BEDFORD— Home Field Advantage is usually nice to have, which is why it is called an advantage. That is not the case in the Seymour-Bedford North Lawrence rivalry, as the last five game winners have been the road team. That trend continued Friday, as the Owls made it six straight after their dominant win over the Stars.

The past three weeks have been a frustrating time for the Owls, dropping three straight matchups. Seymour let out all that frustration on Bedford North Lawrence, dominating the line of scrimmage on both sides of the football and cruising past the Stars 49-0.

The Owls put together the best half and game of the season, leading 26-0 after the first half, before adding 23 more points to trounce the Stars on homecoming.

Seymour limited Bedford to 9 yards on 16 carries rushing and 84 yards of total offense.

Something had to give, and someone had to walk away with their first conference win of the 2024 season. The Owls took every measure to ensure they walked out of Stars Stadium victorious on Friday evening, dismantling their conference opponent by 49 points.

Head Coach Tyson Moore spoke about the dominant win afterwards.

“We played with an attitude, we had some frustration build up the past three weeks, the last few games have not gone our way,” Moore said. “Last week we had the second half get away from us and that left a sour taste in our mouth. We had something to prove both offensively and defensively, and our defense came out and took last week personal and they inflicted that tonight, and the offense was there from the get-go.”

The Owls were flying all over the field, offense, and defense, making play after play, silencing the Stars sideline and home crowd. Mason Nugent and Bradyn Riley both had multiple tackles for loss, busting right through the line to sack the quarterback or ballcarrier.

Will Mahoney, Jaylan Johnson, and Mitchell Mellencamp were also making stops and plays for the Owls throughout the game.

Seymour was clicking on all cylinders and the opposing fans even knew it, some began to leave around the 10-minute mark in the third period. The Owls played with some fire and never gave in.

Nicholas Wheeler had himself a night to remember scoring three times, including twice in the first quarter. Wheeler had a 58-yarder to open the game, hurdling a Stars defender on his way to the end zone.

Wheeler scored again, before QB Mikey Wright scored on a 9-yard rushing touchdown. The next touchdown was even crazier as Wright hit Johnson who broke the tackle and took it all the way down the field for a 78-yarder. Everything seemed to go right for the Owls, and it showed on the scoreboard. ‘

The second half would not be any easier for the Stars, after a solid punt from Mitchell Mellencamp to pin Bedford inside the 10, it then got even worse for the home team who ended up going for it on 4th and forever from inside their own 3.

It would not be a wise choice as the Owls did not budge one bit, swallowing the ball carrier for a safety. Bradyn Riley, Curtis Burke, and Mason Nugent all grouped together to score the points for Seymour, making it 28-0.

Seymour then cruised after the running clock, winning by seven touchdowns for their first HHC win of the 2024 season.

Coach Moore has been preaching for weeks about his offensive line getting to the second level to block. It came together in the win on Friday.

“We had a breakthrough with some things, finally got to the second level blocking so that’s always huge,” Moore said. “I’m proud of our guys and the way they responded.”

The running game has been steadily improving since week 2, as the Owls picked up 186 total rushing yards and scored 6 rushing touchdowns on Friday night. Wright, Traysean Hawkins, and Max Coates scored the other rushing touchdown.

Coates had a 53-yarder in the final minutes of the fourth quarter. Wright finished the evening 12-for-17 for 168 yards and the 78 yard scoring throw to Johnson.

Seymour also didn’t turn the ball over during the game. It was the first shutout for the Owls in 27 games. Coach Moore spoke about the best performance from the team to this point this season.

“Early on in the game we had a couple drives where we had to punt the football, in the past we’ve gone through some panic situations and I think the guys did a good job keeping their composure,” Moore said. “We had some things not go our way, but we regrouped on the sidelines and figured out what was going on.”

The defense showed out and never showed signs of slowing down according to Moore.

“Our defense was showing no signs of distress, so we knew they were going to get the ball back for us,” Moore said. “It was a just big for our defense to get out there and perform like that and it looked like our guys were starting to have fun again. We showed a glimpse of that the past couple of weeks when things were going our way, but tonight to be able to come out and execute from the get go was huge.”

The team felt different, and the coach agreed. He believes one thing is because they had a lot of fun playing the sport.

“We had a lot of fun playing football,” he said. “I’m proud of our guys that their able to experience that again and as we ride into the back half of the season that’s what we need to do is have some fun and continue to compete.”

The Owls have not defeated Bedford by such a wide margin since a 59-0 victory in 1989.

Seymour (2-3) gathered some momentum with the win, heading into next week’s Jackson Bowl with Class 2A #2 and undefeated Brownstown Central (5-0)

Week 5 — Bedford

Owls 49, Stars 0

Seymour (2-3); 14; 12; 9; 14;

Bedford North Lawrence (0-5); 0; 0; 0; 0;

Scoring Summary:

First Quarter

S: Nicholas Wheeler 58-yard rushing touchdown (Medina PAT)

S: Nicholas Wheeler 5-yard rushing touchdown (Medina PAT)

Second Quarter

S: Mikey Wright 9-yard rushing touchdown (PAT No Good)

S: Mikey Wright 78-yard passing touchdown to Jaylan Johnson (2PT No Good)

Third Quarter

S: Safety

S: Nicholas Wheeler 12-yard rushing touchdown (Medina PAT)

Fourth Quarter

S: Traysean Hawkins 9-yard rushing touchdown (Medina PAT)

S: Max Coates 53-yard rushing touchdown (Medina PAT)

Individual Seymour Statistics

Passing: Mikey Wright

12 for 16-for 168 yards, 1 TD’s 0 INT

Max Coates

1 for 1-for 20 yards

Rushing:

N. Wheeler: 8–87, T. Hawkins: 11-48, M. Coates: 2-55, M. Wright: 4-6, Team, 24-186-6 TD’s

Receiving: J. Johnson: 6-106, L. Shelly: 2-8, T. Hawkins: 1-37, E.Jackson 1-20, A. Milliken: 1-7 C. Rockey: 1-7, M. Mellencamp: 1-2. Team, 13-187-1 TD