North Judson advances to first state final since 1986
1A No. 1 North Judson 46, South Adams 0
By Paul Honeycutt
NORTH JUDSON — Kole Wilcox’s name has been paired with the word touchdown a ton this year.
Despite how many times it has been called, 41 to be exact coming into Friday’s Class 1A Northern Semistate against South Adams, he didn’t think his first one of this night would be called for a defensive score.
It came at the tail end of a 24-point second-quarter onslaught that lifted 1A No. 1 North Judson to a 46-0 defeat of South Adams.
“I wouldn’t have thought it would’ve happened like that,” said Wilcox of his defensive score.
Wilcox did eventually score three more times on his way to 193 rushing yards on 21 carries.
The Bluejays (14-0) will face No. 3 Providence (13-0) in next Saturday’s 1A state final at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis with kickoff slated for 11 a.m. Eastern/10 a.m. Central.
Providence defeated No. 6 South Putnam (11-3) by a 35-30 final.
Friday night marked North Judson’s fourth straight semistate appearance, with its last win coming in 1986 under the legendary Russ Radtke.
“This is the best team we’ve had, there’s no doubt about it, and I felt like we could win the north and we just did,” North Judson 2000 alumnus and current head coach Brett Lambert said. “I’m a North Judson grad and a lot of the coaching staff is, too, so to get here is just unbelievable.”
“A lot of great coaches have come through here. Russ Radtke was the coach who got us to state three times and a lot of the work that Kevin Cox, Gary Cox, Ted White, and now with the staff that I have, it’s a great group of guys and it just means the world to everyone,” Lambert added.
Neither team scored in the first quarter and nearly all of the second quarter until Bluejays senior fullback Brock Benson rumbled one in for a 5-yard score with 4:50 left in the first half.
“We’re not a one-man team or don’t have just a couple guys,” said Benson, who rushed for 96 yards on 21 carries and his 20th touchdown of the year. “All of our guys are good from our running backs to our wide receivers because we’re well-disciplined.”
On the ensuing possession for the pass-happy Starfires (8-6), junior quarterback Tytus Lehman was picked off by North Judson senior defensive back Trey McGowen, who returned it all the way to the South Adams 5.
Two plays later, North Judson senior quarterback Jesiah McDaniel ran one in from 2 yards for his 21st touchdown of the season.
Things went from bad to worse for South Adams after it fumbled the ball on its next possession, which led to a Wilcox scoop and score from 40 yards for his first TD of the night.
Wilcox, who was sixth in the country in scoring entering this week, would score three more in the more traditional way via rushing scores of 8, 7, and 39 yards, respectively, all in the second half.
“Our backfield is a weapon with Brock, who can run it for five yards every time and Jesiah, that can pull and run forever and Grason McDaniel, who blocks and runs really well, but it all starts with the offensive line,” said Wilcox. “We wouldn’t be able to rush for 1,000 yards without them pushing for us.”
The Bluejays recorded three sacks on the night, with junior defensive lineman CJ Sanchez notching two of those.
One came on a third down and the other came on a crucial fourth down.
“We have a really good defense and all get to the ball,” said Sanchez. “I kept pushing through and never let down.”
North Judson, who held South Adams to just 109 total yards, also picked off Lehman two more times, with one coming from senior defensive tackle Cole Kozecar.
That one came at the 4:37 mark of the third quarter when he took the ball out of the air after Lehman tried to dump it off to Will Patterson.
“Their defense was stifling us and we weren’t blocking very well, so the pressure we got was awesome,” said Lambert. “Sanchez, Kozecar, those guys are men out there.”
Benson said the Bluejays will remain disciplined to achieve the ultimate goal.
“We weren’t focusing on state the first game,” said Benson. “Lots of recovery and film this week and gotta keep our heads straight because we got one goal, and got our eyes on one thing and that’s a state trophy and a ring.”
North Judson 46, South Adams
South Adams; 0 0 0 0 – 0
North Judson; 0 24 14 8 – 46
NJ – Brock Benson 5 run (Kole Wilcox run), 4:50 2nd
NJ – Jesiah McDaniel 2 run (Benson run), 3:41 2nd
NJ – Wilcox 40 fumble return (Wilcox run), 2:09 2nd
NJ – Wilcox 8 run (run failed), 5:59 3rd
NJ – Wilcox 7 run (Wilcox run), 3:19 3rd
NJ – Wilcox 39 run (Logan Pradke run), 8:04 4th
South Adams;North Judson
First Downs;7;17
Total Yards;109;321
Rushes-Yards;10-0;48-321
Passing;109;0
Comp.-Att.-Int.;10-33-3;0-2-0
Penalties-Yards;2-15;7-65
Fumbles-Lost;1-1;3-0
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING – SOUTH ADAMS, Will Patterson 4-11, Dillian Ramirez 1-4, Wes Summersett 1-0, Tytus Lehman 3-(-14). NORTH JUDSON, Kole Wilcox 21-193, Brock Benson 21-96, Grason McDaniel 2-18, Jesiah McDaniel 3-13, Javen Christensen 1-1.
PASSING – SOUTH ADAMS, Tytus Lehman 10-32-109-0-3, Derek McKean 0-1-0-0-0. NORTH JUDSON, Jesiah McDaniel 0-2-0-0-0.
RECEIVING – SOUTH ADAMS, Wes Summersett 2-49, Caiden Neuenschwander 2-23, Derek McKean 2-15, Jax Wanner 2-15, Will Patterson 2-7.