Payton Moore had two touchdowns and quarterback Spencer Smith added two scores and threw for a third to lead Clinton Central to a 35-14 victory over Clinton Prairie in a Hoosier Heartland Conference matchup Friday night in Jefferson.
The victory improved the Bulldogs to 2-1 overall and 1-1 in the Hoosier Heartland, while Prairie fell to 0-3 and 0-1. The win also allowed the Bulldogs to become the undisputed champions of Clinton County. Central opened the season with an 18-6 victory over Frankfort.
Moore opened the scoring on a swing pass from Smith and scampering 83 yards for the score to make it 6-0. Smith added a one-yard touchdown run to make it 13-0 before Prairie cut the margin to 13-8 at halftime when Brock Fingerle tossed a 7-yard touchdown pass to Jacob Baker and added a two-point conversion pass to Dakota Black.
Central pushed the lead back to double digits in the third quarter on a 3-yard touchdown run by Moore and a two-point conversion run by Ross Cripe.
Prairie cut the deficit to 21-14 later in the third period when FIngerle hooked up with Jacob Fullerton on a 37-yard touchdown pass.
That would be as close as the Gophers would get as Smith scored on a 5-yard touchdown run and Owen Smith returned an interception 25 yards to close out the scoring.
Sophomore Anthony Ransford led Central with 142 yards rushing on 23 carries. Moore added 32 yards rushing and caught four passes for 105 yards. Smith completed 5 of 8 passes for 143 yards while rushing for 42 yards. Cripe added 71 yards on the ground in 10 carries to go along with a team-high six tackles, a sack and an interception.
Girls’ Soccer
Frankfort won its fifth straight contest with a 3-1 victory over Southmont in a Sagamore Conference clash Tuesday night. Maria Alanis, Liz Sandoval and Nallely Alanis each tallied a goal for FHS, 5-1 overall and 2-0 in the Sagamore. Violeta Castro did a great job allowing just a goal on a breakaway in the second half.
Boys’ Soccer
Lebanon held on to defeat Frankfort 3-2 in a Sagamore Conference matchup Tuesday night in Lebanon. Roger Angeles and Manual Garcia each had a goal for the Hot Dogs, 4-4 overall and 2-1 in conference play.
Girls’ Volleyball
Frankfort rebounded from a tough loss earlier in the week to defeat West Lafayette 3-0 Thursday night at Case Arena. Chloe Roberts led FHS with eight kills, three blocks and 16 digs. Ashley Timmons added six kills and 11 digs as well as being 24 for 24 serving with a couple of aces. Riley Isgrigg had 28 assists, three aces and five kills, while Emily Michael had seven kills and Kimee Kingma chipped in with eight kills.
Boys’ Tennis
Tuesday’s Result
Frankfort 4, Southmont 1
SINGLES
Isaac Hunter (F) def. Reese Long 6-2, 6-1; Nic Kinder (F) def. Trevor McKinney 6-0, 6-0; Nolan Varner (F) def. Connor McVay 6-3, 6-4.
DOUBLES
Noah Wilder-Jimmy Ostler (F) def. Gavin Waddell-Micah Korhorn 6-1, 6-3; Luke Watson-Luke Gregg (S) def. Chase Thomas-Jesus Garcia 6-2, 4-6, 6-4.
Cross Country
The Frankfort boys’ team finished 16th out of 27 teams and the girls’ team was 22nd out of 25 teams in the Harrison Invitational on Saturday.
Top finisher for the boys was Hugo Hernandez, who placed 28th overall in a personal-record time of 17:02.
Girls’ Golf
Frankfort dropped a dual match to 15th ranked Tipton 170 to 186 Tuesday night in Tipton. Katy Benefiel led FHS with a 41 followed by Sydney Cesare with 43.
College Cross Country
Clinton Central graduate Cameron Kimmell teamed with Daniel Baker to lead the Manchester University men’s cross country team at the Hokum Karum event on August 31. The duo finished sixth with a time of 42:56.1