LINDEN, Ind – Frankfort entered Friday’s contest against Sagamore Conference foe North Montgomery in hopes of their first win in 11 years against the Chargers.
Trailing 14-0 in the first half, the Hot Dogs quest looked to be in question against a Chargers team that had previously been ranked in the state 3A football polls.
The North Montgomery defense pressured the Hot Dogs with a variety of stunts and blitzes in the first half that yielded the Chargers with three sacks of FHS quarterback Sam Michael as well as an interception that stopped a scoring drive on the 17-yard line.
Just as it appeared North Montgomery had found a way to stop another FHS drive with 3:49 left in the first half, Michael converted on a fourth-and-five with a 13-yard pass to Kyle Earl. The Hot Dogs would then face another fourth-and-long decision. And, again it was Earl that hauled in another 13-yard pass from Michael to set-up a first-and-goal from the 2-yard line. With 2:39 left on the clock, Riley Goodnight punched it in and the Dogs were on the board, he added a two-point conversion run that would make the score 14-8.
“They stayed positive, they stayed upbeat,” said Frankfort head coach James Byers when asked about the first-half struggle. “Our leaders took charge when we needed them too.”
Frankfort turned up the intensity in the second half and the momentum changed as a result of a Ramsey Mitchell 65-yard, pick-six interception of Chargers quarterback Donavan Haworth with 4:53 left in the third quarter.
“It was a great play – [Ramsey Mitchell] was able to read it and jump it … and that is only a tied ball game,” said an excited coach Byers. “Then the offense comes out on a sudden change – big play call – we called ‘weak outside zone’ – which is something that we don’t normally do, but (Coach) Chris Keller saw it from the box, Coach (Cormac) Jewell made the call and it was awesome.”
Goodnight ran for the two-point conversion that put the Dogs on top for good, 16-14. The win improves FHS to 4-4 on the season and 2-3 in the Sagamore Conference. North Montgomery drops to 5-3, 1-3.
Coach Byers talked of the all-around team performance – a game he called their “most complete.”
“I’m so proud of our guys,” coach Byers said. “The way we got down early and we battled back, we stayed composed.
“We had those three drives early that were stopped, but in general the offense played really solid. The defense – we gave up a couple big runs, but overall we played really solid. Our special teams – they played solid.
“That was our most complete game to date – in terms of all three phases of the game.”
Michael and Goodnight led the Frankfort offense attack. Michael completed 10 of 21 passes for 105 yards, he also rushed for 29 yards on 7 carries. Goodnight carried the ball 25 times for a total of 91 yards. From the air, Earl recorded 7 receptions for 63 yards and Jade Ayers added 3 receptions for 42 yards.
Defensively the Hot Dogs held back North Montgomery with a team effort. Brenton Wood led the way with 18 tackles (8 solo) followed by Ethan Cook with 17 tackles (10 solo). Vlad Carreras Lantigua and Gabe Chavez each with 16 tackles (6 and 5 solo tackles respectively). Ramsey Mitchell and Reece Mitchell each tallied 9 tackles and 1 sack.
“That North Mont team is a heck of a team, they were ranked in 3A at one point,” added coach Byers. “They are an outstanding ball club. For us to come in, we’d lost a couple, and to bounce back the way we did after having to overcome that adversity is really something. It says a lot about these young men and their character and just the kind of team that they are.”
The Hot Dogs host Crawfordsville (0-8, 0-6) on Friday for the final regular-season game.
HOT DOGS 16, CHARGERS 14
North Montgomery;6;8;0;0;-;14
Frankfort;0;8;8;0;-;16
Scoring Summary
1st Qtr (0:38) North Montgomery. Jacob Braun 1-yard run. Kolton Scrimager two-point conversion pass from Donovan Haworth. 8-0.
2nd Qtr (5:00) North Montgomery.Gage Galloway 27-yard pass from Donovan Haworth. Two-point conversion failed. 14-0.
2nd Qtr (2:39) Frankfort. Riley Goodnight 2-yard run. Goodnight two-point conversion run. 14-8.
3rd Qtr (4:53) Frankfort. Ramsey Mitchell 65-yard interception return. Riley Goodnight two-point conversion run. 14-16.
