The Miners played their best game of the season when it counted in the semifinal of Class 2A Sectional 40. They responded time after time when it looked like the Marksmen would take control but went on to win 54-37.

It's the type of game Coach Brian Oliver knew his team was capable of even though it had struggled throughout the year with inexperience and entered the sectional semifinal with a 2-8 record. Tell City was 7-3.

“We were the underdogs because of the records. We knew everyone was looking at that,” Oliver said.

“We knew all year this is what this time of year is all about. We’ve been looking forward to this, we just came out and we handled it well. We could have, in a few different moments throughout the game, just pulled it back and laid down. But they didn’t. Every single time we responded to everything they did.”

The victory propels Linton into the Sectional 40 championship game at No. 9-ranked North Posey on Friday, Nov. 6 at 7:30 p.m. ET.

Linton’s running game kept Tell City off balance. Tate Gamble had 181 yards on 19 carriers and four touchdowns, and Coltyn Andrews had 98 yards on 15 carries. He had two touchdowns.

junior tate gamble led the miners with four touchdowns. photo courtesy of conartist creative media.

Quarterback Espn Graves had six carries for 50 yards, and Braxton Moore had 40 yards on seven carries.

All four players will be back for the Miners next season.

Oliver said the second half of the season the Miners started showing signs of running the ball better, and in the sectional that success has exploded.

“Earlier in the year we were trying to work on some different schemes a little bit, and then we moved back to this (current scheme),” Oliver said.

“We’ve got some good athletes. You have Tate and Coltyn out there that can do a lot of good things, and you got a young freshman in Braxton (Moore) who is a power guy inside. You don’t see many 220-pound freshmen that can battle like that.”

Oliver added that Linton’s rushing attack kept the Marksmen off-balance.

“That’s huge for us. You just can’t focus on one of our guys. We’ve never really been a one-man show, and that's really been beneficial for us.”

A crucial part of the game came to start the second half. The Miners took a 32-21 lead into halftime and stopped Tell City on a scoring drive as time expired.

linton sophomore coltyn andrews had two touchdowns friday night against tell city. photo courtesy of conartist creative media.

Linton got the ball to start the second half, but the Marksmen recovered an onside kick at the Linton 44.

Tell City then scored on an eight-play drive capped off by a run from Brandon Casebolt and the Marksmen executed the two-point conversion to cut the deficit to 32-29 with 9 minutes, and 6 seconds left in the third quarter.

“That was huge for them,” Oliver said of the onside kick. “We had the feeling they were going to do that, and we tried to adjust. I put a couple guys in a position that didn’t help make them successful and that was on me,” Oliver explained.

“But we did talk about it and told them to be ready to react.”

The Miners responded to the adversity with an eight-play drive that resulted in a 15-yard touchdown run by Gamble with 9:17 left in the third. The two-point conversion failed, but the Miners upped their lead to 38-29.

“I kept reminding the boys they were still in this game and we’re still up. It’s OK. We get the ball. Stuff like that happens and we have to right the ship,” Oliver stressed.

“We got the ball and we had a long drive that got points on the board. That was big. It’s like hey maybe we could do this. We were still in a good position after (the onside kick).”

Oliver liked what he saw from his players following the adversity early in the third.

“Right there at that moment in time, I mean, hey they could have said it’s kind of the same thing (as what happened most of the regular season). Coming out of the half we could have put them away,” Oliver said.

“They could have changed their body language (from being up at halftime) but they didn't. They’re like alright, let’s go back to work. They sucked it up and they went out there and started doing their jobs even better.”

Linton added two fourth-quarter touchdowns (1-yard and 4-yard runs by Gamble) and two, two-point conversions to seal the victory. On both drives, the Miners were able to take a lot of time off the clock.

linton junior renn cottingham had one touchdown. photo courtesy of conartist creative media.

Oliver said not giving Tell City enough offensive possessions down the stretch was important.

He also noted that completing six of seven two-point conversions after touchdowns was a huge factor in the game. That was the same as scoring an extra touchdown.

“Those two-point conversions were big. I would like to have a kicker to go out there and kick all the time, but we don't. So, we focus on some of our two-point conversions. We were able to get those and when you get a couple of those down the road throughout the game, that adds into another score,” Oliver said.

“That allowed us to build a three-score lead and so those are really beneficial. We were fortunate to execute those and get our separation at that point.”

The Miners didn’t turn the ball over against Tell City.

“Us not turning the ball over is big. You can’t do that in the tournament and win,” Oliver said.

Oliver knows what the Miners face in the sectional championship game. North Posey’s only loss was 49-10 to Heritage Hills, and the Patriots (9-2) will face Evansville Harrison in the Class 4A Sectional 24 title game Friday.

“(The Miners will) have the weekend to rest and then on Monday we’ll all come back down to earth when we start watching film,” Oliver said. “Game film is a great learning tool for the kids. We will tell them we know what we’re doing well, but we’re still making these mistakes. Then we start showing the film of North Posey and showing things they do well.”

Oliver said his players have never lost sight of the ultimate goal during the tough regular season — winning a sectional championship. Now they have the opportunity.

“It’s back to work and remind them what our goals are and what we have to do every single day. We will make sure they stay focused because, yeah, you want to have a good time because not that many teams are still playing in November. We’re one of the few and that allows us to be able to go out there and reach our goal.”

Gamble led the Linton defense with 15 total tackles (4 solo, 11 assists), Andrews had 11 (5 solo, 6 assists), Harrison James added 10 (4 solo, 6 assists), and Stephen Boulanger had nine (4, solo, 5 assists).

Tyler Franklin, Clark Stanton, and Gamble all had a tackle for loss for the Miners.