LAPEL — Week No. 6 of the high school football season was an outlier to how teams normally perform.
With weather causing cancellations throughout the state, Lapel was one of several teams who went on as scheduled with their Friday night game.
In steady rain and high winds, the Bulldogs fell 18-6 to Rushville, as the normally high-powered Lapel offense struggled to get going.
The Bulldogs came into the game averaging 34.8 points per game and had eclipsed the 40 point mark in three of their five games.
With it being difficult to move the ball in the weather, Lapel was held to just six points.
The lone touchdown came early in the third quarter on a Jack Miller 12-yard run, but with the Bulldogs already trailing 12-0, the deficit was too much to overcome.
Rushville jumped out to the early lead, scoring on the first possession of the night.
After converting on fourth down, a few plays later Rushville’s Sam Pavey found the end zone to put the Lions ahead 6-0.
With the wind affecting the ability to punt, the teams traded turnover on downs over the next few possessions until a Miller fumble gave the Lions the ball at the Bulldogs 26-yard line.
A few plays later, Rushville quarterback Nick Jarman punched in a 1-yard touchdown run.
Miller ran the ball 23 times for 86 yards and one score.
Through the air for Lapel, Devin Craig completed 13 of his 20 pass attempts for 132 yards.
Andrew Evelo caught three passes for 32 yards, Jaxson Cripe had five catches for 29 yards and Miller hauled in three passes for 32 yards.
Jayden Lindsey (13), Jack Miller (11), Karson Kinsinger (11) and Darl Gustin (10) each had double-digit tackles to lead the Lapel defense.
After back-to-back losses to drop to 4-2, Lapel will look to get back on track tomorrow at 7 p.m. when they host Class 2A No. 10 Heritage Christian.
The Eagles are 5-1 on the season and have won three straight.
They defeated Eastern Hancock 63-33 in week four, defeated 6A Southport 44-34 in week five and took down Madison 18-8 last week.
Offensively, the Eagles multi-faceted offense is led by junior Eli Nix.
The quarterback has completed 83 of his 128 pass attempts for 975 yards and 18 touchdowns and has also ran for 437 yards and eight scores.
Nix and junior running back Elijah Pimental have combined for 945 yards and 14 touchdowns on the ground so far this season.
Pimental has rushed 41 times for 508 yards and six touchdowns.
Junior Andrew Sloan leads the receivers with 37 catches for 412 yards and eight touchdowns, while Noah Dearman has caught 28 passes for 387 yards and six scores.
Lapel dropped last year’s meeting with the Eagles 29-15.
