YORKTOWN — The Greenfield-Central football team found another gear on Friday night.
A week after the Cougars suffered a difficult loss at home against Hoosier Heritage Conference rival New Palestine, 42-22, they turned the corner quickly on the road at Yorktown — and never stopped running.
Greenfield-Central amassed 424 yards rushing on 55 carries, led by Andrew Zellers’ season-high 271 yards and four touchdowns, and thrashed the host Tigers en route to a decisive 43-7 victory.
“Our offensive line did a great job of setting the tone all night and provided multiple opportunities for our backs,” G-C head coach Travis Nolting said. “Jake Skinner, Reece Hill, Brayden Flener, Conner Dotson, Larry Bellows, Trenton Bailey and Lane Wadle, all did a tremendous job of controlling the line of scrimmage and opening holes all night.”
Zellers took advantage after missing last week due to COVID-19 contact-tracing quarantine.
The junior’s number was called 29 times, and he responded by averaging 9.3 yards per carry while easily running away from the Tigers’ defense. His longest run measured 71 yards.
Zellers currently ranks second in the HHC in rushing with 717 yards overall at 134.1 per game. New Palestine’s Grayson Thomas leads the conference with 939 yards, but Zellers has only competed in five games compared to seven for the Dragons’ leading rusher.
He missed the season opener against Plainfield on Aug. 20, and the New Palestine game on Sept. 24, due to contact-tracing quarantine, but on Friday, he didn’t miss a single gap.
Neither did his backfield cohorts.
Junior Brayden Herrell rushed for 76 yards on 11 carries, while quarterback Rashawn Street, a senior, had 70 yards and a rushing touchdown.
The Cougars (4-3, 2-2 HHC) averaged 7.7 yards per carry on 55 rush attempts in total against the Tigers (4-3, 2-3 HHC).
Greenfield-Central built a quick 7-0 lead after the first quarter and pulled ahead 29-0 by halftime before the Tigers could answer in the second half.
Two more touchdowns in the second half secured Greenfield-Central’s third win in four weeks.
The Cougars’ offense generated 492 yards of total offense with Street completing 3 of 5 pass attempts for 68 yards and a touchdown to Herrell, who hauled in the score from 20 yards out.
Herrell ranks third in the HHC in rushing yardage at 532, averaging 76.0 per game and 7.1 per carry.
Street made his second start at quarterback for the Cougars after taking over for injured signal-caller Brody Mayberry three weeks ago, and he’s proved to be a dual-threat for the surging program.
“It feels good to get a great total team win,” Nolting said. “We look forward to testing ourselves again this week against a very good Delta team.”
The Cougars will host Delta (4-3, 1-3 HHC) this Friday at 7:30 p.m., and if the defense replicates its dominance against Yorktown, it could spell Greenfield-Central’s third home win in six to date this season.
“The defense stepped up in a big way, holding Yorktown to only one score and forcing multiple turnovers and three-and-outs,” Nolting said. “Seniors Spencer Johnson, Brady Durnell and Dewey Woolsey did a nice job of controlling the Yorktown ground game from their linebacker positions.”
The Tigers were limited to 12 rushing yards and 227 yards passing from quarterback Mason Moulton, who was picked off four times.
Cougars’ junior Brad Allen led the defense with eight total tackles, followed by five from Woolsey and Johnson. Allen also had three tackles for a loss and two sacks. Woolsey and Johnson each had one sack apiece.
Owen Anderson, Johnson and Hudson Mcguire were credited with interceptions.
