Photo by TRAVIS DAVID | Sullivan's DJ Gaines follows blockers during a run in the first half of Saturday's win against Owen Valley.

FREE ACCESS TO THIS STORY COMPLIMENTS OF THE KEVIN ARNETT FAMILY AND THE NATIONAL YOUTH ADVOCATE PROGRAM

BY TRAVIS DAVID

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SULLIVAN – Constant rain and high-powered winds from remnants of Hurricane Helene swept through the area Friday causing many postponements on the gridiron. Included in those postponements was Sullivan’s contest against Western Indiana Conference rival Owen Valley.

Although weather conditons were much more calm on Saturday, the visiting Patriots were still struck by a powerful element.

The Arrows lit up the scoreboard for 28 points before the clock reached triple zeros in the opening quarter and never looked back. Sullivan put up 28 more points over the final three stanzas en route to a 56-0 shellacking over their outmatched rivals.

The win ended a four-game losing skid for the hosts, improving to 2-4 on the year while also keeping Owen Valley winless on the year (0-6).

“We needed that for sure,” Sullivan coach Mike Caton said of the win to stop the losing streak. “We had a great week of prep and the kids did a great job of coming out and executing tonight.”

Caton also mentioned he felt bad for the Patriots, who were shutout for the fourth straight game.

“Unfortunatley for them, they have a young team and they had a lot of players out tonight who we watched on film in their previous games,” the Arrows’ coach said of Owen Valley. “So we knew it could be a struggle for them against us, but you still have to go out and execute and I thought we did that tonight.”

Although the team put up a season-best 56 points – its most since a 63-20 win at South Putnam during the 2017 season – it was the defense who set the tone Saturday night.

On the Patriots’ opening possession, Sullivan senior DJ Gaines stepped in front of a third down pass for an interception. 

The turnover set the Arrows up on the Patriots’ side of the field for their first play from scrimmage. 

The offense wasted no time. 

Sophomore quarterback Paul Ridgway flipped a pass to Lloyd Hauger on a jet sweep and Hauger ran untouched for 33 yards for the early lead.

The Arrows were off to the races.

Ridgway would toss three more touchdown scores – from 66, 42, 37 and 20 yards – on his way to a career-high 290 yards passing. The talented sophomore also added a fifth touchdown with a 12-yard run after a botched snap.

Ridgway’s 37-yard score to Jackson Trimble with just over six minutes left in the first half, gave the Arrows a 42-0 lead. On the play, the 6-foot-5-inch lefty alluded a pair of defenders, flicked the toss to Trimble 15 yards down the field. Trimble finished the score by running over a defender at the 5-yard line and walked into the end zone.

Trimble added an 18-yard score from back-up quarterback Carson Granby with 65 seconds left in the third quarter. The score would be the final points of the game.

Granby also had a 65-yard catch and run in the first quarter, which gave the Arrows a commanding 28-0 lead.

Laytin Huff added a 10-yard rush for a score in the first half and Peyton Carlson returned an interception for a 43-yard score. Kaden Arnett also scored a touchdown for the Arrows – a 20-yard reception from Ridgway.

Not to be outdown was the Sullivan defense.

The Arrows recorded four passes and came away with five sacks on the night while limiting the Patriots to just 85 yards of total offense.

“Our defense set the tone tonight,” Caton said. “We came into this game at 1-4 and obviously had to get some things corrected. I think the coaches did a good job of simplifying things and on defense we made it easier for them to fly around. They did a good job on the blitz and contained other things .. they definitely did their job and made sure they got us going tonight.”

Arnett and Cam Farmer added INT’s in the win while John Taft was in on a pair of sacks while William Hollifeld and Sylis Adams was also in on a sack.

Huff finished with a game-high 87 yards on the ground. Gaines added 49 yards on the ground while Jaden Norris (36) and Lane Simmons (33) combined for 69 yards on just one tote apiece.

Arrows’ back-up place kicker Cash Murdock went a perfect 8 of 8 on point after touchdown attempts. The total was just one shy of the school record of nine set by Derek Andre and Alex Keppen.

Sullivan returns to Sportland Field on Friday, against Edgewood. The WIC contest will be the Homecoming Night for the Arrows. 

Thanks to the Kevin Arnett Family and the Indiana Chapter of the National Youth Advocate Program for the sponsorship of this story