BROWNSTOWN – With a steady rainfall and Seymour trailing, Bret Perry ran for five yards to give the Owls the lead with a minute and five seconds remaining. Once the Braves got the ball back, the Owls defense stepped up and stopped the Braves to preserve the 28-24 Jackson Bowl win on the road on Friday.

Tyson Moore, third year head coach, achieved his first Jackson Bowl win, Seymour’s first Jackson Bowl win since 2018. “It’s exciting,” Coach Tyson said in reference to winning his first Jackson Bowl. He said that there was “A lot… a lot more mental than physical,” preparation. “This has been three years coming,” he said, “thrilled” to see his seniors and the team win this game after all the preparation they put into it. 

With three minutes and eleven seconds left in the fourth quarter, the Owls received the ball with what very well could’ve been the final drive of the game. Kyle Hileman received the kick and took it out to the 41 yard line. Is it the Flash? No, it was Cam Wheeler taking the handoff and running for 18 yards. Perry found Josh Rennekamp for a 33 yard reception. “It put us in the driver seat and we were able to punch it in to finish,” Coach Moore said after the game. Perry took the snap and ran straight in for a five yard touchdown. The Owls led 27-24.  Freshman Adrian Medina’s kick was good. Seymour’s defense had to pick up the pace and hold Brownstown for 65 seconds. 

The Jackson Bowl is arguably Seymour’s’ biggest regular season game of the year. It has been a tradition since its start in 2007 with Seymour winning seven of them and Brownstown nine. With a game like this, it’s bound to involve another battle: a battle of the crowds. Chants like “Butterfingers!,” “You can’t do that!,” “We can’t hear you!,” “Take his whistle!,” and “FAB!” rang out all across Blevins Memorial Stadium. With the final snap, Perry took a knee and snapped the Braves three-game win streak against Seymour. That’s when the Seymour crowd hit Brownstown with the classic “Na na na na, na na na na, hey, hey, hey, goodbye!”

A game isn’t over until it’s over. With Seymour trailing at half 10-7, they had their hopes low. However, every coach knows how big a good halftime pep talk can be. That’s exactly what Coach Moore did. He said, “It wasn’t negative… we’ve made plays, we just haven’t made enough of them. We got to get our composure back, the game was far from over. We got to  … come out and play football the way we know we can play.” 

Seymour is coming out with a phenomenal season so far, or the second half Owls are. Seymour’s win at Brownstown was their third win by scoring in the last three minutes of the game this season. With a stat like that, Seymour might as well as call themselves the “Cardiac Kids.” After the game, the locker room received word one of their conference opponents, Columbus East, fell to Floyd Central which was wonderful news for them. That Floyd Central win meant that the Hoosier Hills Conference was in a three-way tie. Seymour, Columbus East, and Bedford North Lawrence are those teams. After Seymour faces their conference opponent next week, Jennings County, they hope that Floyd Central can take down Bedford on the road. 

Bret Perry was 75% complete on his 16 attempts for 137 yards. Kyle Hileman had five catches for 60 yards and Josh Rennekamp had three catches for 43 yards. Even though Cam Wheeler had a nice night, his brother, Nick Wheeler, led Seymour’s rushing offense with 49 yards on 10 tries. Jaylan Johnson played both sides of the ball and racked up 26 yards on one catch. He had seven total tackles, six unassisted and one assisted. Carson Darlage was 4-11 on his attempts for 39 yards on the Braves side of the ball. His main target being Quentin Tiemeyer with two catches and 28 yards. Brownstown excelled at running the ball. Having the rushing yard advantage of 249-94. Darlage was the leader with 21 carries on 121 yards. Adam Wayt followed behind on 11 tries for 49 yards.