Center Grove had never started a season with three consecutive losses in Eric Moore’s first 19 years.
His 20th team clearly didn’t want to be remembered as the first to do so.
Charlie Ogega had a pair of big plays and the Trojans’ defense suffocated Class 6A No. 3 Carmel for most of the night on the way to a much-needed 17-7 victory on Friday.
“There’s just something about the mojo here,” Center Grove coach Eric Moore said. “We just caught fire and had a great game.
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“When you don’t shoot yourself in the foot and make mistakes, good things can happen.”
The Trojans (1-2) went 92 yards for a score on their opening possession. Carson Steele converted a pair of third downs, one on a short pass from Jackson Moore, to set up a 53-yard touchdown run by Ogega at the 4:44 mark of the opening quarter.
Luke Eckert converted a 31-yard field goal in the opening minute of the second quarter to stretch the Center Grove lead to 10-0.
Costly penalties had hurt the Trojans in their two season-opening defeats against Warren Central and New Palestine, but on Friday it was the Greyhounds (2-1) derailing themselves with infractions. Carmel had three first downs negated by flags during the first half, as well as a lengthy punt return that would have set the visitors up near midfield.
The lone drive that the Greyhounds were able to sustain before halftime ended when Center Grove safety Chris Martin intercepted a pass at the 9-yard line with 1:26 to go.
Ogega got the Trojans’ third quarter off to a good start when he returned the second-half kickoff 55 yards to the Carmel 42. That set up a methodical touchdown drive, capped off by a 1-yard Steele run that made it 17-0 with 8:36 left in the period.
“We’ve been grinding in practice, going hard,” Ogega said. “Being as a team, sticking together despite our two losses. We knew we had it in us, and we showed it tonight.”
The Greyhounds finally got on the board with 6:52 remaining on a 14-yard pass from Tyler Trent to Christian Williams, and they recovered an onside kick immediately thereafter to give themselves life. But a Brian Gaffney sack stifled the ensuing Carmel possession, and Martin broke up a fourth-down pass with 1:05 left to seal it.
“Our real focus was just to come out and play physical football,” Moore said. “We hadn’t done it yet this year.
“This team sort of learned and figured out to play football tonight, and we’re proud of them.”
The Trojans face another tough test next week when they travel to sixth-ranked Ben Davis.
