Knights take easy road to celebration

FOUNTAIN CITY, Ind. – The Northeastern High School football team won its first Tri-Eastern Conference football title after a dramatic fourth-quarter comeback in 2013.

The Knights wrapped up title No. 2 Friday night, and the victory was about as dramatic as any game gets for the Class A No. 2-ranked Knights: Tied late in the first quarter and the Knights allowed more than one touchdown.

But when Joey Claypoole connected with Tyler Sandlin to regain the lead late in the first quarter, the Knights never looked back, pulling away for an eventual 60-14 victory over Lincoln, improving to 8-0 for the first time ever and moving to 6-0 in the TEC.

With Winchester and Centerville both 5-1 and playing next week, the Knights (8-0, 6-0) clinch at least a share of the TEC. A win next Friday at Union City gives the program its first outright title ever after sharing it with Winchester in 2013.

"It's awesome. We're showing that we're improving; we're getting better as a team in the whole thing. We're not done yet, though. We definitely have a lot more that we want to do," said Claypoole, who finished with 209 yards and four touchdowns through the air plus another 91 rushing yards and one TD.

The three-year starting quarterback connected with Craig Dingwerth about 5 minutes after kickoff, Elijah Wagers ran in the 2-point conversion and the Knights led 8-0.

But Lincoln put together an impressive, 81-yard drive, spanning about 4½ minutes and finishing with a 2-yard touchdown run by Kyler Baker and a 2-point connection between quarterback Ben Singer and Chase Southerland.

Claypoole connected with Sandlin on a 19-yard touchdown with 1:13 left in the quarter, and the Knights scored three more times in the second quarter to take a 40-8 lead.

Dingwerth caught an 18-yard score, Sandlin ran for a 29-yard TD and Claypoole broke free for a 40-yard run to paydirt with about 10.5 seconds left in the half.

"There was no drama to this one. It was over early, but that's just thanks to our kids. We're just blessed with such phenomenal athletes," Northeastern coach Mike Roeder said. " ... I mean, we've got some unbelievable athletes, and teams know that. It's just so fun to just send the play in and see what's going to happen. The kids we have, we're pretty dangerous and can score on any play. It's all them. We're really lucky as a coaching staff to have these kids, particularly the seniors tonight."

Cole Morrison caught a 14-yard touchdown in the third quarter, Wagers scored on a 5-yard run 6 seconds into the fourth and Connor Bray punched the ball in from 2 yards out late in the fourth quarter.

"It means everything," said Sandlin, who finished with 80 rushing yards and 24 receiving. "We're going step-by-step: TEC first, then sectionals, then we're going regionals and then hopefully all the way to state."

Dingwerth had four catches for 109 yards, Ryan Hartmann had 76 yards on seven carries and a pair of catches for 59 yards, and Morrison had two catches for 27 yards.

Cole Retter had four carries for 56 yards, Wagers four for 27 yards, Josh Tudor two for 19, Hughes two for 7 and Bray two for 4, as the Knights had close to 600 yards of total offense.

Baker scored a second touchdown for Lincoln (2-6, 1-5) in the fourth and finished with 95 yards on 22 carries, while quarterback Singer had 70 yards on eight carries and threw for 68 on four completions.

Northeastern's leading rusher, Kelsy Kirkland, was out nursing an injury, but was inserted early in the fourth quarter, then removed along with the seniors as the Knights celebrated Senior Night.

"I was just going in there, coming out with all my brothers," Kirkland said. "We've been together since we were little and growing up together like best friends."

KNIGHTS 60, GOLDEN EAGLES 14

First Quarter

NE- Dingwerth, Craig 36 pass from Claypoole, Joey, 7:44 (Wagers, Elijah run)

LIN- Baker, Kyler 2 run, 3:20 (Southerland, Chase pass from Singer, Ben)

NE- Sandlin, Tyler 19 pass from Claypoole, 1:13 (Wagers run)

Second Quarter

NE- Dingwerth 18 pass from Claypoole, 8:33 (Hughes, Alec pass from Claypoole)

NE- Sandlin 29 run, 4:10 (Sandlin pass from Claypoole

NE- Claypoole 40 run, :10.5 (Sandlin run)

Third Quarter

NE- Morrison, Cole 14 pass from Claypoole, , 4:11 (Dill, Garrett kick)

Fourth Quarter

NE- Wagers 5 run, 11:54 (kick blocked)

LIN- Baker 6 run, 8:08 (pass failed)

NE- Bray, Connor 2 run, 4:41 (Dill kick)

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING- LIN: Baker 22-95; Singer 8-70; Cornett, Lucian 2- (-4), Isaacs, Dylan 2- (-8). NE: Claypoole 5-91; Hartmann, Ryan 7-76; Wagers 4-27; Sandlin 3-80; Tudor, Josh 2-19; Hughes 2-7; Retter, Cole 4-56, Bray 2-4.

PASSING- LIN: Singer 4-7-68-0; NE: Claypoole 10-18-209-4.

RECEIVING-LIN: Black, Justin 1-13; Drew, Brock 1-39; Southerland 1-5; Cornett 1-9. NE: Dingwerth 4-109; Sandlin 2-24; Morrison 2-27; Hartmann 2-59.