YORKTOWN, IND - On Friday evening, two county rivals in Yorktown (2-0) and Muncie Central (0-2) squared off. The recent history of the matchup between the two schools has been rather lopsided in the Tigers' favor. To find the Bearcats' last win between the two schools you’d have to go back to the 2016 season.
This matchup would span into Saturday morning thanks to a weather delay, but after all was said and done, the Yorktown Tigers continued their dominance winning 30-14.
Muncie Central won the coin toss and deferred to the second half, giving the Tigers the ball to open the contest. The Tiger offense came out firing on all cylinders and was able to drive down the field with relative ease.
After a scramble drill situation, sophomore quarterback Sam Tokar was able to deliver a pass to the back of the end zone to senior wide receiver Julian McKay to give the green and white an early 7-0 lead.
For the purple and white opening drive, it was a different story. Junior quarterback Alakai Wallace began the day with a turnover only three plays into the Bearcats’ drive as he was intercepted by Tigers’ junior defensive end Jabin Barnes.
“When you look at the game as a whole, we had four turnovers and then got stopped on the one inch line,” Muncie Central head coach Kyle Padgett said. “It’s a whole new ball game and we’re close but we’re not there yet.”
Yorktown was able to turn defense into offense quickly with Tokar connecting with McKay for his second touchdown of the day to take a two-score lead, 14-0
“Sam’s had a great start to the year,” Yorktown head coach Mike Wilhelm said. “He’s only going to get better as we move through the season, it’s impressive.”
The Bearcats needed to reset after a slow start and they were able to get that in their second drive of the day thanks to a commitment to the ground game. Juniors Marquis Allen and Dae’cion Echols carried the load to get Muncie Central to the one-yard line but the Yorktown defense stiffened to hold the road team out of the end zone.
After a back and forth of punts, Muncie Central was able to get a small drive going at one point but Echols, on what would’ve been a first down run, fumbled the ball to give the ball back to the green and white.
“We forced six turnovers last week and four this week, and then had zero on offense,” Yorktown senior Wilson Webster said. “That’s the heart and soul of our defense.”
Yorktown was unable to take advantage of the turnover and was forced to punt on the ensuing drive.
On the punt, the Bearcat returner got hit by a Yorktown tackler before the ball arrived after calling for a fair catch. However, there was no flag on the play. Padgett was not happy with the officials decision to keep their flags in their pockets.
“The officials actually came up and apologized about the punt play,” Padgett said. “It cost us twenty-two yards of field position which hurt and they admitted they got it wrong so I commend them for that.”
Yorktown was able to hold the Bearcat offense yet again and had the chance to take a three-score lead heading into the locker room. The Tigers did just that, with Tokar securing his third score through the air on the day, connecting with senior wideout Ephraim Daugherty to go up 21-0 at the half.
As the teams came back out to prepare for second-half action, lightning was seen in the area causing a delay which resulted in postponement to Saturday morning.
As night turned to day and the second half kicked off at 9 a.m. it looked like the two teams had flipped places with Muncie Central coming out ready to play and the Tigers looking a step behind.
“You’ve been planning for that Disney trip, and all of a sudden, Hurricane Ida comes through Orlando and you’ve gotta adjust.” Wilhelm said.
The purple and white scored on their opening drive after a methodical drive down the field taking up half of the third quarter to narrow the score to 21-7. They relied heavily on the ground game to get them in the end zone.
Yorktown seemed to be a little drowsy out of the gate and couldn’t get much momentum going on either side of the ball as the Bearcats were able to shut down the Tiger offense through the entire third quarter as well.
“The best thing you saw today was enthusiasm,” Padgett said. “We played hard, didn’t quit and it’s hard to come back on a Saturday when you’re down 21-0.”
With the game now within two scores heading into the final quarter, and the momentum solely on the road team's sideline, the Bearcats were able to use that momentum to punch in another score from Echols to bring the purple and white within one score, 21-14.
“Muncie Central came out ready to go,” Wilhelm said. “We weren’t quite ready to play and that’s something we talked about before we came out and something we’ve got to learn from.”
A switch was flipped on the Tiger sideline after that touchdown by the Bearcats. On the ensuing kickoff Daugherty returned the ball deep into Muncie Central territory setting up Yorktown for an eventual field goal after a ground and pound attack from Webster to get them in range.
After the field goal went through the uprights all of the momentum swung to the Tigers. On the next Bearcat possession, Yorktown sophomore corner Kaden Crumes intercepted Wallace again and this one got taken all the way back to make the score 30-14 to seal the deal for the home squad.
“In games like this you’ve got to lean on your seniors,” Webster said. “We’ve played in some games in not great circumstances before, and we were able to get it done.”
Muncie Central will be on the road again next week as they take on Adams Central (1-1) on Sept. 6. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. Yorktown will play host to conference rival New Palestine (1-0) on Sept. 6. Kickoff is slated for 7 p.m.
Contact David Moore with comments at david.moore@bsu.edu or on X @gingninj63
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