For the first time since 2015, the Gibson Southern Titans are Sectional champions. They defeated conference rival Heritage Hills 42-7 in the Class 3A Sectional 32 championship game on Friday.

“It feels good to get a Sectional championship,” Titans’ head coach Nick Hart said. “They performed great. I was proud of how they came out and played. They executed at a very high level.”

It appeared the Patriots made adjustments from their previous matchup against the Titans on the first drive, forcing a three and out. The Titans did not remain scoreless for long, however, scoring on a 50-yard pass from senior Brady Allen to senior receiver Brayden Malone on the second drive after a Titan defensive stop. This put the Titans up 7-0 with 7:51 remaining in the first.

The Titans defense forced another punt, giving the ball back to Allen on the 25-yard line. They drove down the length of the field into the Patriots’ territory, but faced a fourth and two. Instead of taking the field goal, Allen hit wide-open senior Rory Heltsley in the endzone for a 27-yard touchdown to extend the lead to 14-0.

The Titans defense again forced another Patriot punt, putting the Titans on their own 11-yard line. A personal foul put the Titans into a difficult third and 21. Allen again found Malone in the midfield, breaking free for a 87-yard touchdown and giving the Titans a commanding 21-0 lead. The Titans scored one more touchdown before the closure of the first with a fumble recovery from senior defensive back Peyton Rogers, making the score 28-0.

“I was super excited to get our first defensive score of the year,” Rogers said. “I think it really showed how dominant our defense was versus Heritage Hills.”

After another defensive stop, Allen and the offense took over on the 48-yard line on the first drive of the second quarter. Allen hit senior Rory Heltsley for a big pick up, leading to a 13-yard screen pass to senior Adrean Lukeman. After a facemask penalty against the Patriots, Lukeman ran into the end zone for his first score giving the Titans a 35-0 lead.

The Titans put together one more scoring drive in the second quarter, ending with a pass to Malone for his third touchdown of the game. This put the Titans up 42-0 going into the locker room.

“Malone made some huge plays on offense to help blow the game open,” Hart said.

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Malone was on a high from this contribution to the team’s success.

“It was awesome to be able to play so well in a big game for us,” Malone said. “I’m really hoping I am able to continue playing like this going into the next game.”

With a 42-point lead going into the second half, the Titans continued their streak of running clocks. With the Titans’ JV in the game, they held the Patriots to only one score from Evan Bowling in the fourth quarter. The final score was 42-7 in favor of the Titans.

As fans rushed the field to celebrate, it was announced over the speakers that Lawrenceburg defeated Brownstown 35-14, setting up a Titans versus Tigers matchup. 

“I don’t know anything about them honestly,” Hart said. “We don’t have anything particular to work on for them; we will just continue to get better and be ready to play like always.”

The Regional matchup is scheduled for Saturday at 5:00 p.m. CST in Fort Branch. It will mark the Titan’s first Regional title game since 2015 when they defeated Brownstown 56-7 on their way to the Semi-State game.

Gibson Southern 42

Heritage Hills 7

PASS

Allen: 14/18-282 yds-4 TD

RUN

Allen: 6-47 yds

Lukeman: 2-5 yds- TD

REC

Malone: 3-147 yds-3 TD

Heltsley: 8-107- TD

DEF

Rogers: FR TD

Tr. Boyd: FR