For the Daily Reporter
INDIANAPOLIS — The blunt news is this: the Eastern Hancock Royals 2018 football season came to an end Friday night in a 21-0 loss to Heritage Christian. But nestled into this game and the season as a whole is a sign of better things to come for the Royals in the future.
“Where this team is and where this team can go are light years apart,” Royals coach Doug Armstrong said after his seniors walked through a tunnel of their teammates for the last time.
The Royals were most certainly dreaming of an upset at halftime, as they went into the locker room 0-0 to a team they lost to 33-6 a month and a half ago. As the game started, the Royals were visibly the sharper and more energetic team.
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“In the first half we changed up our defense from the first time we played them,” Armstrong said. “But we just didn’t capitalize on offense like we needed to.”
Fellow freshmen Houston Swan and Cole Rainbolt were leading the Royals up and down the field in the first half, but each time they reached Eagle territory an untimely turnover or penalty ended the scoring threat. Rainbolt finished with seven catches for 69 yards.
“Those turnovers in the first half is something we have struggled with all season,” Armstrong stated.
Early in the half Victor Olivo began finding space in the running lanes, but the Royals were still unable to find the end zone. Olivo finished with 96 yards rushing in this game, which gave him 1,006 rushing yards on the season.
The Royals kept Heritage Christian off the board until the end of the third quarter when Peyton Brown plunged in from the two yard line. The Eagles got the ball at midfield that drive after the Royals failed to convert on 4th down a few plays before, a certain turning point in the game.
“In the third quarter there we made a mistake that flipped the field position battle,” Armstrong said.
With the Royals chasing the game in the fourth quarter, the Eagles were able to tack on two more touchdowns to build their final margin of victory.
The focus now switches to the future for the Royals, as nearly every major contributor to this year’s squad will return in 2019. But Doug Armstrong didn’t want this year’s graduating seniors to be forgotten.
“They may not have been big in numbers, but I’m a better man for having coached this group,” he said.
