In the second half of Seymour’s season, the Owls started to see progress on the defensive side of the ball in addition to their running game.

Those two areas continued to progress on Friday night in the Owls’ 18-10 victory at Bedford North Lawrence in the sectional semifinal.

Seymour won the toss and elected to receive, and the Owls hit the ground running right from the start.

Seymour had an 11-play drive to open the game and took off half the time in the first quarter. A mix of runs from Bret Perry and Sam Allman marched the Owls down the field, ending in a 7-yard touchdown run from Perry.

Allman had 5 carries for 31 yards on that drive and Perry had 3 carries for 17 yards.

Then the Owls defense took the field, and quickly forced a three-and-out on the Stars’ first possession. Seymour took a 6-0 lead after the first quarter as Javier Perez missed the extra point after the team’s first score.

“We won the coin toss, I decided to take the football because I wanted our offense to go out there and score,” head coach Tyson Moore said.

“Then I wanted our defense to go get a three-and-out, and we did that.”

In the second quarter, Seymour put together another long drive mainly from its ground game. Except this time, the drive ended with Perry tossing a beautiful pass in the back corner of the end zone to Dylan Fields from 14 yards out.

The Owls went for two to try to make up for the missed PAT, and Perry converted it at first, but it was a holding call on Seymour. They still decided to go for two from 13 yards, and Perry tried to hit Jaylan Johnson on a wheel route, but Johnson couldn’t come down with the ball and Seymour led 12-0 with 7:37 left until halftime.

The Stars finally got some points on the board with 1:36 left in the half as Ryker Hughes nailed a 31-yard field goal. It was the longest BNL has gone this season before scoring its first points of the game.

Seymour averted disaster toward the end of the half, though, as Allman fumbled after catching a screen pass and Bedford recovered at Seymour’s 40-yard line. Fortunately for the Owls, they were able to hold the Stars to no points after the turnover, and they went into halftime with a 12-3 lead.

“We knew defensively if we could hold them to a field goal that was a win,” Moore said. “Our defense stepped up. They play disciplined football, and we exited the half with no harm, no foul and lived to fight another day.”

Bedford got the ball to start the second half, but Seymour’s defense showed up once again.

Cameron Klakamp blew up a Stars’ running play and forced a fumble, and Johnson recovered to give Seymour the ball at its own 40.

The Owls continued to pound the football on the ground and chew the clock. Every time Perry kept it himself, he gained at least four to five yards every time. Seymour got it down to the 1-yard line, and Perry quarterback sneaked it from there for his second rushing touchdown of the game.

“He played with a lot of grit,” Moore said of Perry. “We ran him into the ground. He took some big hits. He kept getting up and answering the call. He was our field general all night long.”

The Owls missed another two-point conversion, but took a 18-3 lead with 2:08 left in the third, and they took that score into the fourth as well.

The defense came up with another big turnover in the final frame. BNL was on the move, but Mitchell Mellencamp rocked the quarterback and forced a fumble that Johnson recovered — his second fumble recovery of the day.

Seymour continued to run the clock down, playing smart and safe with the football. The Stars did get some points with 1:35 to play as Memphis Louden ran it in from 12 yards out to make it 18-10.

That made things more tense down the stretch, but the Stars needed an onside kick following the TD, and they didn’t kick it far enough, and Seymour got the ball back and kneeled its way to victory.

“This is a great feeling,” Moore said. “It’s been awhile since Seymour has had a win in sectional, and especially a win in sectional on the road. In these conditions, it was a great night for football for us. I’m proud of these guys. We fought. We freakin’ fought.”

Moore said he couldn’t be more proud of the team’s defense, who he thought played “lights out.”

That kind of performance will be exactly what the Owls will need next week as well.

The Owls will be playing in the sectional championship game next Friday at New Albany, the current Hoosier Hills Conference champion. The Bulldogs won at Bulleit Stadium 48-27 earlier this season, but Seymour is a much-improved team since that game on Oct. 8.

Moore has a mantra the Owls have taken into this postseason, and it’ll be the mindset next Friday.

“Win, survive and advance,” Moore said. “That’s been our motto, and that’s going to continue to be our motto.”