By Noah Dalton
FARMERSBURG — Mitchell High School entered Friday night’s matchup against North Central Farmersburg hoping to build on last week’s victory over Crawford County, their first of the year.
Ultimately, things went sideways quickly, and the Bluejackets found themselves down early, struggling to catch up before ultimately falling 42-8.
Turnovers were perhaps the largest factor in their early struggles. Mitchell gave the ball away four times in the first half, two fumbles and two interceptions, and those miscues fueled a Thunderbirds lead that grew quickly.
North Central took a commanding 35-0 lead by the end of the first quarter, which ended up at 42-0 at halftime.
Receiver Chris Benford had four catches for 86 yards and three touchdowns in the first half alone. Quarterback Lane Phegley led the Thunderbirds, finishing the night 8 of 11 for 177 yards and five touchdowns.
The Bluejackets got on the board in the fourth quarter on a 22-yard touchdown pass from Tajay Alexander to Sven Lutchka, with Lutchka adding a two-point conversion to make it 42-8, marking their only scoring play of the night.
Kaden Mullis was Mitchell’s top rusher with 39 yards on seven carries. Lutchka led all receivers with five catches for 67 yards. Through the air, Mullis (47) and Lutchka (49) combined for 96 yards. Lutchka and Parker Harden each caught an interception for the Bluejackets.
Mitchell will look to get back on track next week against North Daviess, the former home of the Bluejackets’ first-year head coach Bobby Owens.
Owens served as the Cougars’ defensive coordinator before taking over the helm for Mitchell at the start of the season.
