By Justin Sokeland
WBIW.com
BEDFORD – What’s big, green and combines everything in its path? Besides the obvious answer of a certain farm machinery manufacturer, perhaps even the Incredible Hulk (for all the Marvel maniacs), the correct football response is Floyd Central.
Reaping, threshing and spewing chaff across the turf, the Highlanders harvested a runaway victory that set a school record and clinched a share of the Hoosier Hills Conference title. Bedford North Lawrence could not stop the grinding ground machine.
Hiding behind an augering offensive line, diminutive running back Luke Jacobi crashed for six touchdowns as Floyd, ranked No.5 in Class 5A, overpowered the Stars 55-21 in a clash for the conference lead on Friday night. Except the offensive showdown of two potent attacks never materialized. Floyd (7-0 for the first time in school history) blasted to a 42-7 lead at halftime to trigger the mercy-rule running clock for the duration.
Jacobi, listed generously at 5-foot-7, played much bigger with 226 rushing yards. Jaxon Stone, quarterback of necessity and safety of All-State status, added 116 rushing yards as Floyd punished and pulverized. The Highlanders never punted while scoring eight times.
Credit for all that damage must be shared with an offensive line that dominated. The Highlanders averaged 11.3 yards per carry. On the other side, BNL star Malakai Goodman, who ranked third in the state in rushing yards and touchdowns, was limited to only 35 yards. The formula – run the ball, stop the run, win the game – was proven once again.
Start with the running game. Floyd’s was devastating. “I saw a defense that couldn’t really guard us, and the line played amazing,” Stone said.
“The Internet is like rat poison sometimes, we don’t want that to come into our team,” FC coach James Bragg said. “But we found articles about how great their line was, how Goodman was unstoppable. The funny thing, our offensive line took it more personally than our defense did. They took it to heart, they wanted to show they were the best line in the conference. They really got it going.”
From the first touch until the last, Floyd chewed up ground. The opening drive, all runs to cover 54 yards, set the tone, with Jacobi darting home from seven yards untouched. Next drive, 73 yards (with a 35-yard pass from Stone to Zenel Lawless) with Jacobi getting home from eight yards. Third possession, following a Stone interception, Jacobi scored from four yards out. In 11 minutes, Floyd owned a 21-0 lead.
BNL’s only moment of the first half came on its next series, with Cutler Chastain firing a 23-yard touchdown pass on fourth down to Goodman, who made a dandy catch in the corner of the end zone. But that only delayed the inevitable. Three more Floyd drives ended with three more scores. One of those was Jacobi’s 60-yard burst.
“The line gets the push, and I take it from there,” Jacobi said.
“Right now, they’re the biggest reason we’re 7-0,” Bragg said. “Jaxon commands us on offense and defense, it’s amazing. And the little guy runs pretty good. It’s awesome to watch.”
The Stars (5-2) showed some spunk in the second half. Chastain connected with Cam Gates for a 55-yard touchdown, with Gates escaping after Stone went for a strip of the ball rather than a tackle of the receiver. Following a successful onside kick, Chastain stayed hot with a 20-yard pass to Goodman, an 11-yarder to Gates, and a 10-yard strike to Jaden Gilbert that got the Stars within 42-21.
In the fourth quarter, Stone broke away for a 27-yard touchdown, and Jacobi finished it off with his sixth score after Chastain was sacked and fumbled at the goal line on fourth down.
Chastain was 13 of 29 for 231 yards and three scores. Gilbert caught seven passes for 85 yards.
”We came in with the mindset to throw the ball, and Cutler did a really nice job,” BNL coach Brayden Tidd said.
But BNL’s success has been built on the running game, the reason the Stars were scoring over 40 points every week. Floyd took that away as the Stars managed only 49 yards on the ground.
”One of the best things about Goodman is his vision,” Bragg said. “But we felt like, if we played fundamental defense, not crashing inside and giving him an extra gap, that gives us time to get our pursuit there. He’s very hard to tackle, but the great thing was, when he broke a tackle, we had two guys right there so he couldn’t get loose. We did a great job of bottling him up.
”We know our weakness is pass defense. We accept it – don’t like it, but we own it. But we can’t let a team be two-dimensional. We focused on shutting down the run and making them throw it. We felt our run offense could lead us to the promised land and put up points.”
Floyd has now won four straight in the series and seven of the last eight meetings. This one left bruises.
”We didn’t tackle very well, that’s what it came down to,” Tidd said. “They have nice players, but we didn’t tackle. It snowballed. When you don’t tackle and get off blocks, it’s a recipe for disaster against good teams.”
Floyd will tangle with 3A No.1 Evansville Memorial next week, then look to lock down the outright HHC crown against New Albany. The Stars will look to bounce back at Scottsburg.
Floyd Central 21 21 0 13 – 55
Bedford NL 0 7 14 0 – 21
First quarter
FC – Luke Jacobi, 7 run (Owen Gerlach kick), 8:32; FC – Jacobi, 8 run (Gerlach kick), 3:13; FC – Jacobi, 9 run (Gerlach kick), 1:00
Second quarter
BNL – Malakai Goodman, 23 pass from Cutler Chastain (Aiden Dralle kick), 9:44; FC – Jacobi, 7 run (Gerlach kick), 7:45; FC – Jacobi, 60 run (Gerlach kick), 5:44; FC – Barett Wells, 4 run (Gerlach kick), 0:58
Third quarter
BNL – Cam Gates, 55 pass from Chastain (Dralle kick), 8:55; BNL – Jaden Gilbert, 10 pass from Chastain (Dralle kick), 1:01
Fourth quarter
FC – Jaxon Stone, 27 run (kick failed), 10:53; FC – Jacobi, 1 run (Gerlach kick), 4:46
Team statistics
FC – First downs 14 (12 by run, 2 by pass); Rushing 33-372; Passing 2-5-0-52; Total yards 424; Fumbles 0; Penalties 10-65
BNL – First downs 12 (4 by run, 7 by pass, 1 by penalty); Rushing 21-49; Passing 13-29-1-231; Total yards 280; Fumbles 1 (lost 1); Penalties 3-30
Individual statistics
Rushing – (FC) Stone 9-116, Jacobi 21-226, Wells 3-30; (BNL) Chastain 8-14, Goodman 13-35
Passing – (FC) Stone 2-5-0-52; (BNL) Chastain 13-29-1-231
Receiving – (FC) Lawless 2-52; (BNL) Gates 2-66, Gilbert 7-85, Jones 1-26, Goodman 3-54
