Maconaquah’s football team
overcame two key first-half
turnovers to spoil Eastern’s
homecoming celebration with
a 21-14 Mid-Indiana Confer-
ence victory Friday
night at Greentown.
The Braves were
able to move the
ball on the ground
all night, but mis-
takes left them in a
scoreless tie with the Comets
at intermission.
Eastern (1-3 overall, 0-2
MIC) struggled mightily to
produce any offense in the
first half. The Comets turned
to seniors Papee Byers and
Austin Bates in the second
half and kept it close with two
touchdown drives of their
own. But Mac senior running
backs Cody Hicks and J.J. Fi-
erro were too much to over-
come, combining for 247
yards on 23 second-half
rushes.
“I’m really proud of the way
our offensive line stepped up,”
said Mac coach Mark Hart-
man. “It took us a little while
to get going, but we finally
started seeing what [Eastern]
was trying to do defensively.
Hat’s off to Eastern and the
way they played [Friday] night
— very tenacious. I can defi-
nitely tell they’ve got their
program going to where it
needs to be.”
For a half, Mac completely
stymied Eastern’s attack, how-
ever, limiting the Comets to
just 23 yards of total offense in
the first 24 minutes. But the
Braves couldn’t take advan-
tage as Eastern’s defense bent
but didn’t break.
Mac (2-2 overall, 1-1 Mid-In-
diana Conference) refused to
be denied on its opening drive
of the third quarter,
however. It took the
Braves just six plays
to move 65 yards for
the first touchdown
of the night. Hicks
did most of the work
—the 2013 Kokomo Tribune
All-Area Offensive Player of
the Year broke loose on a 32-
yard jaunt before cutting back
against the grain on a 17-yard
touchdown run at the 9:32
mark to make it 7-0.
Eastern followed with a
three-and-out, but Isaac
Hanny picked off Hann at the
Eastern 32 on Mac’s next pos-
session, and the Comets’ of-
fense finally came to life. With
Byers running well and a 12-
yard Bates to Cree Johnston
completion mixed in, Eastern
marched to the 1-yard line
where Byers bulled in to knot
the game at 7-all.
But Mac responded with
another six-play, 65-yard drive.
After an 18-yard burst up the
middle by Fierro moved the
Braves past midfield, Hicks
broke loose off right tackle
and outran the Comet defense
for a 43-yard score to make it
13-7 when Eastern blocked
the point-after kick.
Mac added another score on
its next possession, going 68
yards in seven plays and cash-
ing in on Fierro’s 15-yard ram-
ble up the middle. Hann ran
in the two-point conversion to
make it 21-7 with 6:09 left in
the game.
Hicks finished with 251
yards on 31 carries while Fi-
erro had 113 yards on 13
totes.
PERU 14, TAYLOR 7
Peru held off Taylor’s late
rally to take a 14-7 win and
spoil Taylor’s homecoming Fri-
day night.
Peru improved to 3-1 overall
and 2-0 in the Mid-Indiana
Conference. Peru and Cass
share the league lead. They
meet this week.
The Bengal Tigers scored
early against the Titans (0-4,
0-2 MIC) as Brady Miller ran up
the middle for a 47-yard touch-
down run at 8:44 in the first
quarter. The Tigers added to
their lead in the third quarter as
Miller rambled up the middle
again, this time for 53 yards
and a touchdown at 10:01 in
the third quarter.
“I loved the way the kids
played,” Peru coach Bob Pres-
cott said. “We haven’t put
everything together on offen-
sive side of things. We are
playing a lot of kids and we are
moving people around and
stuff that we were going to do.
We had some better plays,
even though we didn’t get a lot
of scores. Penalties hurt us
there.”
The Tigers had 15 penalties
for 123 yards. The mistakes
cost Peru several chances of
scoring more points — and
also led to Taylor’s only touch-
down.
After an incomplete pass by
Taylor quarterback Liam Ire-
land, Ireland hooked up with
wide receiver Darian Stone for
23 yards and on the play, Peru
was flagged for defensive pen-
alty that brought the ball down
to the 9-yard line. Ireland then
threw a pass over the middle
that was caught by Dontae
Campbell for an 9-yard touch-
down pass with 4:23 remaining
in the game.
Peru’s defense was key in
the victory as it pressured the
Titans. Peru had three sacks.
“I believe in our defense,”
Prescott added. “Give Taylor
credit. They battled us all night
long.”
The Tigers were without run-
ning back Michael Richardson,
who injured his ankle last
week. He is probable for Fri-
day’s game with Cass.
Miller led Peru with 193
yards on 28 carries and two
touchdowns.
WABASH 37, N. MIAMI 31
Wabash topped North Miami
37-31 in a Three Rivers Con-
ference game. Wabash
snapped a 31-game losing
streak with the homecoming
win.
North Miami dropped to 0-4
overall and 0-2 in the TRC.
TOURNAMENT RESULTS
The inaugural Kokomo Reser-
voir Fall Classic bass fishing
tourney was recently completed,
marking the close of the local
summer tournament series. First
place ended in a tie. Dennis Mc-
Kee and Mat Temme carried two
largemouth to the scales topping
out at 4.41 pounds while the
team of Sam and Chance Taskey
brought in three fish weighing
the same. A largemouth tipping
the scales at 2.89 pounds gave
McKee and Temme the final
event’s “big bass” trophy. Dave
and Joel Edwards snagged sec-
ond place with two fish totaling
3.52 pounds.
Kyle Hobbs and Bob Taylor
took first place and “big bass”
honors at last Tuesday’s Del-
phi-Delco bass tourney with one
largemouth tipping the scales at
2 pounds, 15 ounces. Second
place went to Mike Harrison and
Gary Thompson with one fish
weighing 1 pound, 8 ounces.
• John Martino is the Kokomo
Tribune’s outdoors columnist. He may
be reached by email at
MC WEEKLY
Week of September 17, 2014
13
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Martino ...
Hicks, Fierro lead Maconaquah to road win
BY MC WEEKLY SPORTS STAFF
■
Peru beats
Taylor; North Miami
falls to Wabash
>>
PREP
ROUNDUP
Kelly Lafferty | MC Weekly
OUT OF REACH:
Maconaquah’s JJ Fierro just misses
the catch against Eastern on Friday night. Fierro had a
big night carrying the ball, finishing with 113 yards on 13
carries.
