By Brad Greer
Indianola Academy showed why they are one of the top AAA teams in the state after  easing past North Delta 47-17 Friday night at Green Wave Field. The No.3 ranked Colonels broke open a 20-10 lead at halftime with a 27- point third quarter outburst. Brandon Simpson and Sebastian Harris scored two rushing touchdowns  while Mitchell Pitts added a 44- yard scoring run in the first quartet to get visitors on the board.

Indianola ran its record to 6-0 and 3-0 in district play while North Delta fell to 2-1 in district and 4-2 overall.
North Delta, who out-gain Indianola 351-327 in total yardage, took a early 3-0 lead on Hudson Parnell’s 34-yard field goal with 8:32 left in the first quarter. A 50- yard pass completion from Will Kidder to Michael Prine keyed the eight-play drive.

Indianola answered with consecutive scoring drives of 63 and 50 yards to take a 14-3 lead after one quarter of play. The Colonels relied on a powerful ground game by rushing the ball 12 of the 13 plays in the opening period.

North Delta closed the margin to 14-10 as the second quarter got underway as Kidder completed a 14 play; 80 yard drive with a two yard scoring run on fourth down. The Green Wave converted two fourth down conversions to keep the drive alive.

North Delta looked to have some momentum building on the following series as Bailey Ross intercepted a Taylor Robertson pass and returned it to the Colonel 45. The Wave marched to the Indianola two yard line but fumbled away a chance to grab the lead.

The Colonels took advantage of the miscue and ground out a 12- play; 95-yard drive to extend its margin to 20-10 on a Simpson three yard run with 2:27 remaining in the half.

  North Delta had one last shot to pull with single digits before intermission but Parnell’s 32 yard field goal came up short as time expired.

 The third quarter was all Indianola as they scored on all four possessions to put the game away. Harris scored his first of two with a 14 yard run then later added a six yard run to extend the lead to 34-10 at the 5:25 mark. Two North Delta turnovers resulted in the Colonels final two scores.

 North Delta scored its last touchdown on Cole Devazier’s 16- yard strike to Ross with 8:17  remaining in the fourth quarter. Devazier was four-of-five passing for 35 yards in the final period.

 “ We showed a lot of fight in us in the first half and made a few plays there, but their experience and physical play began to show in the second half. Tonight was a rough go at it, we were a little out matched and plus turning the ball over when we did certainly did not help the cause any. The guys played hard and we had a couple of key injuries really limited what we could do and so we just have to pick our heads up and get ready for another tough district game at Bayou Friday, “ said North Delta head coach Brandon Ciaramitaro.

  North Delta ran 29 times for 148 yards and completed 24 of 33 passes for 207 yards. Kidder was 19-of-28 through the air for 172 yards and one interception to go with 16 carries for 81 yards. Hunter Baker followed in rushing with three carries for 32 yards and five tackles on defense before leaving the game in the third quarter with a ankle injury.

 Joseph Wright had five carries for 21 yards with Devazier added two carries for 10 yards. Baker West chipped in with one carry for six yards. Dennis King led North Delta with a season high eight receptions for 63 yards. Prine also had 63 yards on two catches. Kaleb Joyner followed with four catches for 33 yards. John Haga Lewis garnered four receptions for ten yards. Ross followed with three catches for 29 yards and one score. Devazier and Baker also accounted for one catch.

 Drew McCool led North Delta in tackles with ten while Tripp Savage, Ty Campbell and Ethan Calvert adding three stops each. Jonathan Wilks and Tyler Holland recorded one tackle each.