No. 1 Miners overcome battling Wildcats

Oct. 22—South Vermillion came out Friday night determined to protect its home field against top-ranked Linton in the first round of Class 2A high school football sectional play.

And the Wildcats might have done so except for two things — a costly mistake just four plays into the game, and the fact that the visiting Miners have Hunter Gennicks.

Linton's quarterback (and safety) ran for four touchdowns and threw for another, and kept things together for his team until it finally pulled away for a 47-21 win.

"Their quarterback's a beast. They've got beasts all over the field," coach Greg Barrett of South Vermillion said after the game.

The Wildcats were beastly early, starting with a huge hit by Dallas Coleman on the game's opening kickoff.

Three Linton plays netted zero yards — but then the Wildcats fumbled the punt that followed.

"That was huge," coach Brian Oliver of the Miners said after the game. "We came out sloppy on offense, and that [recovery] gave us momentum."

An 18-yard pass, a South Vermillion penalty and a 17-yard touchdown run by Braden Walters got Linton on the board right after the recovery.

After an exchange of punts, South Vermillion drove 60 yards in 13 plays, using up more than seven minutes on the clock, and tied the score on a quarterback sneak by Dom Garzolini in the final seconds of the first quarter.

Shortly after that, however, Gennicks appeared to have had enough. He broke free for a 62-yard touchdown run midway through the second quarter, then added a 29-yard scoring run four minutes later.

He capped a 48-yard scoring drive after a failed fourth-down gamble by the Wildcats in the third quarter, scored on a 6-yard run in the final seconds of that period — after Garzolini had connected on a 46-yard touchdown pass of his own — and threw a touchdown pass in the first two minutes of the fourth quarter.

"We came out a little slow in the first half," Gennicks said after the game.

Linton's last score came from Brady Cox, who ran the ball twice after returning an interception inside the 5-yard line. South Vermillion put together one last scoring drive after that.

"It's all about surviving and moving on," Oliver said. "This wasn't one of our best games, but that's a credit to South Vermillion and the way they were battling."

Gennicks, his coach said, "Goes out there and battles on Friday, and you can tell [by several plays, one in which he dragged a half-dozen defenders 15 or 20 yards] he lives in the weight room."

"We've got to fix our passing," the quarterback said after rushing for 178 yards on 11 carries, "and that's on me."

Barrett wasn't at all displeased by the way his team had played in its last game of the season.

"[The Wildcats] did a very good job," the coach said. "We're a young team, and I'm excited about our future . . . and I can't be more proud of our seniors.

"I hope [the Miners] go win a state championship. They're what we want to be like."

Linton 7 14 13 13 — 47

South Vermillion 7 0 7 7 — 21

L — Braden Walters 17 run (Nathan Frady kick), 10:10 1st

SV — Dom Garzolini 1 run (Dominick Hanson kick), 0:32.1 1st

L — Hunter Gennicks 62 run (Frady kick), 6:42 2nd

L — Hu.Gennicks 29 run (Frady kick), 2:35 2nd

L — Hu.Gennicks 9 run (Frady kick), 6:46 3rd

SV — Dallas Coleman 46 pass from Garzolini (Hanson kick), 3:55 3rd

L — Hu.Gennicks 6 run (kick failed), 0:36.9 3rd

L — Logan Webb 8 pass from Hu.Gennicks (kick failed), 10:14 4th

L — Brady Cox 1 run (Frady kick), 8:32 4th

SV — Ryan Straw 13 pass from Garzolini (Hanson kick), 3:58 4th

L SV

First downs 18 12

Rushes-yards 37-318 30-63

Passing yards 63 162

Comp-Att-Int 7-17-0 15-28-1

Return yards 40 2

Punts-avg 3-35 4-22.8

Fumbles-lost 0-0 2-1

Penalties-yards 11-75 8-60

Individual statistics

Rushing — Linton: Hu.Gennicks 11-178, Walters 6-64, Jesse Voigtschild 5-44, Cox 6-32, Hunter Johns 7-5, Eli Scott 1-minus 4, Team 1-minus 1. SV: Dalton Payton 23-75, Gus Shryock 1-1, Coleman 1-minus 6, Garzolini 5-minus 7.

Passing — Linton: Hu.Gennicks 7-17-0, 63 yards. SV: Garzolini 15-27-1, 162; Coleman 0-1-0.

Receiving — Linton: Webb 5-45, Paul Oliver 1-18, Johns 1-0. SV: Coleman 12-122, Parker Weir 1-15, Straw 1-13, Dylan Hill 1-12.

Next — Linton (10-0) plays at North Knox or at home against Southmont next Friday. South Vermillion finished 7-3.