UPDATED: Miners blank Warriors to advance to sectional final

Linton-Stockton's Kaleb Bridges (34) sprawls out to make a tackle on North Knox quarterback Dylan Caballero. Miner senior Seth Russell (63) made the initial hit on the play. (By B.J. Hargis/Greene County Daily World). [Order this photo]

No matter what form it comes in, revenge is sweet -- just ask the Linton-Stockton Miners football squad.

Senior running back Kaleb Bridges rushed for a game-high 147 yards on 15 carries and scored three times to lead the Miners to a decisive 44-0 victory over visiting North Knox in Friday's Class A Sectional 40 semifinal contest at Roy Williams Field.

"During the regular season they pretty much beat us down," Bridges said referring to a 15-7 loss on Oct. 2 to the Warriors at Bicknell. "I think they came looking at us like the same team to beat in the post season. But we're not the same team as we were during the regular season, we came out wanting it more than them -- and I think we put it to them."

Senior running back Kaleb Bridges (34) runs behind Linton-Stockton blockers Brock Moore (56) and Blake Eaton (78) during an extra-point attempt Friday night during a Class A Sectional 40 semifinal football game at Roy Williams Field. (By B.J. Hargis/Greene County Daily World). [Order this photo]

Linton-Stockton (8-3) coach Steve Weber agreed with his running back in where part of the credit should be given for his success.

"Bridges had a whale of a game," Weber said. "Not only is he doing a great job running, but the line is doing a great job blocking for him."

Not to be outdone, fellow senior Evan Magni reached triple digits in the wake of his school record 322-yard rushing performance last week against Tecumseh.

Linton-Stockton junior Brandon Swihart (75) comes up with a loose ball while senior Stefan Sparks (12) asks for a hand in getting up from a play in the first half against North Knox. (By B.J. Hargis/Greene County Daily World). [Order this photo]

The 5-f9, 150-pound speedster finished the night with 111 yards on 11 totes. He also found paydirt in a 19-point flurry in the third quarter that left little doubt about the game's final outcome.

But coach Weber said Magni's performance also included some behind the scenes work that was well worth mentioning.

"He's somebody who doesn't get credit for blocking because the line does it," Weber said. "But Evan Magni is one of the better blocking wings we've got. He does a great job blocking for Bridges."

Linton-Stockton defensive coordinator Mike Hayden sends in signals while drenched with rain during the Miners' second-round playoff football victory over North Knox at home Friday night. (By B.J. Hargis/Greene County Daily World). [Order this photo]

The Miners racked up 473 yards of total offense, all on the ground, collected 15 first downs and held the highly-touted North Knox offense to an anemic 42 total yards.

Along the way, the Miners defense held North Knox workhorse backfield mates Derek Chambers and Sam Conrad to a combined 57 yards, most of which were erased by negative gains from three of the five remaining ballcarriers.

"It just came down to the trenches and that's the bottom line," North Knox (6-5) coach Shawn McDowell said. "They just controlled the line of scrimmage and did a wonderful job executing their power offense. And they did a nice job bottling everything up that we tried to run."

Chambers, who had missed the majority of practice days due to fighting off the flu, was limited to 27 yards on just 10 carries, while Conrad took 18 carries to amass a meager 30 yards.

"They've got some good runners that can make you pay if you're not in the right spot," Weber said. "I think tonight our team pursuit and our tackling was much better."

The only other positive yardage from North Knox came from quarterback Dylan Caballero who ran the ball four times for five yards.

"We played better position football," Weber said. "The last time we played them we had just put the defense in the 4-4 and we were out of position several times and you can't do that against this good team."

Bridges struck early accounting for Linton-Stockton's first 18 points on runs of 56, 2 and 7 yards before Magni, Nick Sparks and Kent Helton got into the act in the second half.

"Most of the blocking was good," Bridges said. "Their defensive tackle kept blowing us up a few times, but I just followed by quarterback and Blake Scarbrough and ended up in the hole."

The 6-0, 175 pound wrecking ball said his visits to the end zone were deceptive to the rain-drenched crowd of Miner fans who managed to overcome the precipitation that peppered the field most of the night.

