East Noble's bid for the program's second state championship came up short Saturday night, as the Knights fell 21-3 to Evansville Reitz Memorial in the 4A title game.
After a scoreless first quarter, East Noble took a 3-0 lead into the halftime break with Joe Painter's 27-yard field goal late in the 2nd quarter. That would turn out to be East Noble's lone scoring play of the afternoon.
No. 3 Evansville Memorial (13-1) would turn the offense up a notch in the second half, scoring 14 points in the 3rd quarter to completely turn the tables in the game. Evansville Memorial would add a touchdown in the 4th quarter to seal the Tigers' 2nd state title in 3 years. Evansville finished with 233 rush yards and were 2 of 3 in redzone possessions.
No. 2 East Noble's (14-1) high-potent offense struggled to move the ball against Evansville Memorial's defense. Quarterback Bailey Parker went 7-for-23 with 99 yards and 4 interceptions. He had 41 rush yards and 7 tackles on defense. Jacob VanGorder led the Knights' defensive efforts with 13 tackles and 1 sack.
Parker was named the Mental Attitude Award winner for 4A football after the game. For the season, Parker passed for 3,094 yards, 39 TD and 13 interceptions; and rushed for 1,364 yards and 18 touchdowns. On defense, he tallied 88 tackles, 1 sack and 5 interceptions.
Despite the loss in the state title game, the runner-up finish caps off an amazing 4-year run for the East Noble seniors, who finished 39-9 overall and 27-2 in the Northeast 8 Conference with 3 straight league titles.
East Noble is one of 26 schools that partners with Parkview Sports Medicine for athletic training, nutrition, sports performance training, athletic rehabilitation and other sports medicine services for Knights athletes. Learn more at parkviewsportsmedicine.com.