KNIGHTSTOWN — To retain the Plowshare and Anvil trophy, Eastern Hancock put the hammer down.
In the rivalry matchup between Hancock County and Henry County neighbors, the Royals answered Knightstown’s early third-quarter score — its only points of the game — with 43 unanswered in a 61-6 win over the Panthers at Don Willard Field Friday.
The Royals have won eight of the last nine meetings and have a 10-6 lead in the series since the rivals began playing for the traveling trophy. Eastern Hancock won the first two meetings and Knightstown won the following five.
“It’s always huge. I told the kids I never want to put a red peg (Knightstown colors) in that thing again,” Eastern Hancock coach Pat Echeverria said. “Hopefully we can keep that going. It’s always good when something’s on the line, anything we can do to help motivate our guys to get excited. It’s a close-knit community. They know all of those guys. Anytime we can put it to them we’re excited about it.”
Senior Kain Sotelo really put it to them.
He rushed for three touchdowns and, unofficially, 231 yards on just 12 carries.
Sotelo scored on runs of 6, 7, and 79 yards. He set up his first touchdown with a 49-yard run and his second with a 54-yard jaunt.
“He’s special,” Echeverria said. “He’s a great kid, first and foremost. When your best player is your hardest worker and high character young man, you’ve got good things going your way. We were trying to not give him the ball too much tonight. We wanted to see some other people work, but when it was a little tighter than I wanted it to be we needed to feed him and get us going a little bit.”
Freshman quarterback Elijah Edon threw three touchdown passes, two to sophomore tight end Kayden Ruble and another to junior wide receiver Aaron Redmon.
Eastern Hancock punted on its first series, fumbled on its third, and scored touchdowns on the three other first-half drives.
Ruble took advantage of his 6-feet, 3-inch frame to grab the Royals first touchdown. From the Knightstown 29, Edon threw to his tall teammate in the end zone. Ruble reached above the smaller Panther defensive back to make the catch and give Eastern Hancock a 6-0 lead with 5:30 remaining in the opening period.
The Royals extended it to 12-0 on their first possession of the second quarter. Edon connected with Cameron Volz on an 18-yarder to get to the Royals 45. On the next play, Sotelo ran through and over the Knightstown defense for a 49-yard gain. Two plays later, he scored on a 6-yard run.
To wrap up the first half, the Royals had a 17-play, 64-yard scoring drive. With just 17 seconds until intermission, Edon scored on a 2-yard run. Sotelo, in at quarterback, kept the drive alive on a 9-yard keeper on 4th-and-1 from the Knightstown 14. Edon scored two plays later.
Knightstown had its first answer on the opening series of the third quarter. Gage Broady caught a 48-yard touchdown on a halfback-pass from Mason Fields to put the Panthers on the board.
It served as a reminder to the Royals there was still work to do.
Set up by a 54-yard Sotelo run, the Royals star scored on a 7-yard play. Redmon kicked the PAT for a 25-8 lead with 11:02 left in the period.
It was the first of six straight Eastern touchdowns. Sotelo followed with his longest TD of the night, then Edon connected on a 25-yarder to Redmon to give the Royals a 39-6 lead heading into the final period.
Edon and Ruble connected for the second time, a 45-yarder to open play in the final period. It also gave the Royals a 41-point lead and a running clock.
In 2013, Eastern Hancock began its stretch of eight of nine wins. It was Echeverria’s last season of his first stint as the Royals head coach. Eastern Hancock won the game 65-0.
Tonight’s win was the third straight for the Royals. The teams did not play last season due to a COVID-19 concern at Knightstown. The Panthers last win in the series came in 2018.
Eastern Hancock (3-2) plays host to Milan next week. Knightstown (0-5) has a home game against Cambridge City Lincoln.
