By Dylan Wallace
In Seymour’s season-opener, the Owls had a solid first half but then went scoreless in the second half and lost to South Dearborn.
In the Owls’ second game against Jeffersonville Friday night, it was the complete opposite.
Seymour got shutout in the first half and were trailing 34-0, but then the Owls made a valiant effort to comeback but fell just short, losing to Jeff 47-36.
“We can’t put together two halves,” head coach Tyson Moore said after the game.
Seymour got the opening kickoff, but the Owls went three-and-out and Jeff got the ball in Seymour territory.
The Red Devils ran the ball all the way down to the 1-yard line, and Zion Mansfield punched it in from there to take a 7-0 lead.
The offensive struggles continued from there. Another three-and-out led to a muffed punt that allowed Jeff to take over at the Seymour 10. Jered Tyson scored on the first play of that drive for Jeff to go up 13-0.
On the Owls’ third possession, Evan Smith fumbled the ball and Jeff took over in Seymour territory on its first three drives.
But the Owls defense was able to take it right back. Cole Phillips’ had his pass deflected and Bret Perry picked it off to give Seymour the ball.
Unfortunately, the Owls couldn’t capitalize from there. Mansfield had a 39-yard TD run to make it 20-0, and Tyson had a 58-yard TD run in the closing seconds of the first quarter to make it 27-0.
On Seymour’s opening drive of the second quarter, it had some chances to score. Will Gray connected on a 43-yard TD pass to Jack Pennington, but Seymour had an illegal man down field, which negated the play.
A couple plays later, Gray hit Pennington on another 43-yard pass, but Pennington was stripped at the 5-yard line and Jeff took back over.
Seymour went scoreless in the first half, and Jeff scored another touchdown with 2:57 left until the half (Nik Schindler hit Davarhy Julian on a 10-yard TD pass) to take a 34-0 lead at the break.
It was the Red Devils’ homecoming, so after an extended 20-minute break for the festivities, Seymour’s defense came out and forced a three-and-out after Cameron Klakamp and Smith wrapped up Phillips for a sack.
Gray threw an interception on the next possession, but then Smith picked off Phillips to give the Owls the ball right back.
Seymour finally got on the scoreboard with 3:27 left in the third quarter when Gray found Pennington in the end zone for a 30-yard touchdown pass.
The Red Devils returned the ensuing kickoff 66 yards to go up 40-7, and then Seymour continued to move the ball.
Gray connected with Owen Anderson on a 66-yard pass, which set up a 5-yard TD pass to Anderson on fourth and goal.
Seymour won the third quarter 14-6, but still took a 26-point deficit into the fourth quarter.
The Owls did some good things in the fourth quarter as well. Cam Wheeler had a 13-yard touchdown run, Gray found Jaylan Johnson for a 15-yard TD pass, and Gray found Dylan Fields for a 20-yard TD pass.
Gray had a huge second half. He was 22-for-46 for 336 yards and threw for 4 touchdowns in the game.
Seymour recovered an onside kick with under two minutes to go, but the Owls were down 9. It was too much to overcome at the end, and Gray wound up taking a big hit and limped off the field, appearing to injure his left ankle.
Perry came in for Gray. Moore said after the game that they will know more about Gray’s injury in the morning.
Overall, Moore was happy with how the defense and offense responded in the second half.
“We fought and clawed and managed to somehow comeback,” Moore said.
But Moore knows it takes more than two quarters to win a football game, which was the main sentiment of his postgame interview.
Seymour (0-2) will have its home-opener next Friday against Columbus East at 7 p.m.
“We’re gonna play whoever they put in front of us,” Moore said. “Hopefully we get a team that can put together four full quarters next week.”