DANE PARSLEY TAKES CHARGE FOR RAIDERS
Fun night at Jim Ross Field on the Warren East campus.
The unbeaten Raiders needed a strong second half to knock off its longtime nemesis, Franklin-Simpson High School. And they certainly got it, winning 36-21 to earn the KHSAA Class 4A, 2nd District championship.
Sophomore quarterback Dane Parsley had a monster game for the Raiders, who are now 9-0 overall and 4-0 in district play. They’ll close the season next week against Class 6A Daviess County.
Franklin-Simpson, which led for most of the first half, couldn’t sustain that kind of offense after halftime and dropped to 6-3 overall and 3-1 in district play. The Wildcats are a tough, physical team, and they’ll be a tough out in the KHSAA Class 4A playoffs.
In fact, I wouldn’t be all that surprised if Warren East and Franklin-Simpson played again, in the KHSAA Class 4A quarterfinals.
Parsley was particularly effective running the football and had several big plays in the second half. The 6-foot-2, 185-pound sophomore gave the Raiders their first lead of the game on a 14-yard touchdown run with 6:53 left in the game. Parsley added a two-point conversion and Warren East had a 29-21 lead.
Veteran Warren East coach Jeff Griffith was nothing short of thrilled when it was over.
“When you lost 10 straight to the same team, it isn’t a monkey on your back,” Griffith said. “It was a 10,000-pound gorilla … It takes a lot of pressure off these kids. We’ve kind of been building toward this game for a while.
“We knew it would be the way. A tough, physical game. Our defense played extremely well in the second half. Dane had another great game. It was a complete team effort.”
My story will run in the morning.
IN THE FINAL MOMENTS OF THE FIRST HALF.
