Class 4A No. 5 East Central captured its 20th football sectional championship Friday with a 37-7 victory over Martinsville in St. Leon.
The Trojans scored on the first drive of the game, going 74 yards capped off by an 8-yard touchdown pass from Cole Burton to Eli Aston. Sophie Browndyke’s extra point put EC on top 7-0.
Martinsville, playing without starting quarterback Tyler Adkins, gambled on fourth down deep in its own territory during the Artesians first possession. They were stopped short of the line to gain and turned the ball back over to East Central on the 27.
On the very next play, Burton connected with Aston in the end zone again. A Browndyke PAT followed to make it 14-0 Trojans with 4:51 to play in the first quarter.
The EC defense quickly forced the out-of-sync Martinsville offense to punt, and the Trojans had the ball back on their own 45. EC scored quickly on three runs by Josh Ringer. His third carry went 41 yards to pay dirt. It was 21-0 late in the first quarter following another Browndyke boot.
Neither team put any points on the board in the second quarter, so the halftime score remained 21-0 Trojans. However, on East Central’s first possession of the second half the Trojans put together a 81-yard drive which ended on a 12-yard touchdown run by Eli Aston off a reverse. Browndyke’s point-after put EC up 28-0 with 3:58 to play in the third.
After another Artesian punt, the next Trojan drive was prolonged on a fake punt executed by EC’s Sam Ringer who took the ball all the way to the Martinsville 10-yard line. Unfortunately, Ringer suffered a leg injury and had to be carted to the locker room. Martinsville’s defense held the Trojans out of the end zone, but a 24-yard field goal by Browndyke upped the home advantage to 31-0 with 9:38 to play in the game.
Martinsville’s offense put together its only scoring drive of the night on the next series. The 70-yard stretch was capped with a 15-yard touchdown pass from backup quarterback Trevor Hott to Garrett Skaggs. Ethan Haenlein’s extra point made it 31-7.
East Central found the end zone one last time when Trae Ohmer scampered 12 yards. While the PAT missed, it was a solid 37-7 sectional championship victory for the Trojans, their first since 2018, and first under head coach Jake Meiners.
East Central hits the road on Saturday to take on No. 8 Evansville Memorial in a 4A regional. The game will be played at Evansville Bosse at 3 pm EST (2 pm EST). You can hear all of the action on WRBI.
We thank our own Rob Moorhead for this edited report.