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ADAMS TWP — It's fitting that Zach Herrington and the Indiana Indians played in Mars Friday night, because their running attack was out of this world.
In a game that was extremely important to each team's playoff hopes, Indiana's rushing attack was unstoppable. They went off for 488 yards, and it all came on the ground.
The game started off exactly as you'd think, with Indiana (3-3, 5-4) pounding the ball down the Planets' (2-4, 2-7) throats. On seven plays, the Indians drove 80 yards, and the drive was capped off by Devin Flint's 38-yard touchdown run.
The duo of Flint and Herrington put up more than half of Indiana's entire offense, with 331 rushing yards and five touchdowns combined. Herrington's first touchdown came early in the second quarter when he pounded the ball 26 yards up the middle and was tripped up into the end zone. It was his first of three scores.
“He's just a football player, and I think if you went across the WPIAL tonight, you won't find a kid who played harder, tougher or better than Zach tonight,” Indiana coach Brandon Overdorff said.
Mars did fight back after going down 14-0, but after driving the ball all the way down to Indiana's 5-yard line, they had to settle for three. There were multiple points in the game where it looked as if momentum was with the Fightin' Planets, but they lost it almost immediately.
The first of which came on the drive after their field goal, when they recovered a fumble. But after four plays, they gave the ball right back to the Indians. It took three plays for Herrington to take the ball 44 yards to the house.
At the half, the score sat 20-3 and Mars came out swinging. Rafael Bartley and the Mars offense struggled to get going all night, but on the opening drive of the third quarter, Bartley hit Hayden Mayer for a 50-yard touchdown pass. Just like that, it seemed as if Mars was going to get right back in the game.
That was the start of the second momentum swing, and after another fumble by the Indians, Mars had a chance to cut the game to one score. It took one play for the ball to be handed right back to Indiana, after Herrington picked off Bartley.
“We came out in the second half and scored, and made the changes we wanted to, but you can't make a turnover [when you have the momentum],” Mars coach Scott Heinauer said. “I think that was turning point in the game.”
From there the Indians put up 26 straight points to end the game, with touchdowns from Herrington, Flint, Korbin Wilson, and Josiah Johnson putting the bow on a 46-10 win. With the season concluding next week, the Indians have a chance to punch their ticket to the post season against Armstrong and Mars will travel to Hampton.
“We've just got to go play football,” Heinauer said. “We've got to play Hampton, and it's a good rivalry and it is what it is.”
Indiana 8 12 19 7 — 46
Mars 0 3 7 0 — 10
First Quarter
I — Devin Flint 38 run (Zach Herrington run), 7:53
Second Quarter
I — Herrington 26 run (conversion failed), 10:44
M — Eli Wright 18 field goal, 7:21
I — Herrington 44 run (conversion failed), 3:50
Third Quarter
M — Hayden Mayer 50 pass from Rafael Bartley (Wright kick), 9:45
I — Flint 2 run (conversion failed), 3:59
I — Korbin Wilson 67 run (Brock Miller kick), 2:23
I — Herrington 5 run (kick failed), :32
Fourth Quarter
I — Josiah Johnson 1 run (Miller kick), 9:11
Individual Statistics
Rushing: Indiana, Zach Herrington 20-201, Devin Flint 17-130, Korbin Wilson 2-81, Liam McFarlane 4-50, Josiah Johnson 1-9, Garrison Dougherty 3-9, Griffin Prebish 2-4, Trevor Smith 2-4. Mars, Rafael Bartley 6-8, Finn Seideneck 9-6, Carlos Orr 2-5.
Passing: Indiana, Devin Flint 0-1-0-0. Mars, Rafael Bartley 11-18-144-1, Luke Goodworth 1-4-3-0.
Receiving: Mars, Hayden Mayer 2-64, Aidan Alessio 1-29, Noah Nesselroad 4-32, Hunter Hart 2-18, Finn Seideneck 3-18, Mason Childress 1-3..
