Normally, everyone hates Mondays. To Mississinewa High School football fans, Monday is pretty fun.
Senior running back for the Mississinewa Indians (4-0), Ah’lijah Monday, put on a show for the hometown crowd in their 35-0 win over the Frankton Eagles (0-4) on Sept. 14. Monday rushed for 190 yards on 26 carries, scoring two of the Indians’ five touchdowns.
Through four games, the Indians’ rushing game has been elite.
Indians head coach Jeremy Lochner wanted his team to keep it clean. He felt that in their past games, his team had committed too many penalties.
“Twenty-two penalties for two games (previous games) is unacceptable no matter when they occur,” Lochner said. “So we’ve got to limit the ones that are in our control.”
Eagles head coach Marty Wells, however, was focused on his team’s offensive play.
Frankton’s offense has been off to a slow start, scoring just 14 points in its first three games.
“I’ve told them all week, when we step on the field, offensively, our goal is to get two first downs every time we step on the field and maybe that’ll build into something,” Wells said.
Mississinewa received the opening kickoff. Monday nearly broke the game open on the opening play for a long touchdown run, but his rush was called back due to an Indians penalty. Senior wide receiver and strong safety Kallen Quaderer scored a touchdown the next play off a pass from sophomore quarterback Jasper Baledge.
The Indians then recovered an onside kick, taking the ball back.
The run game stayed dominant as Monday rushed for a first down and a red zone touchdown during the Indians’ second drive to make it 14-0.
Frankton was finally able to start its first drive of the game, which was highlighted by a pass to senior wide receiver and free safety Noah Melvin. They were unable to score after a run play lost them a yard and a pass to junior wide receiver Trey Bennett came up short of the first down.
The Indians started their third drive of the first quarter from the 44-yard line. Monday ran for a first down, but then fumbled on a later play, resulting in a Frankton recovery.
Unfortunately for the Eagles, they were unable to score on their last possession of the first quarter.
At the start of the second quarter, the Indians left the game at 14-0 after a bad third-down resulted in Baledge getting sacked.
The Eagles’ offense once again came up scoreless and Mississinewa started yet another drive. Monday ran out of the backfield into the end zone for his second touchdown of the game.
The Indians were able to score one more time before the end of the half, courtesy of a quarterback sneak by Baledge, making it 28-0.
The Eagles’ very first play of the second half was a pass into the arms of Mississinewa’s Baledge for an interception. The Indians took advantage of the turnover and were able to make the game 35-0 after Baledge threw a terrific pass to junior wide receiver Korbyn Weaver in the end zone, who made a difficult catch in tough defensive coverage.
The Indians were satisfied with the win, but see aspects of their team that could still be improved.
“We got to clean up a lot of little details still,” Lochner said. “Coach’s never happy on that front, but we were playing a little more of our identity throughout the game and finishing that nasty edginess that we talked about.”
