Porter rushes for 236, but T-Birds come up short

Jake Crites (35) leads the way for Eastern Greene quarterback Gunnar Porter. The Thunderbirds lost to Indianapolis Scecina 43-26 Friday night in an opening-round game in Class A Sectional 38 despite 236 yards rushing and three TDs by Porter. (By B.J. Hargis/Greene County Daily World).

Indianapolis Scecina jumped out to a 36-6 lead at the half and the Crusaders cruised to a 43-26 victory over visiting Eastern Greene Friday night in the opening round of the Class 2A football Sectional 38.

The Crusaders, who improved to 4-6, scored 38 unanswered points to take command.

After the teams were tied at 6-all after Eastern Greene's Jared Groomer returned a kickoff 90 yards for a touchdown, Scecina's Jimmy Davis (seven carries for 64 yards and two TDs) scored on a 35-yard run to put the Crusaders ahead for good. Ryan Frain booted the first of five PATs as the hosts, who were playing at Indianapolis Manual High School, led 13-6.

Pat Stark added 100 yards rushing and a score for the winners. Nick Branson scored three touchdowns, including recovering a fumble in the end zone to put Scecina ahead 6-0 with six minutes and 45 seconds to play in the first quarter.

Gunnar Porter, playing his final game for the Thunderbirds, tried to offset 372 yards of total offense by Scecina.

Porter rushed 17 times for a career-high 236 yards. In the fourth quarter, Porter accounted for all 20 T-Bird points as he had TD runs of 7, 53 and 10 and also added a two-point conversion.

The Thunderbirds finished the season with a 3-7 record. Eastern Greene concluded its seventh year of varsity football with a seventh consecutive sectional setback.

CRUSADERS 43, THUNDERBIRDS 26

Eastern Greene 6 0 0 20 -- 26

Indianapolis Scecina 22 14 7 0 -- 43

First quarter

IS -- Nick Branson recovered fumble in end zone (kick failed), 6:45.

EG -- Jared Groomer 90 kickoff return (run failed), 6:29.

IS -- Jimmy Davis 35 run (Ryan Frain run), 5:53.

IS -- Garrett Young safety, 4:40.

IS -- Pat Stark 11 run (Frain kick), :13.

Second quarter

IS -- Branson 1 run (Frain kick), 9:19.

IS -- Davis 10 run (Frain kick), :18.

Third quarter

IS -- Branson 3 run (Frain kick), 5:15.

Fourth quarter

EG -- Gunnar Porter 7 run (run failed), 11:34.

EG -- Porter 53 run (Porter run), 9:15.

EG -- Porter 10 run (pass failed), 1:16.

EG IS

First downs 9 16

Rushes-yards 21-241 54-279

Passing yards 48 93

Total yards 289 372

Passes (C-A-I) 7-20-2 6-9-0

Punts-yards 4-20 2-33

Fumbles-lost 1-1 3-1

Penalties-yards 3-28 3-30

Return yards 136 35

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING -- Eastern Greene, Porter 17-236, Jake Crites 3-4, Jared Groomer 1-1. Indianapolis Scecina, Pat Stark 10-100, Jimmy Davis 7-64, Joe Doucleff 3-9, James McKenney 7-28, Thomas Allgood 15-55, Nick Branson 10-48, Tyler Gilpin 6-11, Alex Okerson 3-13, Ben Dugan 1-(minus 2), Ollie Bauer 2-6, Curtis Henley 2-2, Robert Rennick 2-3, Billy Durham 1-(minus 2)

PASSING -- Eastern Greene, Porter 6-19-2-48, Ezra Eads 0-1-0-0. Indianapolis Scecina, Jimmy Davis 5-8-0-85, Ben Dugan 1-1-0-8.

RECEIVING -- Eastern Greene, Ezra Eads 5-32, Michael Love 2-16. Indianapolis Scecina, Garrett Young 1-15, Pat Barton 2-22, Pat Stark 1-14, Ryan Tooley 1-12, Robert Rennick 1-8.