Team

Warren Harding

Record	Div.	Conf.
2/7	Div. I	All-American Conference Gold Tier

Team

Howland

Record	Div.	Conf.
6/4	Div. III	All-American Conference Red Tier

By Ryan Buck

sports@vindy.com

HOWLAND

After falling behind 7-0 early in their crosstown showdown with Howland on Friday night, the Warren Harding football team scored 41 unanswered points in an authoritative 41-7 road victory. With the win, the Raiders also clinched a spot in the Division II playoffs.

Harding all-purpose back extraordinaire Lynn Bowden carried the football 20 times for 239 yards and once again brought the fans to their feet with highlight-reel runs. He scored three touchdowns on runs of 34, 53 and 28 yards.

Backfield mate Keemari Murry more than held his own as he carried the football 17 times for 100 yards, eclipsing the 1,000-yard mark for the third consecutive season. The senior is the first player in the school’s luminous history to accomplish the feat.

“I just needed 63 more yards,” Murry said. “We really needed [this win]. Being a good player, myself, and doing it for the team, accomplishing that goal really helped a lot.”

After forcing the Raiders to punt on the game’s opening possession, the Tigers executed their between-the-tackles running game to perfection. Running back Tyriq Ellis carried eight times for 51 yards behind lead blocker Tommy Carnifax and an undersized, but precise, offensive line.

On the 10th play of the drive, Ellis scored from five yards out to give the Tigers a 7-0 lead with 5:18 left in the first quarter.

The Tigers’ defense again stymied Harding as a Bowden pass fell incomplete on fourth down at the Howland 21.

Two plays later Howland quarterback Jake Lester fumbled at his own 34, where Raiders lineman Devin Starr recovered.

It didn’t take Bowden long to answer. On the next play, the junior broke loose for a touchdown run. A missed extra point left Harding down 7-6.

With Carnifax’s night — and decorated career — ended by injury, Ellis and the Tigers’ power-run game stalled.

They gained just 35 more yards from scrimmage for the rest of the evening.

“They’re dangerous,” Howland coach Dominic Mendendez said of Harding. “You get to be as thin as we became tonight [due to injuries], especially on defense — I looked out on defense and saw three guys out there who started the year out there for us. The kids played hard and I’m proud of them and love them for that.

“[Harding has] got some guys, man, that can go.”

Early in the second, Bowden faked a handoff to Murry and raced up the middle of the field for 53 yards and the Raiders had a 14-7 lead after he called his own number on the conversion attempt.

After the Raiders’ defense — which admittedly had been a concern for much of the season — stopped Howland at midfield at the outset of the third quarter, the offense went right back to work. Bowden broke loose for 26 yards into Tiger territory before scoring on the next play from 29 yards.

“It’s become the norm,” Harding coach Steve Arnold said of Bowden’s performance. “He does some things that make you take notice of how special he is. He elevates our guys and our defense.”

Murry scored on runs of 27 and five yards to cap his final regular season for Harding and Isaiah Wells scored on a five-yard run in the fourth quarter.

Carnifax will graduate high school early as he is off to play football for Northwestern.

As of publication, Harding was seeded seventh in Division II, Region III, and was headed for a road playoff game.