The fans in attendance at Legion Field last Friday night witnessed a large confluence of impressive performances.
And when all was said and done, the now 7-0, 2-0 Indianola Academy Colonels had earned a dominating 42-7 victory over the Washington School Generals of Greenville.
On a game night which was preceded by starting senior defensive end/right guard Schiefer Phillips’ rendition of the national anthem, the Colonels used a forceful offensive line, a suffocating defensive effort and five rushing touchdowns from Sebastian Harris to fuel their victory over the Generals.
Harris’ memorable 242-yard rushing game included touchdown runs of 59 and 78 yards and were earned on only 10 carries into the line.
Meanwhile, the IA defense limited Washington School to only 140 yards of total offense, with 97 of those coming on 33 rushes.
“This was the best first half performance we’ve played all year,” said IA Head Coach Tommy Nester. “The kids really did a good job.”
Still ranked No. 1 among AAA schools, the Colonels’ victory over the Generals also snapped a nine game losing streak IA had suffered to AAAA member and now 2-4 Washington School.
With that game now behind them, the Colonels will turn their attention to this week’s 7 p.m. non-district road trip against the Winona Christian School Stars.
A District 1AA member, Winona Christian School is the first of three consecutive road games the Colonels will play as they complete their regular season schedule.
The Stars bring a 3-4 record into this week’s game and are looking to pull an upset over IA and end the two game losing streak they are currently enduring.
“Winona Christian always seems to play us well”, said Nester. “We will have to be focused and play our game.”
In their most recent action last Friday night, the Stars fell to Bayou Academy of Cleveland by a 42-14 margin.
While Winona Christian School and IA have not played a common opponent, the Colonels do own a 5-0 overall record over the Stars; a record extended by last season’s 43-14 victory.
However, Winona Christian moved on to post a strong 9-3 record in last year’s campaign, which ended with a second round AA playoff loss.
In last Friday night’s win over Washington School, the Colonels would not only score on the game’s opening possession, but would find the end zone on all six of their first half drives.
Meanwhile, the IA defense would not allow the Washington School squad a first down or a touchdown until the Generals’ fifth possession almost midway through the second quarter of the game.
The Colonels began to accumulate their 42-7 halftime score with a game-opening 11 play, 58 yard drive which ended with Harris bolting over from five yards out.
William Barrier’s first of six PAT kicks would then give IA a 7-0 lead.
It would take the Colonels only one play following a Generals punt to score again as Harris followed blockers around the right side, broke a pair of open field tackles, and then raced 78 yards for the score.
After the IA defense forced another Generals punt, the Colonels quickly scored on another big play.
On this occasion junior quarterback Will Davis found senior wide receiver T.K. Bolden streaking across the middle and hit the 6-foot-4 receiver in stride to complete what proved to be an 83-yard scoring pass.
With the score 21-0 after one period of play, the Colonels finished off a nine play, 71-yard drive on the first play of the second quarter when Harris crashed over from one yard out.
The Colonels would score on their very next offensive play following another Washington School punt.
In a near repeat of his other long scoring run, Harris found running room on the right side and erupted into another tackle-breaking sprint which covered 59 yards.
Washington School would then score their only points of the night almost six minutes later when a quarterback scramble resulted in a six yard scoring run.
The final points of the night were again earned by Harris as the hard-running senior completed a 10-play, 62-yard drive with a 14-yard run to the end zone, leaving only eight seconds remaining in the first half of the game.
Statistically, in addition to Harris’ huge night of running, Davis would complete eight of his 10 passes for 154 yards and a touchdown with Bolden’s five catches picking up 127 of those yards.
Defensively, the Colonels received a wide-spread team effort and were led by Clint Jones’ two solo six assist night of play while Josh Hill completed his strong game with three solo tackles and three assists.
Adding six assists apiece were Jack Dodd, Eli Lipsey, and John Abbott Smith to go along with Wesley Lester’s five assist performance.
