by Douglas E. Roorbach
At the end of Mississinewa’s 35-9 victory over Western last Friday night in the opening round of Sectional 21 in Class 4A, two things were clear: First, Heisman Skeens is important to the Indians’ hopes to make a deep run into the IHSAA playoffs, and, second, they can win without him.
The first question was answered when Skeens took the snap on the first play of the game, scampered around left end and went 67 yards for a touchdown. (Note: do not arrive late for a Mississinewa game.)
After forcing Western to go three-and-out, the Indians were driving downfield for a second score when Skeens suffered an injury to his right knee and left the game. He did not return.
The Indians’ defense, which played a starring role all night, forced another punt, and on its third possession of the night, Mississinewa drove 62 yards on just five plays–four of them runs by Cade Campbell–to make the score 14-0 less than a minute into the second quarter.
For the next 10 minutes of playing time, the game hung in the balance. Western quickly answered Campbell’s touchdown with one of its own on a 68-yard drive that took just nine plays and 2:55, to make the score 14-7.
After trading possessions, Western stopped Mississinewa again, forcing a punt. This time, though, the snap sailed over kicker Andre Sallade’s head and out of the Indians’ end zone for a safety. Western took possession on its own 46 after the free kick and marched down the field, looking to take the lead before halftime, and to get the ball back again to start the second half and build on it.
It never happened.
With 1:10 left in the half, Western Quarterback Jett Engle lofted a pass from the Indians’ 32 yard-line toward the end zone, but Mississinewa’s Drew Castanon intercepted to snuff out the drive. The half ended with the score still at 14-9.
“He’s just an amazing player, [with] a nose for the football,” said Mississinewa Head Coach Curt Funk of Castanon, “he can just really control that secondary for us, so I’m real proud of him.”
Getting to halftime without further damage helped settle the Indians, who looked like a different team in the second half.
“We were just able to settle in,” said Funk. Asked what he told his team at he break, he said: “[We said] ‘OK, we don’t have Heisman, this is who’s going in, this is who’s going where, this is how you’ve got to block…’”
Then, before they returned to the field, he added “I told the kids, ‘Hey, we’re up right now. It’s not like we’re losing the game, and as long as they don’t score, we win this game, no matter what we do.’”
The defense got the message: they needed to stop a Western offense known for tearing off great chunks of yardage. They did so on all three of the Panthers’ second-half possessions. The Panthers only had three first downs in the game.
“I was really proud of our defense,” Funk said, “…tonight our defense stepped up.”
The offense adjusted to the absence of its starting quarterback as well, scoring on each its first three possessions. Campbell went around the end on most plays, with Andruw Cruz, who took over at quarterback, reading the keys and the running the ball up the middle or handing off.
“He is a distributor, and he is a good running back,” said Funk of Cruz, “We blocked for him and he got tough yards.”
“Our kids rose to the occasion,” Funk said.
Mississinewa will travel to Yorktown for its second-round game on Friday.
