Iron Horses bounce back from early losses, now riding 3-game winning streak
The Philip Simmons High School football team didn’t push the panic button after opening the season with back-to-back losses. If the Iron Horses pushed anything, it was the fast-forward button as they began to play at a frenzied pace.
The Iron Horses made Whale Branch High School their most recent victim of the offensive frenzy on Sept. 19. The Iron Horses exploded for 36 points in the second quarter en route to a 46-14 victory in a homecoming game played at The Phil.
It was the second straight week the Iron Horses had a quarter that was a textbook case of domination. On Sept. 12, the Iron Horses led Military Magnet 43-0 after one quarter and eventually posted a 71-0 victory.
Just like that, all is better in the Iron Horse football world after dropping games to Hanahan and Lucy Beckham, surrendering a combined 75 points in the first two games.
That wasn’t what the Iron Horses worked for day after day in the summer, starting the season as the No. 7 team in Class AA.
But that hard work during the humid days is paying dividends. The Iron Horses are 3-2 at the halfway point of the season and have an open date this weekend. The Iron Horses will begin Region 6-AA action on Oct. 3 against an athletic Woodland High School team.
Coach Eric Bendig had 14 starters return from last year’s team. But the Iron Horses showed some inexperience and depth at certain positions in the early going.
“We had some inexperienced players who had not played a lot of meaningful downs,” Bendig said. “We had some guys who had never played until this year. The guys kind of weathered the storm. We built confidence off of that.”
The Iron Horses are averaging 36.6 points a game as first-year starting quarterback Hayes Goddard gains more experience, confidence, and success.
He completed 6 of 12 passes last fall and struggled with completion percentage early this season. But he has since responded in a big way. The junior had his best game of the season as he led the offense to 337 yards in total offense. Goddard completed 19 of 28 passing attempts for 251 yards and four TDs. He now has 54 completions in 111 attempts for 714 yards and nine touchdowns.
“He’s a junior,” Bendig said of Goddard. “Sometimes you get leadership from someone you might not expect because of their age. There’s leadership tied to being a quarterback, and he’s embraced it. He’s a great leader, a great kid who has seen all the hard work pay off.”
Junior Ashton Kellermann led the receivers against Whale Branch with eight receptions for 137 yards and a pair of scores. Another junior, Patrick Clark, was on the receiving end of five passes for 79 yards and two TDs.
Nate Elsey led the defense with 10 tackles, including two for a loss. Ethan Chisum was credited with seven stops.