VEEDERSBURG — Visiting Rockville fell victim to several big plays Friday night as third-ranked Fountain Central won the Class A Sectional 39 high school football championship game by a 39-0 score.
One of the big plays in particular, however, made the ease of the victory possible for the unbeaten Mustangs.
Rockville had played the Wabash River Conference champions evenly throughout the first quarter, although the Rox failed to take advantage of an interception by linebacker James Kent on the game’s first play on a bouncing snap that enabled Jake Lear and Nick Wheeler to partially block a Mustang punt.
Fountain Central’s quick-strike ability put the home team ahead midway through the second quarter. After a punt return for a touchdown by Zach Robertson was called back by a penalty, Robertson merely turned a pass from Scott Moore into an 81-yard touchdown on the next play.
But the Rox were still just one score away from tying the game as the first half wound down, and appeared to have stopped a Mustang drive when defensive back Kris Nickle picked off a pass by Moore in the end zone.
Robertson, however, was the intended receiver on the play and went after the ball as he and Nickle went to the ground.
After a few seconds, the official in the end zone signaled touchdown — because of simultaneous possession — instead of the interception that probably would have sent the Rox to their halftime locker room in relatively good shape.
Coach Herb King of the Rox calmly discussed the play with the entire officiating crew, but to no avail.
“That hurt,” King said after the game. “A couple of guys in the end zone said [the call] should have gone our way. But we didn’t fight through it very well either.”
Rockville received the second-half kickoff but did nothing with it. Another long scoring play, this an 83-yard connection from Moore to fullback Tanner Pierce, made it 21-0. And now Rockville’s patient offense, designed to keep the Mustang offense off the field, had to change.
It didn’t change for the better.
“[The Mustangs] are a very good ballclub,” King said after the game. “They have a chance to make it a long way in the tournament … and they were better than we were tonight.
“We had a couple of breakdowns when they were able to break some tackles and make big plays,” King continued. “We moved the ball pretty well early … but when we tried to run the ball [after falling behind] we just didn’t run it as well as we were supposed to, and our passing game was inept.”
Tyler Bradburn was able to move the chains on the ground for the Rox in the first half. But once the Mustangs were able to tee off on Rockville’s inexperienced passers, there were a lot of negative plays — plus three shotgun snaps that went awry. Twice Rockville gave up safeties when mishandled snaps had to be recovered by offensive players in the end zone.
Moore, in the meantime, passed for 368 yards and Robertson had over 300 all-purpose yards — 207 plus two touchdowns receiving, 60 on two carries including a touchdown, and 34 on punt returns.
The Mustangs play next week at Linton for the regional championship.
Fountain Central 39, Rockville 0
Rockville 0 0 0 0 — 0
Fountain Central 0 14 16 9 — 39
FC — Zach Robertson 81 pass from Scott Moore (A.J. Stockdale kick), 6:28 2Q
FC — Robertson 19 pass from S.Moore (Stockdale kick), 1:04 2Q
FC — Tanner Pierce 83 pass from S.Moore (Stockdale kick), 9:06 3Q
FC — safety, Rockville recovered own fumble in end zone, 5:26 3Q
FC — Robertson 48 run (Stockdale kick), 2:51 3Q
FC — Trent Spear 1 run (Stockdale kick), 6:58 4Q
FC — safety, Rockville recovered own fumble in end zone, 2:41 4Q
R FC
First downs 9 20
Rushes-yards 30-(-35) 40-147
Passing yards 86 368
Com-Att-Int 6-28-2 15-24-1
Return yards 12 42
Punts-avg. 8-34.6 5-26.8
Fumbles-lost 5-1 7-3
Penalties-yards 11-80 9-60
Individual statistics
Rushing: Rockville — Tyler Bradburn 16-64, Kris Dennison 3-6, Brad Suiters 1-1, Cody Jeffries 1-minus 2, Clint White 3-minus 15, Jordan McFall 3-minus 26, team 3-minus 63. Fountain Central — Robertson 2-60, Spear 11-51, Sam Shoaf 7-15, Brent Nelson 1-13, Michael Duane 1-2, S.Moore 13-minus 1, Eli Moore 1-minus 1, Cameron Seymour 4-minus 6.
Passing: Rockville — White 4-16-1, 53 yards; McFall 2-11-1, 33; Bradburn 0-1-0. Fountain Central — S.Moore 15-23-0, 368; Spear 0-1-1.
Receiving: Rockville — Jeffries 3-42, Drew Kelley 2-33, Bradburn 1-11. Fountain Central — Robertson 7-207, Spear 5-42, Tyler Lawson 2-36, Pierce 1-83.
Next — Fountain Central (12-0) plays at Linton next Friday. Rockville finished 8-4.
High School
Big plays hurt Rockville in sectional championship
- High School
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It’s a rivalry-filled Memorial Day for sectional contenders
Longtime rivalries figure to determine high school baseball sectional champions throughout the Wabash Valley today, with semifinal and final games scheduled at four sites and a stand-alone championship game at a fifth.
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South tops Oldenburg to win tennis semistate
There was no evidence of rally caps, rally towels and certainly no rally squirrels, but Terre Haute South’s No. 1 singles player Maddie Kesler needed a rally in the worst way.
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New route leads to same place for South girls tennis
For so many years, the road to the IHSAA girls tennis state finals for local teams ran through Vincennes (regional) and Jasper (semistate). In other words, south and more south.
This year, their trip was re-routed through Greencastle (regional) and Center Grove (semistate). So it cnahged to east and more east. -
PREP ROUNDUP: Robinson tops Greenville in sectional semifinal
Robinson jumped to a 3-0 lead in the top of the first inning, then cruised to a convincing 12-3 victory over Greenville in a IHSA Class 2A Vandalia sectional semifinal game on Thursday.
