BROWNSBURG
Precipitation wasn’t a concern on Saturday as Greenwood Christian Academy unveiled the first football team in school history.
Andre Dobson still found himself soaked to the skin.
The 17 players responsible for a 46-12 victory over Brownsburg’s C team at Roark Stadium couldn’t wait to give their coach the postgame water cooler treatment.
An impressive demonstration of teamwork was required to pull it off, though that went along with the theme of the day as GCA dominated the two nine-minute quarters making up the first half.
The second half wasn’t played due to lightning in the area. Furthermore, the 34-point discrepancy was only a point shy of the required implementation of a running clock.
It was still enough of a sample size for Dobson to be encouraged.
“We’re just excited to get one game under our belt and to be able to learn from this experience,” Dobson said. “We appreciate Brownsburg. What a great program. What an unbelievable facility.
“The first thing that comes to my mind is just the learning points. When we did mess up, we talked to them, and then they fixed it. I’m really proud of the guys for being able to adjust and fix those issues. It’s about the learning process.”
Everything Greenwood Christian accomplished against the Bulldogs goes in the books as a program first. That includes the first kickoff return, which freshman Nathan Goins took to the house for a 79-yard touchdown to open the scoring.
It continued with sophomore Evan McIntyre’s 2-yard touchdown run that made it a 12-0 score, and the Cougars’ first TD pass, a 20-yard strike from freshman quarterback Trey Dobson to classmate Jaeden Garrett.
Trey Dobson accounted for GCA’s initial two-point conversion, running the ball into the end zone for a 20-0 advantage with 4:07 remaining in the opening quarter.
Brownsburg fumbled the ensuing kickoff return, which McIntyre recovered to set up Dobson’s 22-yard touchdown run on first down.
The Bulldogs finally got on the board with a 48-yard touchdown pass, but Greenwood Christian answered with a 1-yard TD run courtesy of Goins. Brownsburg scored, and again the Cougars responded as Trey Dobson raced 77 yards to paydirt with the kickoff.
Another McIntyre fumble recovery led to the game’s final points, Dobson throwing 40 yards to Garrett with 31.3 seconds left in the second quarter.
Prior to the game, the Cougars’ two seniors, linemen Tyler Wiggin and Eli Tschetter, represented the team at midfield for the coin flip.
Being able to run onto the field as part of GCA’s first football team is something neither player takes for granted.
“We got very lucky and got a great coach, and it’s just an honor to be out here on the field and have the first win of the season,” Wiggin said. “First game of the year and we get a touchdown on the first play. Yeah, it’s just perfect.”
The Cougars play their first home game this Saturday against Phalen Academy, an Indianapolis school that played its first season in 2020.
