For much of Friday night, it appeared that Indian Creek’s feel-good start to the Casey Gillin era was going to keep on going.
In the end, Owen Valley decided to spoil the party with a 41-39 overtime triumph over the Braves.
Indian Creek (2-1, 0-1 WIC), on the road for a third straight week to open the season, surrendered a touchdown on the Patriots’ opening drive but evened the score at 6-6 on a touchdown pass from Arj Lothe to Gerson Coroa with 5:40 left in the first quarter.
Lothe then put Indian Creek up by seven early in the second when he connected with Lance Butler for another touchdown. Owen Valley responded with a game-tying touchdown drive, but the visitors regained the upper hand before halftime on a 2-yard scoring run by Malachi Mink.
Coming out of the intermission, the Patriots (3-0, 1-0) scored again to take a 20-19 lead, but Lothe found Levi Pappas for a 15-yard score to put the Braves back on top by five with 6:53 to go in the third period. After Owen Valley answered with a touchdown to go up by one, Lothe threw his fourth TD pass of the night, this one to Jaxon Ramey — and after that pair linked up again for a two-point conversion, Indian Creek had itself a 33-26 advantage.
Owen Valley tied the game up with 7:43 remaining, and neither team could muster a go-ahead score in regulation.