Ashlyn Sullivan was 2 for 3 with a double, home run and three RBIs to lead the winning Maroons. -
West Vigo baseball falls in sectional to Owen Valley
West Vigo overcame the odds to win 20 high school baseball games this season with a lineup that often included four freshmen and few seniors.
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South Vermillion softball's late-season surge comes to end
A late-season surge by South Vermillion wasn’t quite enough to halt a high school softball sectional winning streak by the host team Thursday night, as Edgewood got on top early and held on for a 5-2 win in the championship game of the Class 3A Edgewood Sectional.
The loss was just the second in the last 12 games for the Wildcats. The Mustangs, however, haven’t lost a sectional softball game for eight years in a row. -
South takes second, North third at boys track regional
Terre Haute South finished second and Terre Haute North third on Thursday night at the boys track and field regional at Evansville Central, with 11 individuals and three relay teams qualifying for the state finals June 2.
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PREP ROUNDUP: White River Valley baseball holds off Eminence
Three Eminence errors in the top of the sixth inning finally enabled White River Valley to score in high school baseball Thursday night, and the Wolverines went on to a 5-0 win in Class A Shakamak Sectional action.
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Feeling cursed: South bitten in sectional final again
Terre Haute South softball is not even close to being as cursed as a certain northside baseball team in Chicago, but it might just seem like it.
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PREP ROUNDUP: Mundy, Porter, Knight individual regional winners
Chanli Mundy and Keirra Porter of Terre Haute North were among the individual winners in the IHSAA Evansville Central girls track and field regional that ended late Tuesday night.
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Thornton puts away South Vermillion
Cody Thornton’s three-run blast over the left-field fence was the finishing touch to West Vigo’s 10-3 victory over South Vermillion in the opening game of the Class 3A Greencastle Sectional on Wednesday.
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Lakers triumph, go home for regional
Shakamak took Class A Clay City Sectional honors in high school softball for the first time since 2009 Wednesday, defeating White River Valley 9-5 in the title tilt.
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North Vermillion avenges losses
North Vermillion avenged two high school softball losses during the regular season to win the Class A Riverton Parke Sectional championship Wednesday with a 3-2 triumph over the host Panthers.
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Pats, Knights will meet in sectional
Adler Ingalsbe pooh-poohed his lack of velocity Wednesday night, yet the Terre Haute North pitcher was throwing BBs in the first game compared to Mooresville’s Brandon Topie in the nightcap.
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South outbattles Northview to reach sectional final
Even the best of high school softball pitchers can’t keep all the batters in the middle of Terre Haute South’s lineup down.
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Panthers get 20th win in sectional
Riverton Parke will face North Vermillion in the Class A softball sectional championship at Riverton Parke today, with action commencing at 6 p.m.
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Plainfield Sectional all about parity
Considering Terre Haute South has won five consecutive Class 4A sectional titles in high school baseball, naming the Braves as favorites to capture the 2012 Class 4A Plainfield Sectional would not seem far-fetched.
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PREP ROUNDUP: North Vermillion in title game
Casey West had a triple and three runs scored to help North Vermillion softball advance to the championship game of the Class A Riverton Parke Sectional on Tuesday.
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North takes second in track regional
Terre Haute North finished second with 74 points, six behind team champion Evansville Reitz, during the Evansville Central girls track and field regional that ended late Tuesday night.
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Wildcats advance to sectional softball final; West Vigo falls
Patience, patience.
South Vermillion exhibited great patience, being very selective at the plate and it paid off royally in the fourth inning. -
South, Crawfordsville win in regional tennis semis
Terre Haute South outlasted Fountain Central 4-1 in the first round of the girls high school tennis regional Tuesday, advancing the Braves into today’s championship match against Crawfordsville.
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Braves, Knights open with wins
It was an excellent night for starting softball pitchers to help their own cause Monday night in the Class 4A Northview Sectional.
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Lough dreamt about McMillan
A two-time state finalist in wrestling and a two-time all-Metropolitan Interscholastic Conference football player and wrestler, Tsali Lough of Terre Haute South was named the male recipient of the 2012 McMillan Award on Monday night at South’s Senior Awards Night.
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PREP ROUNDUP: Panthers cruise in sectional opener
Sarah Burnham pitched a two-hit shutout with 10 strikeouts in high school softball Monday evening as host Riverton Parke defeated defending champion Rockville 10-0 in opening-round action at the Class A Riverton Parke Sectional.
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Notable tradition bodes well for Riverton Parke
Located practically in the shadow of a high school that sets one state standard in track and field, Riverton Parke has a tendency to be overlooked in that sport.
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Vikings get 18th win over Shakamak
West Vigo began a busy week of high school baseball Monday on a winning note, defeating Shakamak 6-3.
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Greencastle new site for girls tennis regional
The starting times might prove to be a bone of contention, but otherwise coaches Bill Blankenbaker and Emily Goff are thrilled their respective girls high school tennis teams will begin play today at the Greencastle Regional.
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Northview sectional groups 3 20-win teams
Three teams with 20-plus victories will attempt to claim the Class 4A Northview Sectional crown for high school softball this week, and most of the other Wabash Valley sectional fields also appear to be wide open.
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Terre Haute South softball takes Riverton Parke tournament
Terre Haute South is going into the Class 4A Sectional at Northview on Monday with momentum, confidence, a deep bench and a healthier pitching staff than it has had in quite a while.
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North baseball splits doubleheader with Indy North Central
Some of their incentive could have been sapped a couple of nights earlier, when Center Grove achieved an eight-inning victory over Warren Central to clinch the Metropolitan Interscholastic Conference high school baseball championship.
- More High School Headlines
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