Lightning halted the start of Friday night’s football showdown between Greenwood and Indian Creek by a little over an hour and delayed play again in the first quarter. Not much else impeded the progress of the Woodmen’s power running game.
Noah Apgar ran for 159 yards, rushing for four touchdowns and throwing for another on a halfback option, and visiting Greenwood mixed a steady diet of rushes and a sprinkling of timely pass plays to pick up a workmanlike 49-24 victory over the Braves.
Greenwood (1-1) forced a punt on the Braves’ opening drive, taking over at the Creek 49-yard line after a short punt. True to usual form, the Woodmen kept it on the ground for their first six plays, with Apgar breaking a couple of tackles on his way to a 15-yard touchdown run with 7:04 left in the first quarter.
Indian Creek (0-2) responded with a couple of runs to move the sticks before another lightning strike with 6:16 on the clock halted play. When play resumed, the Braves advanced as far as the Greenwood 35 before a bad snap killed the momentum. The Woodmen got the ball back and marched 72 yards in 11 plays, capping the drive with a 2-yard Apgar run. The senior had gained 17 yards on the previous snap, just two plays after quarterback Gavin Ruppert salvaged a busted play with a 19-yard heave to tight end Carter Campbell.
Down by two touchdowns, Indian Creek fought back with a quick 60-yard scoring drive. Aidan Neathery converted a fourth and long, hitting Sam Creek for 28 yards to the Greenwood 8, and then moved to the running back spot and scored from 7 yards out on second and goal with 5:37 left in the half to cut the deficit to 14-6.
The Braves’ momentum was short-lived, however. Apgar started up the next Woodmen possession with a 17-yard run, the first step on a 13-play, 67-yard march that ended when Apgar took a handoff on fourth and goal and lofted a 3-yard TD pass to Campbell with 1.5 seconds remaining on the clock.
Greenwood ran the ball on 28 of its 30 first-half plays, totaling 176 yards on those rushes.
On its third play after receiving the third-quarter kickoff, the Woodmen used all of those runs to set up a big pass. Ruppert went over the top for fellow senior Gavin Folco, who caught the ball in stride and took it in for a 56-yard touchdown. The Braves responded with a long TD of their own, as running back Brandon Murray pulled in a swing pass from Neathery and darted up the left sideline for a 57-yard score. The two-point try failed, leaving Indian Creek down 28-12 at the 8:09 mark of the period.
As was the case after the Braves’ first touchdown, the Woodmen didn’t take long to reclaim the momentum. Starting near midfield after a short kickoff, Greenwood needed just five plays to score, all of them coming on the ground. Fullback Alan Burnett bulled through the Indian Creek defense for his first career TD, a 24-yard run. Neathery pushed back with a 1-yard touchdown run at the other end to trim the deficit to 35-18 late in the third.
The Braves’ comeback hopes were effectively dashed when the Woodmen scored again on their next drive. Apgar finished the job, scoring on a 1-yard run with 10:54 to go in the contest. Indian Creek fumbled away a fourth-down snap on its next drive, and the visitors slammed the door shut with Apgar’s final touchdown, a 5-yard dive at the 7:46 mark.
Indian Creek backup quarterback Jackson Wise connected with Creek for a 64-yard TD pass to cap the scoring with 6:47 left.
Burnett finished with 68 yards on the ground for the Woodmen and Ruppert, who completed all three of his passes for 90 yards, rushed for 65 more. For Indian Creek, Neathery was 7 of 18 passing for 126 yards and ran for 93 more.
