Tigers fall to North Side in regular season finale

The Hardin County Tigers were expecting a tough matchup when they traveled to Jackson on Friday night to play the North Side Indians. North Side answered the bell and proved why they are undefeated and are currently ranked number three in the Associated Press Class 5A state poll. The Indians jumped in front by a score of 21-0 in the second quarter and held on for a 35-17 victory over the Tigers.

North Side scored the first points of the game late in the first quarter on a 7-yard touchdown pass. The Indians added another touchdown pass later in the first quarter to give them a 14-0 advantage.

The Indians added to their lead with a 72-yard run in the second quarter to extend their advantage to 21-7. However, Hardin County answered with a scoring drive on the following possession that was culminated by a 22-yard touchdown pass from Barker Burnham to Coty Eanes. Eddie Espinoza added the PAT to bring the halftime score to 21-7 in favor of the Jackson squad.

Hardin County chipped into the lead even more early in the third quarter. Espinoza connected on a field goal that cut the lead to 21-10. After North Side scored a touchdown later in the third quarter, Hardin County got their final touchdown of the night. Daniel Avilla rushed for a 3-yard score to pull the Tigers to within 11 points at 28-17.

North Side would not allow the Tigers to get any closer the rest of the way. The Indians scored one more touchdown in the final quarter to secure the victory and a perfect 10-0 regular season. Burnham completed 11-of-22 passes for 161 yards in the game.

Eanes had five receptions for 68 yards. Steven Rich had four catches for 69 yards. Avilla rushed for 51 yards on 17 carries. Rich was also the leading tackler on defense for the Tigers with 13 total stops. Josh Ivey was second with six tackles. Stephen Gobbell and Dakotah McFerson each had five total tackles in the game.

Hardin County head coach William McAdams was not shocked by how well North Side played, but he was also pleased with the effort that his team gave on Friday night. “They are a very good football team. They’ve got 27 seniors on this year’s team, and they’ve been building for this for several years now. I am proud of the effort that our guys put forth for four quarters. We showed a lot of improvement, and hopefully we’ll carry that over to next week,” said the Tiger head coach.