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10th Ranked Michigan State Holds Off Indiana Football 20-15
The 10th ranked Michigan State Spartans held off the Indiana Hoosiers 20-15 at Memorial Stadium in Bloomington Saturday afternoon. The Hoosiers defense held the nations leading rusher Kenneth Walker III to 84 yards on 23 carries. “Walker is a great player, we wanted to keep him hemmed in and not give him a chance to get out in space and make guys miss. We had a lot of gang tackling.” Indiana Head Coach Tom Allen Said in his post-game press conference. Payton Thorne was 14-26 for 126 yards passing with 1 touchdown and 2 interceptions. Michigan State’s top 2 receivers Jayden Reed and Jalen Nailor were held to eight receptions combined for 102 receiving yards and no touchdowns. The Spartans offense struggled in the first half punting all six times and once in the second half. Indiana dominated the stat sheet having advantages in first downs (24-14), rushing yards (134-100), passing yards (188-141), and time of possession (33:30 to 26:30). Their defense, even without injured All-America cornerback Taiwan Mullen, stripped the big play from one of the Big Ten’s most explosive offenses. It made the Spartans look offensively irrelevant. “It wasn’t enough, “The defense did everything we wanted them to do except score,” Allen said. Matt Coghlin hit two field goals from 51 and 49 yards out. Cal Haladay got Michigan State on the board when he picked off Indiana Quarterback Jack Tuttle and took it back 30 yards for touchdown with 4:33 to go in the first quarterback. Payton Thorne found Tyler Hunt on a 12-yard touchdown pass with 1:49 left in the 3rd quarter to extend the lead to 17-9. Hunt and Thorne hooked up on 15 yard a trick play where Thorne made a great catch to stay inbounds. Jack Tuttle got the start at quarterback for the Hoosiers with Michael Penix Jr ruled out due to a shoulder injury. Tuttle was 28-52 for 188 yards and threw 2 interceptions. Ty Fryfogle caught 7 passes for 65 yards. Stephen Carr had 19 carries for 53 yards rushing and scored the only Hoosier touchdown on a 1-yard score with 12:56 left in the game to make 17-15. The Hoosiers were unable to score when Tuttle threw a shovel pass to Peyton Hendershot that the Spartans defense bottle up and kept the Hoosiers out of the endzone. Charles Campbell was 3-4 on field goals but missed a key opportunity right before halftime when he missed a 50 yarder with the Hoosiers leading 9-7 at halftime. Indiana also had a fumble with 3:59 left in the game with Tuttle losing the ball on 5-yard sack and Chester Kimbrough recovering for Michigan State. “It’s about making key plays at critical times,” Allen Said. Michigan State 7-0 and 4-0 in the Big Ten will host archival and unbeaten Michigan on October 30th. Indiana is 2-4 and 0-3 in Big Ten will host another top 10 team this Saturday night when the Ohio State Buckeyes come calling to Memorial Stadium for a 7:30 PM kickoff on ABC.
Bloomington North Wins Bloomington South and Edgewood Fall in Final Week
Bloomington North beat Southport 42-14 in the final week of the high school football regular season in Indiana Friday night. Bloomington South lost at Indianapolis Chatard 42-7 while Edgewood was shutout for the third straight week losing at home 12-0 to Brown County. Bloomington North finishes the regular season at 6-3 and will host Evansville North 5-4 Friday October 28th in the Class 5A Sectional Semifinals. Bloomington North beat Evansville North 55-41 in the Sectional Semifinals in Evansville a season ago. Bloomington South finishes the regular season at 6-2 and will go into the sectional on a two-game losing streak. The Panthers will travel for the Class 5A Sectional Semifinals facing the Castle Knights 7-2 and take a two-game winning streak into the game. This will be the fourth meeting between the two teams in the last three seasons. The Teams met twice in 2019 with Bloomington South winning the season opener 34-10 in Bloomington on August 23rd and sectional championship game 32-6 in Newburgh on November 8th. Castle shutout Bloomington South 28-0 at home in the sectional final on October 30th, 2020. Edgewood finishes the regular season at 1-7 and will take a five-game losing streak to Washington this Friday night when they face the winless Hatches at 7 PM in the Class 3A sectional first round. Washington is coming off 54-6 pounding at home to Mt Vernon (Posey). The Hatches average 7 points per game and have been shutout three times this season.
Indianapolis Colts Beat Houston Texans 31-3
The Indianapolis Colts beat the Houston Texans 31-3 Sunday afternoon at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis. Carson Wentz was 11-20 for 220 yards passing and 2 touchdowns. Jonathan Taylor had 145 yards and 2 touchdowns on 14 carries. T.Y. Hilton returned for the first time this season after a neck injury and he had 4 catches for 80 yards. Parris Campbell and Mo Allie-Cox had receiving touchdowns for the Colts. Kicker Michael Badgley hit his first field goal since being signed to the team this week replacing Rodrigo Blankenship who is out with injury. Davis Mills the rookie quarterback from Stanford was 29-43 for 249 yards passing with 2 interceptions and sacked twice. Mark Ingram had 18 carries for 73 yards and Brandin Cooks had 9 receptions for 89 yards. The Texans are 1-5 and are on a 5-game losing streak. The Colts are 2-4 and will travel to San Francisco for Sunday Night Football 8:20 PM on NBC.
Bloomington South Girls Soccer Win Boys Fall in Regional Championship Game
The Bloomington South and Castle Girls and Boys Soccer teams split Class 3A Regional Championships Saturday afternoon at Seymour HS. The Bloomington South Girls beat the Knights 4-1 on penalty kicks after 1-1 draw. The Panthers 20-0-1 are headed to semi state for the first time since 2006 and will face 4th ranked Carmel at 5 PM Saturday in Seymour. The Castle Girls end the season at 15-4-2. Castle dominated the Bloomington South Boys Soccer team winning 4-0 and will advance to the semi state next week at Seymour facing Carmel at 3 PM. The Knights are 20-1 while Bloomington South ends the season at 13-7-1.