In a hard fought game, South football lost against the Castle High School Knights in the regional championship.

The game started off looking like an uphill battle for the Panthers. On the first play of the game, junior running back Ben Morrison tore his ACL. He was filling in for starting running back Gavin Adams, also a junior, who sprained his ankle in the game against Bloomington North the previous week. Junior safety Drew Crum-Hieftje luckily had gotten in some RB training the previous week at practice, so he was put in place of Morrison. Unfortunately, Crum-Hieftje was unable to make progress for the team.

By the middle of the first quarter, the Knights had scored two touchdowns, which left the Panthers struggling even more to keep their head in the game. Scrambling, fourth string running back Braylen Townsend, a freshman, was put in during the second quarter. By the half, South had caught up to Castle and they were tied 14-14. 

Third quarter hope for the Panthers was quickly shot down by penalties against them, and the team struggled to cover any ground after being pushed back up the field. Castle started to pull out new plays as well which caught South’s defense off guard. The Panthers’ defense and offense both fought to stay in the game, but the Knight’s plays and athleticism left them in the dust. 

In South’s last drive of the game, the quarterback was sacked and another penalty was piled onto them, crushing any final hope there was of the Panthers winning. The game ended with a 31-14 score, the Knights will play the Whiteland High School Warriors for semi-state on Friday, November 18th.