Defense, Jarrell carry Elkhart football to big NIC win over Riley

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SOUTH BEND — Travon Curry had a few relatively simple goals for his Elkhart High School football team for Friday’s nights matchup with South Bend Riley at Jackson Field.

The Elkhart head coach wanted his team to control its emotions, just play football and get on the bus at game’s end with a Northern Indiana Conference win on its record.

The Lions took care of business for their coach thanks to the work of its defense and quarterback Micah Jarrell.

The Lions defense scored on a pair of interception returns and added a safety to ignite a convincing 46-18 victory on Sept. 11.

Senior Jarrell also threw for two scores and ran for another as the Lions improved to 3-1 overall and moved to 2-0 in the NIC. Elkhart is tied atop the NIC standings with Penn, South Bend Saint Joseph and South Bend Adams as all are 2-0.

The host Wildcats, who got a pair of long touchdown runs from junior Cameron Davis, dropped to 1-3 overall and 0-2 in the NIC with their third straight loss.

“We knew this was going to be an emotional game, and we just wanted to play ball and get out of here with a win,” Curry said. “Our boys controlled themselves. They want to be celebrating now, but we just want to get out of here.”

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A big part of the emotion for the matchup stems from the fact that former Elkhart star Kros Jones is now at Riley. Linebacker Jones was an All-Stater on defense for the Lions a season ago. The senior’s father, Antwon Jones, is now the defensive coordinator for Riley after being in the same position at Elkhart last season. The elder Jones played at Notre Dame and was formerly the head coach at Washington, Adams and Niles.

Elkhart led 16-0 at halftime as the Lions scored on their first possession on a one-yard touchdown run by Cole Bell. The Lions also got a 14-yard touchdown strike from Jarrell to Ja’Mar King and a 45-yard field goal by Kamden Kemble.

The Wildcats had just two first downs in the opening half as Aaron Norton Jr., a junior defensive end, was all over the field for the Elkhart defense. Riley also had two offsides penalties on Elkhart’s first three offensive plays from scrimmage on the first possession of the flag-filled contest. Elkhart ended the game with over 100 yards in penalties.

“Aaron is a leader for us and a captain,” said Curry. “He’s my cousin and he came over to us as a freshman from Concord. He’s come out of his shell here for us.”

Cameron Davis got the Wildcats on the scoreboard just 86 seconds into the second half as the speedster went 51 yards to make it 16-6.

Elkhart answered with a safety as Riley fumbled on a running play and recovered it in their own end zone. The Lions then got a 63-yard interception return by Bell to make it 25-6.

The Wildcats got a 46-yard touchdown toss from Caius Mack to Ayden Monroe to make it 25-12. The Lions got three scores in the final period as Jarrell raced in from 29 yards out, hit Ta’Michael Brown with a 40-yard TD pass and Camryn VanDette returned an interception 91 yards with less than three minutes to play.

Davis also scored on a 69-yard run in the final quarter on a play where it appeared that he was down. The whistle never blew the play dead though and he bounced up and raced to the end zone for the score.

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“We scored on defense again, and that’s four weeks in a row,” Curry said. “We want to continue to be an attacking defense.”

Riley, which lost 39-22 to Elkhart a season ago, is going through some youthful growing pains. The Wildcats are also without senior defensive star Muri Jackson. The lineman, who was second-team All-NIC in 2025, is out with a lower leg injury with his status for the remainder of the season still to be determined according to Riley coach Darrick Lee.

The Wildcats, who finished 4-6 overall and 2-5 in the NIC a year ago, at least found some offense Friday night in the second half thanks to Davis. Riley had been outscored the previous two games 84-7 by Penn and Valparaiso.

“Elkhart earned the win tonight, but we will keep growing and I’m excited where we are at,” said coach Lee. “I have incredible kids and incredible coaches. We’ve faced the gauntlet these first few games and now we will evaluate things.

“We had some jitters at the start tonight. Every NIC game is emotional, and all of these kids know each other. We woke up a little late offensively tonight, but I was happy with Cameron. He’s explosive. He’s a track guy and was able to bust those tonight.

“I know people will look at the final score, but we were in this one. Take away the two interceptions for scores and the safety and it’s a much closer game.”

Riley will play at winless South Bend Washington Sept. 18 and at winless New Prairie Sept. 25 in NIC action. Elkhart hosts New Prairie Sept. 18 before taking on unbeatens Saint Joseph on Sept. 25 and Penn on Oct. 2 both on the road in league play.

This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: Defense, Jarrell carry Elkhart football to big NIC win over Riley