“Our offensive line did an absolutely great job,” said Indians coach Kurt Forrest. “(Conley) did a great job with some of the reads in the run game. Jake and Aaron physically run the ball very, very well. Our kids understand that there’s only one guy who runs the ball and there’s 10 other guys who have to block and it doesn’t matter if it’s the quarterback, wide receiver, whoever. We’re going to get hats on hats, we’re going play hard, play physical, block, tackle and take care of the football and we’ll let the score take care of the rest.”
Hurst rushed for 254 yards and three TDs, while Conley rushed for 197 yards and two TDs as the Division VI fourth-ranked Indians (7-0, 2-0 OHC North) won their 13th straight regular-season game.
“It’s a good win,” Forrest said. “Northeastern is a very talented team. Coach Buchholtz has them playing hard. … That’s a team that’s competing at the top of our league right now. To end up with a score like that and run the ball as effectively as we did, I think that’s a big statement.”
Northeastern junior quarterback Cade Houseman threw a TD pass to junior Dylan Haggy for the Jets’ lone score. Northeastern (4-3, 1-1 OHC North) drove deep into Mechanicsburg territory multiple times, but were unable to put any more points on the board.
“We can play that way against certain teams and have success,” Buchholtz said, “but you’re not going to play close with Mechanicsburg. You have to be perfect. I thought we had good first and second downs, but defensively, we couldn’t get over that third down hump. We didn’t make the plays that we needed to make to beat a really good football team.”
Hurst scored on a 5-yard run on the Indians second possession to give them an early 7-0 lead. The Jets responded with a 15-yard TD pass to Haggy to tie the score.
On the next play from scrimmage, Hurst scored on a 72-yard TD run to give the Indians the lead for good. He praised his offensive line for giving him plenty of space to work.
“We’re super strong up front,” said Hurst, who was selected Homecoming King before the game. “They might not be the biggest guys, but they move their feet and they’re strong.”
With two minutes remaining in the first half, Houseman intercepted Conley at midfield. The Jets drove inside the Indians 20, but were stopped on fourth down.
“It was big because we wanted something to carry into halftime,” Buchholtz said. “It was one of those things where we had it in field goal range, but got bumped out just enough that we weren’t confident with it. When you play really good football teams, you have to play really good football. I thought we showed sparks of that tonight and did a lot of things well, but at the end of the day, we just didn’t make those plays we needed to make to turn the tide a little bit.”
After stopping Northeastern on its first possession of the second half, Conley scored on a 60-yard run to make it 21-14. Hurst followed with a 61-yard TD run and Conley broke free for 56-yard TD run in the fourth quarter to seal the victory.
“The running game was phenomenal,” Conley said. “Our guys got key blocks when they were supposed to.”
The Jets host West Liberty-Salem (1-5, 0-2 OHC North), which fell to West Jefferson 42-28 on Friday night.
Mechanicsburg travels to Fairbanks (5-2, 2-0 OHC North) for a battle of unbeaten OHC North squads next week. The Panthers last beat the Indians in 2018. Mechanicsburg beat Fairbanks 52-0 in 2019 and 62-14 last season.
“Every night in the OHC North, you better come with it,” Forrest said. “(Fairbanks) is a physical football team. They’ve got two very good running backs and they’re playing very well defensively. It’s going to be another fistfight. We’ll be there at 7 o’clock sharp.”
About the Author