For most of its series win streak against county rival Indian Creek, Greenwood has followed a familiar path — using its superior size and depth to wear the Braves down and pull away in the second half.
That blueprint didn’t work on Friday night.
Indian Creek went toe to toe with the Woodmen and had enough left in the tank to make two big defensive stops down the stretch, holding on for a 21-20 road victory.
The win is the first in the series for the Braves (2-0) since 2014.
As his team celebrated, first-year Indian Creek coach Casey Gillin wasted no time in crediting his seniors with setting the needed tone.
“I told them going into the game that it was going to be this way, because they’re physical,” Gillin said. “I just told them, ‘There’s going to come a point in time where you’re going to have to suck it up and play ball — and they got the stop at the end.”
Coming out in the third, Greenwood went the bully-ball route, running either Alan Burnett or Carter Campbell 10 times during a 12-play, 65-yard drive that ate up nearly half of the quarter. Burnett got the call on the last four snaps, the last of those going for a 5-yard touchdown. The PAT kick missed.
Rather than cave in, however, Indian Creek punched back with a 14-play trek of its own. The Braves stayed primarily on the ground with Arj Lothe and Malachi Mink, and it was Mink who polished the drive off with back-to-back runs of 7 and 8 yards — the latter tying the game with a minute to go in the third quarter. Nick Jackson’s extra-point kick put the visitors in front, and the Creek defense made that edge hold up for the duration.
Greenwood had a pair of fourth-quarter chances. It advanced into Braves territory on the first, but Carter Modlin broke up a fourth-down pass. The Woodmen made a stop and got the ball back with 1:49 remaining, advancing to midfield on a pair of Brock Riddle throws, but Indian Creek forced four straight incompletions to secure the bag in the final minute.
“They picked us up,” Gillin said of his defense. “We’ve got a lot of work to do on offense, because we left points out there in the first half and the second. But getting that stop there at the end, that’s what we’ve talked about.”
Indian Creek swung for the fences on its first play from scrimmage, throwing over the top off a flea-flicker, but Lothe’s heave was intercepted by Joshua Amburgy. The Braves found better fortune on their second possession, marching 55 yards in seven plays to take the early lead. Jalen Sauer capped off the drive with a 6-yard run up the middle at 7:03 of the opening quarter.
The Woodmen responded with a 78-yard touchdown drive, coming up big on a fourth-and-8 play to finish it off. Riddle found Ethan Pringle open for a 15-yard score, making it 6-6 at the 3:08 mark of the first.
Neither team could get untracked after that until midway through the second quarter, when Greenwood rode its ground game into the lead. Seven straight running plays — starting with a 24-yard rumble by Burnett — took the home team 58 yards, with Jackson Haessig finding the end zone from 4 yards out. Riddle connected with Campbell on the two-point pass to give the Woodmen a 14-6 edge with 5:28 remaining in the half.
After each team turned the ball over on downs, Indian Creek put together a game-tying drive late in the second. Lothe compeleted five of his six passes, setting up a 4-yard run by Malachi Mink with 24.3 seconds on the first-half clock. Mink tacked on a two-point run to send the two teams into the locker room deadlocked.
Lothe completed 19 of 27 passes for 158 yards; Gerson Coroa and Levi Pappas each caught six of those. For the Woodmen, Burnett led the way with 111 yards rushing on 22 carries.
The Braves will try to keep their early-season momentum rolling when they travel to Owen Valley next week. Greenwood hopes to bounce back when it hosts Martinsville in its Mid-State Conference opener.
Woodmen coach Mike Campbell didn’t have much to say after Friday’s setback.
“They outplayed us,” he said. “Every time we felt like we had a little momentum, we breathed life back into them. Hats off to them; their kids played an incredible game and made plays when they needed to.”
