Cavemen Clip Concord In Thriller
Concord’s bid to play for a football state championship next weekend ended Friday night in heartbreaking fashion.
Daniel Blackford booted an 18-yard field goal as time expired to lift Mishawaka past the Minutemen 24-21 in the Class 4-A northern semi state game at Concord.
Mishawaka (11-3) advances to play Indianapolis Cathedral (9-5) at 3:30 p.m. Nov. 24 in the Class 4-A state championship contest at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis. Cathedral routed previously undefeated Columbus East 49-14 Friday night in the Class 4-A southern semi state game.
Concord, which finishes at 11-3, tied the game with just 1:11 to play as junior quarterback Trevor Wilmore connected with Dakota Simon on a 42-yard touchdown toss.
Mishawaka, whose only other state finals trip came in 1974, then got a big 56-yard kickoff return by Matt Carver. The return came after Concord’s first kickoff sailed out of bounds and the Cavemen elected to have the Minutemen rekick the ball instead of taking it at their own 35 yard line.
Mishawaka senior star quarterback Sam Schrader then made a huge 23-yard run to the Concord seven yard line. After three short runs by Schrader, Blackford made his first field goal of the season for the game winner.
Schrader was the hero for the Cavemen. The standout rushed for 148 yards on 36 carries and scored on runs of 14 and four yards. He also threw a 34-touchdown toss to Carver to tie the game at 14-14 in the third quarter.
Mishawaka led 7-0 after the first quarter thanks to a 14-yard scamper by Schrader. Concord scored twice in the second period, on a 17-yard run by Chris Martin and a 31-yard pass from Wilmore to Adam Glanders, to lead 14-7 at intermission. The Cavemen tied it on Schrader’s pass to Carver in the third and then took the lead with 3:30 to play in the game at 21-14 on a four-yard run by Schrader.
Wilmore rushed for 94 yards on 22 carries and was 6-of-10 passing for 104 yards for Concord. DuWhan Alford rushed for 73 yards on eight carries for the Minutemen.
Mishawaka will be the lone area team competing for a state championship. Mishawaka Marian lost 42-13 at Hamilton Heights in a Class 3-A semi state game Friday night.
The host Huskies scored on a punt return early in the contest en route to a 21-0 halftime lead on the Knights. Conner Faulkner rushed for 175 yards on 17 carries and scored on touchdown runs of 28, three and 35 yards to lead Hamilton Heights.
Tyran Ottbridge had 151 yards rushing on 11 carries, including an 80-yard touchdown run in the third quarter, for Marian. Michael Whitfield also scored on a two-yard run for the Knights.
Marian quarterback Vince Ravotto was 16-of-22 passing for 224 yards with a pair of interceptions.
The Knights finish at 10-4.
Hamilton Heights (13-1) plays the winner of the Indianapolis Chatard-Gibson Southern game (scheduled for Saturday) in the Class 3-A state title tilt at noon Nov. 24 at Lucas Oil Stadium.
Semistate Scores
Friday’s Games
Class 5-A
Fort Wayne Snider 42, Merrillville 39
Lawrence Central 28, Center Grove 15
Class 4-A
Mishawaka 24, Concord 21
Indianapolis Cathedral 49, Columbus East 14
Class 3-A
Hamilton Heights 42, Mishawaka Marian 13
Class 2-A
Fort Wayne Luers 35, Andrean 21
Indianapolis Ritter 49, Evansville Mater Dei 14
Class 1-A
Lafayette Central Catholic 13, Sheridan 3
Indianapolis Scecina 17, Linton-Stockton 14 (overtime)