Run Ends For EIAC Teams
The Batesville Bulldogs, the 2009 Eastern Indiana Conference champions, saw their historic season come to an end on Friday night as they fell to the Bishop Chatard Trojans 31-14 on Friday night in the Indiana Class 3A regional championship game.
Batesville (11-1) was in the game early. After falling down 7-0, the Bulldogs tied the score three minutes into the second quarter as quarterback Connor Kelley connected with Tom Jeffers on an 89-yard touchdown pass to tie up the contest.
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The Bulldogs bent, but did not break on the Trojans' next drive, holding them to a 37-yard field goal with a little of six minutes left in the half.
It appeared that Kelley was going to guide Batesville to lead just before the half on drive setup by a Bishop Chatard intercetpion, but this time Jeffers couldn't hold onto a pass in the end zone and the first half expired with a Batesville trailing 10-7.
The second half belonged to the Trojans as they scored touchdowns on three of their first four possessions to put the game away.
Kelley, who set the school's single-season and career touchdown marks this year, finished the final game of his high school career by completing 16 of 28 passes for 299 yards and a pair of touchdowns.
In the end, Batesville simply had no answer for Bishop Chatard's rushing attack. The Trojans finished with 426 yards on 55 carries on their way to the victory.
REITZ 52, EAST CENTRAL 28
Reitz (13-0) quarterback Matt McIntosh accounted for five touchdowns as the visiting Panthers rolled East Central (10-3) 52-28 on Saturday night. They made a very good Trojans defense look below average.
McIntosh had 14 carries for 155 yards and three scores on the ground. The junior was just as efficient passing going 14-20 for 163 yards and two touchdown tosses as his teams wins the Regional Title. The Panthers will host Indianapolis Cathedral (12-1) in Semi-State matchup next Saturday.
RJ Thomas pulled East Central within seven at 21-14 on 25 yards touchdown run with a 1:09 left before halftime. It took Reitz four plays and 40 seconds to answer to send them into the locker room up 14. It was the fourth of five straight possessions the Panthers would score touchdowns on.
The third quarter was dominated by McIntosh and Reitz never looked back. The Panthers 52 points came against an East Central defense that was allowing just 8.7 points per contest.