FB: Southmont wins outright Sagamore championship

For the first time in Southmont High School history, the Mounties earned a Sagamore Athletic Conference football championship.

Their senior quarterback finally took his moment to exhale and realize he's a part of it.

"It's a happy sigh, a sigh of relief," Petry said. "I'm on cloud nine right now. It feels so good, so good."

Southmont
rushed for a season-high 434 yards and scored a season-high six
touchdowns, including two by Petry, in a 41-13 victory over county- and
conference rival Crawfordsville.

Southmont (7-2, 6-1 SAC)
clinched the conference title, winning its final regular-season game to
secure the championship outright.

It's the Mounties' first title
since joining the Sagamore Athletic Conference in 1985. They also
ensured that there will be no county champion this season and also
guaranteed their first winning season since 2003.

With less
than three minutes remaining, fans unrolled a 2009 Sagamore Athletic
Conference champions banner on the fence in front of the Southmont
bleachers.

A few minutes later, players dumped a bucket of ice water all over Hannum.

They
whooped and hollered on the field before receiving "2009 Sagamore
Athletic Conference champion" T-shirts. Then, they waved them around in
jubilation.

And, rightfully so.

Four years ago, the Mounties didn't win a game. In 2006 and 2007, they won just one each year.

Now,
under third-year coach Desson Hannum, they've reached an Indiana High
School Athletic Association sectional championship game (2008) and
earned a Sagamore Athletic Conference title (2009).

"We wanted
to come out here and be focused and finish this," Hannum said. "The
kids deserve this. You could just tell they wanted to win the outright
championship."

Southmont has won six straight games, something the Mounties haven't done in nearly 30 years when they finished 10-0 in 1981.

This victory came by bulldozing the Athenians (1-8, 1-6 SAC) on the ground.

By
halftime, Southmont had built a 21-0 lead and four players had rushed
for a combined 253 yards. Meanwhile, its defense had limited
Crawfordsville to just 33 total yards (including only five on the
ground).

"We played well, getting the stop on the first
possession and then scoring immediately," Hannum said. "We jumped out
to 14-0, 21-0 leads."

Junior running backs Micah Hatch (16
rushes, 120 yards, three TD's) and Brayden McKinney (six carries, 119
yards, one TD) finished the game with more than 100 yards each.

Petry
(nine carries, 86 yards, one rushing TD) and senior Tanner Hill (10
carries, 80 yards, one receiving TD) had 80 yards or more.

McKinney
filled in for injured starter and senior Jordan Burkett (ankle), and
showed his double-digit average per carry is no fluke. Three of his six
carries went for 30 or more yards.

"We've got at least five
guys who can run the ball," Hill said. "[Opponents] don't know who to
cover and covering five guys is hard to do."

Southmont also kept
Crawfordsville senior running back Craig Fairley bottled up for
two-and-a-half quarters. He had just 16 carries for 37 yards before
leading the Athenians on two late scoring drives. He finished with 186
yards on 21 carries.

Only a week after upsetting Class 3A No.
12 and county- and conference rival North Montgomery, Crawfordsville
suffered a pounding.

They Athenians had already been hit hard with the flu during the week and had plenty of players missing from practice.

Then, the Mounties rolled over them on the field.

"They
just exploited everything. They did a great job," first-year Athenians'
coach Sean Gerold said. "It's tough. We had a pretty bad week of
practice. It stinks."

Now, Crawfordsville gets the reward of traveling to Class 3A No. 1 Bishop Chatard for its first-round IHSAA sectional game.

"It'll
be a challenge to keep everything up. We'll see how it goes," Gerold
said. "I told the guys I want to play with guys who just want to go out
and play football."

Southmont will head to West Vigo.

And the Mounties will be full of confidence and excitement.