Bounce back. Lawrence North gets on track behind another big game from Zay Moore

INDIANAPOLIS – The Lawrence North Wildcats refused to let last week’s setback linger any longer than necessary.

Seven days after losing hold of the Metropolitan Interscholastic Conference title, the Class 6A No. 8 Wildcats (6-2, 5-1 MIC) bounced back on senior night with defense and a steady diet of running back Izayveon Moore.

Both proved vital, as the Wildcats fended off the injury-plagued, fourth-ranked 6A Center Grove Trojans (6-2, 5-2 MIC), 28-20.

“We took a tough ‘L’ last week (against Warren Central), so we had to come out and get the belt this week,” Zay Moore said. “We knew we had to prove some.”

Moore continued to confirm his status as one of the best rushers in the state. The senior finished with 230 yards on 29 carries with two rushing scores and a 34-yard receiving touchdown.

Moore’s performance netted more than a dozen rushing first downs with his longest runs measuring 37, 36, 32 and 23 yards.

Lawrence North trailed Center Grove 3-0 in the first quarter, but a 21-3 halftime lead grew to 28-3 by the third quarter before the Trojans charged back with 17 unanswered points in the second half.

Center Grove entered its MIC finale with a litany of injuries, which sidelined a few skill position players, including quarterback Oscar Sloan and receiver Drake McClurg, among others.

However, the Trojans found immediate offense from senior placekicker Dallas Cornpropst, who converted a 36-yard field goal to put the Trojans ahead 3-0.

Later, Cornpropst drilled a 39-yard field early in the fourth quarter that cut the deficit 28-13.

Backup quarterback Evan Wischmeier completed 6 of 15 passes for 76 yards and a 6-yard touchdown in the final 2:58 to Jeremiah Guidie that put the game in question, 28-20.

A 5-yard touchdown run by Jayden Biggerstaff (19 carries, 78 yards) kicked off Center Grove’s late rally in the third quarter after Lawrence North jumped in front 28-3.

Ricky Lange rushed for 94 yards on 18 carries for the Trojans.

“That’s what good teams do, and they’re a good team. That’s why I kept challenging our guys,” LN coach Patrick Mallory said. “We talked about it all week. We talked about it again before the game and at halftime. They’ve scored a heck of a lot in the second half, so we’re not coming out here to protect. We’re coming out here and trying to play our football.”

Center Grove reverted to their game after a difficult first half, as the offense netted 37 yards rushing on 19 carries (1.94 yards per carry) and 21 passing yards.

An interception snared by LN’s Karter Massey followed by three consecutive punts put the Trojans behind three possessions by halftime.

“It’s part of life,” CG coach Eric Moore remarked on his team’s injuries. “It’s just a bad second quarter, and we can never recover off that. You can’t give a team with great talent a second quarter like that and expect to pull the game out, but our kids did fight back in the end.”

The Wildcats held their ground.

Senior Amari Moore handed Lawrence North the lead 7-3 on a 16-yard option run late in the first quarter.

Zay Moore’s first touchdown run, spanning 5 yards, increased the margin, 14-3, in the second followed by an 81-yard drive capped with a 34-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Darian Prather to Moore with 34.9 seconds remaining in the half.

Moore finalized LN’s 80-yard, opening drive in the second half with a 2-yard run after posting chunk-yardage runs of 36 and 23 yards. Prather completed 11 of 25 passes for 115 yards.

“We have been a slow second-half team, so this week, we came out,” Moore said.

LN scored on three straight possessions stretching from the second quarter into the third. Then, the defense took over.

“We wanted to keep our foot on the gas, stay aggressive offensively, and stay aggressive defensively, and see what happens,” Mallory said. “You’re not going to put away good teams by a lot of points. That usually does not happen. You’ve got to be able to stand in there and take whatever’s going on, keep playing.”

While Lawrence North’s offense stalled, Center Grove scored on three consecutive drives before junior defensive back Elijah Hughes hauled in Wischmeier’s second interception.

Hughes tracked the pass attempt on fourth-and-5 with 1:33 remaining and pulled the ball at the 50-yard line, giving Lawrence North a chance to run out the clock.

“They came out strong in the second half, but we still kept our head up. We didn’t let them get to us, and we came out here and got the win,” Hughes said. “That loss last week was kind of embarrassing, to be honest. We wanted to show we could still compete with some of the top teams.”

LAWRENCE NORTH 28, CENTER GROVE 20

Center Grove (6-2, 5-2);3;0;7;10;–;20

Lawrence North (6-2, 5-1);7;14;7;0;–;28

CG – Dallas Cornpropst 36 FG, 4:09

LN – Amari Moore 16 run (Kiptyn Geier kick), 2:10

LN – Zayveon Moore 5 run (Geier kick), 3:19

LN – Zayveon Moore 34 pass from Darian Prather (Cameron Knox kick), 34.9

LN – Zayveon Moore 2 run (Knox kick), 9:07

CG – Jayden Biggerstaff 5 run (Cornpropst kick) 3:31

CG – Cornpropst 39 FG, 9:45

CG – Jeramiah Guidie 6 pass from Evan Wischmeier (Cornpropst kick), 2:58

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Bounce back. Lawrence North gets on track behind another big game from Zay Moore