"They gave me a good tunnel to run through most of the time," Bridges said. "The (holes in the offensive line) were a little tight, I had to hurdle a few guys sometimes."

With Bridges and Magni leading the charge, Linton-Stockton was able to come out of the blocks firing on all cylinders in the second half as they were joined by Nick Sparks in putting touchdowns on the scoreboard in the third quarter.

"It just came down to man-to-man they're just better," McDowell said. "If you look at their linemen they probably had 25 or 30 pounds on us. And that takes it toll in a heavy mud game like this, you get the bigger guys that are going to get the push."

After Bridges added his third tally of the game to cap off a 70-yard, eight-play drive, Magni made the most of a fumbled kickoff return that was recovered by the Miners' Anthony Morin, when he went the final four markers.

Sparks got into the act after Magni added an interception of a Caballero pass that left the ball at the Warriors' 23 yard line.

After runs by Magni and Stefan Sparks put the ball at the five, the younger Sparks rumbled through the grasp of the middle of the North Knox defense to push the score to 31-0 after Dyllanne Deischer's extra point kick.

The only offensive miscues of the night came in an inability to complete either of the two attempts by quarterback Tylor Scott.

Linton-Stockton's final two tallies came in the fourth quarter when Helton went 36 yards through the staggered North Knox defense and the younger Sparks added his second score of the night on a 10-yard run.

"I'd like to have seen a couple of those waggle passes completed," Weber said. "We saw the open guy, we just couldn't get there. But I'm really happy with what we did."

Now the Miners will set their sights on another dose of revenge for a regular season loss when they host North Daviess in the Sectional 40 Championship game.

This is a rematch of the last year's title game.

"They just played a much better ball game," McDowell said. "And they were the better team tonight -- and the better team's going to move on."

On Sept. 25, the fourth-ranked Cougars handed Linton-Stockton a 34-6 setback.

"We want them bad," Bridges said. "They pretty much put it to us during the regular season, we're ready for them. I think it'll be a real good game."

Kickoff for that contest is tentatively slated for 7 p.m. Friday, Nov. 6 at Roy Williams Field.

No Miner Pride Passes will be honored because it is an Indiana High School Athletic Association Tournament event.

MINERS 44, WARRIORS 0

North Knox 0 0 0 0 -- 0

Linton-Stockton 6 6 19 13 -- 44

First Quarter

L -- Kaleb Bridges 56 run (run failed), 7:18.

Second Quarter

L -- Bridges 2 run (pass failed), :42.

Third Quarter

L -- Bridges 7 run (kick failed), 8:14.

L -- Evan Magni 4 run (Dyllanne Deischer kick), 6:31.

L -- Nick Sparks 5 run (Deischer kick), 3:57.

Fourth Quarter

L -- Kent Helton 36 run (Deischer kick), 11:49.

L -- Nick Sparks 10 run (kick failed), 5:05.

NK LS

First downs 4 15

Rushes-yards 39-42 55-473

Passing yards 0 0

Total 42 473

C-A-I 0-2-1 0-2-0

Punts-avg 3-17 0-0

Penalties-yards 1-2 2-15

Return yards 118 55

Fumbles-lost 4-1 5-2

Time of Possession 22:32 25:28

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING -- North Knox, Derek Chambers 10-27, Sam Conrad 18-30, Dylan Caballero 4-5, Zach Stephens 3-(minu6), Alex Smith 1-0, Nathan Pesch 1-(minus 3), Tyler Mundy 2-(-11). Linton-Stockton, Kaleb Bridges 15-147, Evan Magni 11-111, Stefan Sparks 12-76, Tylor Scott 1-0, Nick Sparks 3-31, Austin Karazsia 4-(-6), Kent Helton 2-38, Caleb Berns 2-20, Cole Bradbury 2-27, Anthony Morin 2-8, Ryan Littlejohn 1-21.

PASSING -- North Knox, Dylan Caballero 0-2-1. Linton-Stockton, Tylor Scott 0-2-0.

RECEIVING -- None.

MISSED FG ATTEMPTS -- Sargent, North Knox.