Hamilton County Reporter

Hamilton Southeastern dropped its first game of the season on Friday, falling to
North Central 31-13 at Reynolds Royals Stadium.

The Class 6A No. 10 Royals scored the first touchdown of the game on a pass from
Kody Sparks to Deandre Rhoads in the first quarter. The Panthers answered with a
touchdown, and the period ended with a 7-7 tie.

North Central scored again before halftime to lead 14-7. Southeastern opened
the third quarter with a Matt Harris touchdown, putting the Royals ahead 14-13
with 8:51 left. But the Panthers scored two more TDs in the third and did not permit HSE
another score.

“I think we just wore out in the fourth quarter,” said Royals coach Adam Morris.
“Defensively, I thought we played hard. Just got gassed at the end of the game.
Offensively, we had some series where we were going up-tempo and some good things
happened. But just too many three and outs, too many incompletions.”

Despite the loss, Morris saw several good things from his team.

“When we needed a stop defensively, we got one,” said Morris, who also liked that
his kids kept fighting in the game.

Southeastern is 1-1 and will begin Hoosier Crossroads Conference play next week at Avon.