It is a new era for Indian Creek football, and the Braves invited Brown County to help break in the new turf field that was dedicated Friday night.
And break in the turf is exactly what the Braves did at the expense of the visiting Eagles, throttling the visitors 55-0.
Forty-eight of those points were scored in the first half, meaning that the second half was played with a running clock, mercifully counting down the minutes until the Braves got to keep the Brave-Eagle trophy for the 20th consective time.
Braves coach Casey Gillin was predictably pleased, but there were still some things he would like to see cleaned up.
“I thought we played well, but we have to clean up the penalties,” he said. “We can’t back ourselves up and expect that yardage to be given to us. We have Triton (Central) next week, and they are a well-coached team that won’t give us anything.”
It took all of one play for Indian Creek to introduce itself to the turf. Quarterback Arj Lothe found Jaxon Ramey streaking wide open down the middle of the field for a 67-yard touchdown pass, and the Braves led 7-0 in the blink of an eye.
After the second straight three-and-out for Brown County, the Braves once again struck quickly, as Malachi Mink bolted to paydirt on the third play of the drive from 21 yards out, giving Indian Creek a 14-0 lead with 7:55 left in the opening quarter.
Following fumbles on consecutive plays by each team, the Braves’ defense got a fourth-down stop at their own 48-yard line to put the offense back on the field. From there, the home team converted two fourth downs, overcame two holding penalties, including one that took away a Mink touchdown run, and still managed to find the end zone. Following an 18-yard shovel pass from Lothe to Jalen Sauer that took the Braves to the 1-yard line, Sauer was rewarded with a 1-yard touchdown carry. The extra point put Indian Creek up 21-0 with 11:44 left in the half.
The Braves were far from finished, however. They pooched the ensuing kickoff and recovered. Indian Creek then faced fourth and 16 from the 38-yard line and decided to go for it, and that paid off in the form of a touchdown pass from Lothe to Lance Butler that extended the lead to 28-0.
Lothe found Gerson Coroa from 27 yards out for his third touchdown pass of the first half, making it 34-0 with 8:17 left.
Even the offensive linemen got in on the scoring act. Mink took a handoff from 17 yards out and rumbled to the end zone, but he fumbled at the goal line and lineman Curtis Gault jumped on the ball as it bounced into the end zone to score with 2:44 on the clock.
“We can’t fumble at the goal line like that, and we know that. That is something we need to address as well,” Gillin said.
Brown County found a bit of success on their next drive, netting two consecutive first downs, but Noah Lewis’ next pass was tipped by his receiver, and the Braves’ Caid’n McAfee was there to pluck it out of the air for an interception and return the ball to the 30-yard line. The Braves ran three plays, topped off by another Sauer touchdown run from 5 yards out to make the score 48-0 at halftime.
Overall, Gillin was pleased with his defense.
“We had some players in new positions tonight, and to put up a zero is great. Last week we gave up 41 points, so to see us bounce back was good to see.”
In the third quarter, backup quarterback Jackson Wise found receiver Kyle Smalling in the corner of the end zone for an 11-yard touchdown pass to put the Braves up 55-0.
“Playing the younger kids is great experience for them,” Gillin said. “They are under the lights, on the big stage. This gives them confidence to believe in themselves, which is important because they are our future.”
