Spencer, IND – Patriot Field sure will be rocking Friday night as the Pike Central Chargers come in to Spencer to face the Owen Valley Patriots with the Sectional 30 crown on the line. The atmosphere should be top notch and the football even better as the Patriots look to claim their second straight Sectional Championship. Pike Central looks to play spoiler in their first ever Sectional Championship game appearance. Teams like this that have nothing to lose are very dangerous as Owen Valley Head Coach Rob Gibson told SISN.
I think Pike Central is in new territory with playing in their first sectional championship, so you know how shocking and dangerous teams in that situation can be.
Owen Valley Head Coach Rob Gibson
Owen Valley need to take nothing for granted as Pike Central could come in and pull off the upset of the year.
Pike Central Can Be A Dangerous Team
While the Chargers’ record is not optimal this year, they sit at 3-8, they have a lot of weapons on offense and defense that seem to be gelling at the right time. During the regular season they lost to Washington by a score of by a score of 41-0. Well that was the regular season. In the opening round of the sectionals however, they smoked the Hatchets 28-7.
Pike Central uses a multiple scheme on offense and can throw the ball when needed. QB1 Matthew Meadows has thrown for over 1,000 yards on the year with 7 TD to boot. It is the Chargers’ running game that needs to be accounted for however. Braden Howald leads Pike Central’s rushing attack with 769 yards and 10 TD. His long on the year is 65 showing that he has the speed to break the big one if the stars align. He is supported by a slew of other backs who have contributed this year as well. Owen Valley is well aware of the rushing prowess of the Chargers.
We will have to really focus on stopping the run this week and manage all of the different formations that they throw at us. They are very multiple in their looks offensively, so we will have to get lined up and get guys assigned to their run fits.
Owen Valley Head Coach Rob Gibson
Owen Valley Looks To Keep The Magic Going
There’s no doubt about it this has been a special season for the Owen Valley Patriots. The seniors on this team have seen some lean times and to see them execute in this fashion and find ways to win week in and week out is something to behold. Owen Valley should look to Christian McDonald and their running game to punish the Chargers into submission early. Once they notice that defense start to creep up look for Brody Lester to find some receivers down the field.
How Do You Slow Down The Patriots’ Pass Rush
Well if you’re Gibson Southern, ya don’t. Last week the Patriots’ D was seemingly able to get into the backfield whenever they wanted, save for a few miscues early in the game. Owen Valley racked up 9 sacks, that’s right 9, against the defending state champs and probably the team to beat this year. There just seems to be something special about this team this year. If they play Patriot football the sky is the limit.
Patriot Field Could Be The Game-Changer
Over 7k fans showed up at Patriot field to witness the Patriot’s game last week against the reigning state champs Gibson Southern. I gotta tell ya this was the best atmosphere we have been in all year for a football game. The whole community is behind these student-athletes. This could be seen all over town as driving into Spencer it seemed every business had some words of encouragement posted on their signs. Coach Gibson spoke on this in our recent interview.
We have had a ton of community support and a lot of that support has been spearheaded by our principal and athletic director. Both of them have been networking and planning with multiple people to make sure these moments are memorable for everyone and that is what it takes to create moments like this. We have a lot of parent support and the students continue to come out and support the program. To see so many people consistently at Owen Valley football games is awesome for the program.
Owen Valley Head Coach Rob Gibson
We here at SISN cannot wait for Friday and hope to see all yall there loud and proud. As always thanks for reading and be sure to share and like on all our social media!
*SISN reached out to Pike Central but did not receive comment at the time of this writing.
