver Drew Vehslage down the left sideline. He gathered in the toss, but was out of bounds.

The Whiteland offense buried Seymour like an avalanche, the 8-1 Warriors scoring touchdowns the first seven times they had possession of the ball. Although Valentine’s quick churning feet had him regularly out-running the Owls ‘ defense on touchdown bursts of 15, 6, 2, 1, 57, he collected plenty of yards in-between to set up those short TDs.

Desmen Singleton, Valentine’s backfield sidekick, also scored on a 57-yard run and totaled 89 yards.

Even though Whiteland was using back-ups in the second half, and the teams played running time from the beginning of the third quarter on, the Warriors still added points. The score increased to 63-0 at 9:45 of the third quarter.

After a slow start in Moore’s first season as a head coach, the Owls ripped off a three-game winning streak and played with great spirit in a 43-42 dramatic loss to Brownstown Central. But after that the Owls could not seem to regain their equilibrium and suffered their worst losses of the year. The spread in this game was the largest losing margin of 2020 for Seymour.

It appeared Whiteland was going to make it to 70 points on 10 touchdowns and extra points when the Warriors reached the Owls three in the fourth period. But instead of trying to push the ball over, Whiteland kicked a 22-yard field goal. Place kicker Chris Dawalt nailed nine extra points before adding the three-pointer with just under three minutes to go.

The Seymour season ended with the Owls still flinging from deep in their own territory, still trying with four straight throws, but all were incompletions.

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