South overwhelms Floyd Central 55–7, advances to football semi-state at New Palestine

After back-to-back weeks with wins under two minutes, the Bloomington High School South football team stayed home for its third consecutive playoff game at Huff Field on Friday.

This time, the South faithful didn’t need to wait for its team to win the game decisively. The Panthers rolled past Floyd Central 55-7 on Friday. Bloomington South went down 7-6 with 25 seconds remaining in the first quarter, but the Panthers then rattled off 49 unanswered points to win their third consecutive regional championship.

“Really good football team, Floyd Central,” Bloomington South head coach Gabe Johnson said. “Kids were resilient. And today we just kind of came out, and I think put it on them pretty quickly.”

South maintained a balanced offensive attack throughout the game. Junior quarterback Duncan Combs finished the game 12-of-16 for 186 yards and two touchdowns. After throwing at least one interception in the past three games, Combs finished with none on Friday.

“I think it shows that when you don’t turn the ball over and you play good defense … good things happen,” Johnson said. “We’ll use that lesson for him and make sure that we kind of move forward with it.”

It was another big game for senior receiver Jalen Williams. The University of South Florida commit hauled in three passes, turning his chances with the ball into 77 yards and one touchdown.

Along with the passing game, South’s running backs bombarded the Floyd Central defense. Senior running back Braylen Townsend produced over 100 yards for a second consecutive week—Townsend finished last week’s 31-28 win over Bloomington South with 172 yards on 42 carries. Against Floyd Central he went for 110 yards and a touchdown on 14 carries.

South’s defense was able to contain Floyd Central senior running back Sebastian Robertson. He entered Friday’s contest averaging almost 150 rushing yards per game. The Panthers let Robertson run for just 116, while the Highlanders had 330 total yards.

“I stand by our defense,” Johnson said. “We allowed a 100-yard rusher one time, and so I think that we’re a tough out in the run game. We know they had good personnel, big linemen, and a really good running back, so we knew it was going to be a challenge.”

South scored the first touchdown of the game with just under three minutes remaining in the first quarter. The Panthers then got help from Floyd Central after junior Luke Jacobi muffed a punt to set South up at the opposing 32-yard line. It took eight plays, but Combs ended the drive with a 2-yard rushing touchdown, his first of the season. But South missed the point after attempt.

After South’s touchdown, it only took Floyd Central eight plays to move 80 yards down the field. Senior quarterback Jack Mull found Jacobi for 18 yards before connecting with senior wide receiver Logan Young for 15 yards.

Mull finished the drive with a 13-yard touchdown to Jacobi, which meant the Highlanders took a 7-6 lead with 25 seconds remaining in the opening quarter.

That lead didn’t last long, as senior wide receiver and kick returner Sam Giles took the ensuing kickoff 98 yards and into the end zone to put Bloomington South back on top, 13-7.

“He’s having a great senior year,” Johnson said. “What we want our seniors to do is to really play their best football in their senior year at this time of year. Sam’s one of those guys that’s doing that, so we’re really excited about that.”

The Panthers then started to pile on points in the second quarter. Bloomington South entered halftime up 34-7 after a 21-point second quarter.

The second quarter started with Combs finding Williams for a 65-yard touchdown on the first play of South’s possession, after a 3-and-out for Floyd Central. Bloomington South got the ball back again with an interception by junior linebacker Charlie Morris.

It took nine plays and 87 yards, but the Panthers were back on the scoreboard thanks to a 16-yard rushing touchdown by Townsend. The third second-quarter touchdown came with under a minute on the clock before halftime, when senior running back Shaun Cooper rumbled into the end zone from 11 yards out.

Starting the second half with the ball, South’s offense was still clicking. In just over a minute, Combs found Giles for a 38-yard receiving touchdown. Combs then connected with senior tight end Thomas Gill for a two-point conversion, which made up for the earlier missed point after attempt, which put the Panthers up 42-7.

The 35-point margin meant the rest of the game was played with a running clock. That’s a kind of mercy rule for high school football that lets the seconds tick away, even when the clock would ordinarily stop.

The running clock limited action to just four drives in the second half, two from each team. Floyd Central produced drives of seven and 71 yards, but neither of them resulted in any points on the board.

Cooper scored the last offensive touchdown for South to open up the fourth quarter, as he took a handoff from the 5-yard line into the end zone. The Panthers finished the game with a 97-yard interception returned for a touchdown by senior defensive back Gabe Taylor to win 55-7.

The Panthers will continue their pursuit for an IHSAA State Championship next Friday. South will travel to New Palestine (12-0). The Dragons advanced to the Semi-State game by defeating East Central 20-6.

“We got to work on what’s in front of us,” Johnson said. “But we know they’re very good, and we know that we think we’re very good. So we’ll put together a great game plan, and we’ll go up there and try to make it to the state finals.”