JEFFERSONVILLE — The Seymour Owls took care of business on Saturday against Jeffersonville.
The guys came out to play and made the plays necessary, leading to an easy 42-7 annihilation over the Red Devils.
Owls coach Tyson Moore was asked about his team’s response after the loss last week to Greenwood.
“I thought we did a really good job of staying focused,” he said. “We had great focus all week, and I was very pleased with how we played on both sides of the ball. We had the ball six or seven times and had efficient drives throughout. The one drive we had issues with was messed up with penalties.”
Seymour got to work as it opened the game. The Owls deferred the kickoff only to end up with the ball on the first play of scrimmage. Seymour took advantage of the timid Jeffersonville return team and landed on the ball before Jeffersonville could.
Seymour was set up in prime position on the Red Devils’ 29-yard line to start the game. Just a few minutes later, Seymour QB Bret Perry found Kyle Hileman for a 10-yard touchdown pass. The score sent the Owls faithful into a frenzy in the stands.
Unfortunately, the point after attempt was no good.
After a penalty killed the Jeffersonville drive, Perry found Jack Pennington for a huge gain before connecting in the end zone to extend the lead to 12. Seymour converted the extra point attempt.
After recovering a fumble, Seymour was then forced to punt the ball back to the Red Devils. Jeffersonville QB Nikolas Schindler brought the game close as he connected with Brandon Curl for the score, making the game a 13-7 contest. After that, Seymour’s defense was lights out.
“Our defense answered the call,” Moore said. “There was a lot of talk after last week about how good they could be on defense. The guys showed against Jeffersonville a big glimpse of how good they can be on the defensive side of football.”
The Owls were forced to fourth-and-2 on their next drive, going for it but not converting the attempt. Jeffersonville took over on its own 40, having all of the momentum in the game until Hileman picked off Schindler, setting the Owls in perfect position to score.
Nicholas Wheeler then broke loose up the sideline for a 37-yard touchdown, putting Seymour up 19-7 with 2 minutes left in the first half.
Moore then pulled out a trick up his sleeve. For the two-point conversion, Owls tight end Jaylan Johnson found Pennington for the two-point conversion. The entire Seymour section of bleachers went absolutely bonkers.
The Owls took a 21-7 advantage into the break but didn’t stop there. Less than a minute into the second half, Wheeler broke loose again for a 20-yard touchdown.
Seymour had all facets of offense working in the game. The offense ran fewer plays than the number of points they scored. The Owls only ran 35 plays from scrimmage on offense but scored 42 points.
“We simplified everything on offense against Jeffersonville,” Moore said. “We did things a little differently.”
Perry added a rushing touchdown at the end of the third quarter, all but sealing the fate for the Red Devils. Cameron Wheeler also scored a touchdown in the fourth quarter, putting the final bow on the dominating win for the Owls.
Perry totaled 141 yards passing and two touchdowns along with a rushing touchdown. Wheeler also recorded two touchdown runs for Seymour in it’s first victory of 2023. The team rushed for 139 yards total in the game.
After the win, the Owls now focus on their Week 3 matchup with Columbus East. Moore, who attended Columbus East as a student and played football for the Olympians, gets another shot to defeat his alma mater.
Moore has high expectations for the Owls’ upcoming opponent.
“It’s Columbus East,” Moore said. “There isn’t much more you can say. They are always coached very well and very disciplined. Generally, every season, this has to be the most composed game of football we play. They attack well and run the ball at a high level. They are sitting at 0-2 right now but have played two very solid football programs. After playing two weeks of hard football, they are going to be eager to come into our place and get a win.”
Owls;42
Red Devils;7
Seymour (1-1);13;7;14;7;—;42
Jeffersonville (0-2);0;7;0;0;— ;7
First quarter
S-Kyle Hileman 10 pass from Bret Perry (kick failed), 9:23
S-Jack Pennington 10 pass from Bret Perry (Pennington kick), 2:47
Second quarter
J-Brandon Curl 30 pass from Nicholas Schlinder (kick good), 6:44
S-Nicholas Wheeler 37 touchdown run (two-point conversion good), 2:22
Third quarter
S-Nicholas Wheeler 20 touchdown run (Pennington kick), 11:15
S-Perry 1 touchdown run 46 run (Pennington kick), 2:04
Fourth quarter
S-Cameron Wheeler 15 touchdown run (Pennington kick), 8:25