GREENSBURG
The second time wasn’t the charm for Edinburgh’s football team.
After losing at North Decatur in Week 2 of the regular season, the Lancers came up short at Ed Kaelin Field on Friday 40-0 in first-round sectional action.
Limited to 102 yards of total offense, Edinburgh ends its season with a 3-7 record.
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In all, 15 Lancers seniors played their final high school game.
“I’m sorry to lose a great group of seniors. We’ve got a large part of our team leaving,” Edinburgh coach Derrick Ball said. “You’ve just got to build from within. There’s no other option than to recruit the hallways, work hard in the weightroom and in the offseason.
“Obviously, there’s always room to grow. But I am proud of the strides that we made this season.”
The Chargers (6-4) move on to the semifinals of Class A’s Sectional 59. They will host fourth-ranked West Washington (10-0) next Friday.
North Decatur produced 303 rushing yards. The Chargers were led by Cory Fasbinder’s 151 yards and two scores, while sophomore Ethan Herbert tacked on 92 yards and two touchdowns.
Junior quarterback Evan Smith did his part, completing 10 of 16 pass attempts for 128 yards and touchdown tosses to Fasbinder and senior Kyle Kramer.
North Decatur dominated the first half, opening up a 28-0 lead at intermission thanks to a sizable advantage in total yardage (280-72).
One of only three seniors on the Chargers’ 35-man roster, Fasbinder’s first touchdown scamper of 50 yards was a designed play.
His second, an 82-yard zigzag toward the Lancers end zone, wasn’t.
Pinned deep in its own territory after jumping out to a 22-0 lead, North Decatur lined up to punt when the 5-foot-7 Fasfinder had to leap in order to catch the high snap from center.
With Edinburgh lineman bearing down on him, Fasbinder ran left, tightroped the sideline to his own 25 and then cut back to the right and was gone.
Twice the Lancers’ offense ventured into Chargers’ territory in the first half.
Facing fourth-and-9 at the North Decatur 41 early in the second, Edinburgh rolled the dice. However, an option pitch from Zach Murphy to Jacob Atha was stuffed for no gain.
Midway through the second, the Lancers got to the home team’s 39 before a penalty forced them to punt the football.
After forcing Edinburgh to punt on its first series, North Decatur proceeded to march 78 yards in nine plays. Herbert capped it with a 1-yard touchdown run with 6:20 remaining in the opening quarter.
“North Decatur played a good game, but when we bust off a 60-yard run and have it called back for holding, that really just kills drives,” Ball said.
“A lot of times we help our opponents beat us. We have flashes of greatness and then a mental mistake or penalty gets in the way, and it costs us severely.”
