Indian Creek has displayed a potent offense all season long. On Friday night, the Braves ran into one with a bit more horsepower.
Northview overwhelmed the visiting Braves with its lethal ground game, pulling ahead in the second quarter and running away for a convincing 60-23 win.
An Indian Creek fumble on the opening kickoff helped the Knights grab the early lead on a 10-yard run by Kyle Cottee. The Braves came back to tie the game up on a 2-yard Levi Pappas TD run, but Cottee then broke free for a 49-yard scoring run to put Northview on top, 13-7, midway through the first quarter.
The visitors answered again, tying the score at 13-13 when Arj Lothe found Lance Butler in the end zone for an 11-yard touchdown pass at 4:09 of the opening period, but the Knights quickly took control with a pair of quick touchdowns to start the second quarter. First, Tyler Lee struck from 20 yards out with 9:10 left in the half, and Cottee piled on just 83 seconds later, scoring on a 61-yard run to put Indian Creek in a 27-13 hole.
Following an interception, Northview stretched its lead out to 34-13 on a 28-yard scoring run by Imer Holman.
Lothe and Butler connected on another scoring toss, this one an 18-yarder, to help the Braves slow the bleeding, but Northview again struck back quickly when Cottee picked up his fourth touchdown run of the half, this one from 35 yards out. Lee added another score with 1:18 left in the second quarter to extend the Knights’ halftime lead to 47-20.
Facing the threat of a running clock, the Braves staved it off by getting a field goal at the 3:43 mark of the third quarter. Cottee, though, notched his fifth rushing TD of the night to push the lead back up to 53-23 with 6.6 seconds to go in the period.
Holman capped the scoring with another touchdown run early in the fourth quarter.
Indian Creek (6-3, 2-2 WIC) will try to get back on track when it travels to Franklin County for the first round of Class 3A sectional action next week.
