during the Royals’ 27-17 win over Noblesville on Friday. Also
pictured is Sam Jacobs (17), who was filling in at quarterback. (Reporter photo by Kent Graham)
Hamilton County Reporter
Hamilton Southeastern won an all-county and Hoosier Crossroads Conference showdown with Noblesville Friday at Beaver Materials Field by the score of 27-17.
The Royals never trailed in the game, but had to wait until the two-minute mark
of the first quarter to get on the board, which they did when Alex Geroulis
kicked a 25-yard field goal. Southeastern began the second quarter with a touchdown; Jace Alexander ran the ball into the end zone from eight yards.
Geroulis made the extra-point kick, and a few minutes later would make his second field goal of the game, this time from 23 yards. The Millers did go into halftime with points on the board, as Grayden Addison’s 30-yard field goal got Noblesville within 13-3 at the break.
Southeastern got another score early in the third quarter, when Mikah Phillips made a fumble recovery for a touchdown.
It was part of a Royals defense that coach Michael Kelly said played “very, very
good.”
“They did a good job in coming up with several turnovers and played hard,” said Kelly. “I thought we had several guys come up with some big stops.”
The Millers scored the next touchdown, with Trey Speek taking the ball in from two yards.
Southeastern answered minutes later when Blaine Wertz ran in from 29 yards for a touchdown with 2:53 left in the third. The Royals led 27-10 at that point and held on from there.
“Their offense just really rose to the occasion when they needed to and our defense was a half-step behind on third and longs,” said Noblesville coach Dave Sharpe.
The Millers’ Holden Montarsi got the game’s final score, catching a 50-yard touchdown pass from Connor Meinerding with 2:28 left in the game.
Wertz led HSE’s rushing with 133 yards in 26 carries. Sam Jacobs filled in at quarterback for an injured John McCall, and performed well, completing 7 of 10 pass attempts for 101 yards. Wertz had three of those catches.
Meinerding went 4-of-6 for the Millers, totaling 86 yards. Montarsi had two catches and also led the rushing with 50 yards.
The Royals improved to 4-1 in HCC play, sitting in a tie for second place with Brownsburg, and are 5-2 overall. Southeastern goes back on the road next week to play at Franklin Central. Noblesville is 1-4 in the conference and 2-5 overall, and plays at Brownsburg next week.