The Mississinewa Indians will have a chance to defend their crown.
With the return of Heisman Skeens, the Indians overcame a seven-point deficit in the third quarter to defeat the Yorktown Tigers, 24-14, on Friday night.
After a scoreless first quarter, the Indians opened the scoring with 5:31 remaining in the half. Skeens, who missed all but two plays last week in Mississinewa’s win over Western, scampered 60 yards to give the Indians a 7-0 lead after the extra point.
“[Heisman] played real well,” Mississinewa Head Coach Curt Funk said. “I feel like he played one of his best games of the year on [Friday] night. We used him in a couple of different ways. We lined him up at running back, and we ran some power I sets. We handed the ball off to him and he had some big runs. He made some good throws at quarterback, and on defense, he played strong defense in pass coverage. He just had a really strong night.”
Yorktown answered just over two minutes later with a touchdown pass, tying the game at seven heading into halftime.
The Tigers used a big play early in the third quarter to grab the advantage, as Austin Hill ran 57 yards to the end zone to give Yorktown a 14-7 lead.
But the Indians would not be down for long, as Cade Campbell rushed 42 yards to tie the game once again.
From that moment on, the Indians’ defense locked in, not allowing the Tigers’ offense to score any more points. Meanwhile, Andre Sallade connected on a field goal, and Skeens put the game on ice with a 45-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter.
“I thought our kids, our defense especially, responded to some adversity,” Funk said. “We had three turnovers. We had two drives stopped inside the red zone. Our kids could have mentally gotten frustrated, but they preserved and came out with the victory.”
With the win, Mississinewa will host the Marion Giants in the Sectional 21 Final this coming Friday night at 7 pm.
