By Noah Dalton
BLOOMFIELD — After suffering a string of tough losses to start their 2026 campaign, Mitchell High School played perhaps their most complete game of the season of Friday, battling down to the wire against Eastern Greene.
A one score game in the fourth quarter following a touchdown from the Bluejackets, who then trailed by just five points, the result was eventually cemented by a last-minute Thunderbirds’ touchdown, extending their lead to two scores, 24-12, and securing the victory.
Though the effort didn’t ultimately result in the team picking up their first win of the season, Mitchell head coach Bobby Owens praised his team’s grit down the stretch.
“The thing is, my kids didn’t give up. They still battled,” said Owens. “People are going to know that they’re going to get a dogfight out of us. We’re not just going to cower up and go run the other way,” he added.
By the second quarter, each side had found their way to the end zone, with Eastern Greene holding just a one-point advantage, 7-6, before a last-second field goal at the close of the half put them by four heading into the locker room.
The start of the second half spelled disaster for the Bluejackets, who fumbled the ball while returning the kickoff to start the third quarter. The fumble was recovered for a Thunderbirds touchdown, which put Mitchell down by two scores, 17-6.
The Bluejackets continued to battle, eventually scoring at the start of the fourth quarter via a 10-yard carry from QB Kaden Mullis, putting them down by just five points.
“We have a bad fumble on the opening kick return of the second half. But the thing is, my kids didn’t give up,” said Owens.
With just over a minute left on the clock, Eastern Greene scored once again to extend the lead, this time thanks to a 20-yard pass from Saxton Pennycuff to Eli Engleking.
The final touchdown, which gave the Thunderbirds a 12-point lead nearing the end of the fourth, proved too much for Mitchell to overcome.
Owens praised his team’s defensive effort on the night, which he felt was a big-time contributor in the Bluejackets’ performance. He also noted the return to the lineup of Mullis, a key contributor as the team’s starting quarterback and middle linebacker on defense who missed the previous week’s game against West Washington.
“Kaden Mullis was coming into the game about 75%, that was better off than he’s been at any of the other three games. He played lights out,” said Owens. “Defensively, we were stopping them. We stopped the run.”
Mullis threw for 147 yards across 14 completions. He was also the team’s top rusher, racking up 154 yards and scoring the team’s two touchdowns.
His top targets were Sven Lutchka (4/66) and Kelan Endris (6/55).
Next up for Mitchell is a return to Patoka Lake Athletic Conference play, as they’ll welcome Crawford County to Terry Cole Field.
Owens said the team will use the improved performance against Eastern Greene as fuel as the Bluejackets will look to turn their season around.
“It’s going to be a turning point moving forward, but I’m going to let you know now that there’s not any happy guys with that outcome. There’s a lot of upset guys about that outcome because they knew we should have won the game. We turned the ball over ourselves,” he said.
“I know I’m going to have some kids that are going to be ticked off next Friday, and we got Crawford County at home and I think there’s going to be several of those seniors that are going to want to prove something.”
