Greenwood football storms back to edge Indian Creek

The storm that forced the suspension of Friday’s Week 2 contest between Indian Creek and Greenwood turned out to be nothing compared to the one that the Woodmen hit the Braves with afterward.

Greenwood scored 21 unanswered points in the fourth quarter, roaring back from a 14-point deficit to post a 41-35 victory in a game that wrapped up Saturday morning.

“I can’t say we didn’t benefit from it,” Woodmen coach Justin Boser said of the gap of 12-plus hours that was inserted into the fourth period.

Having scored a touchdown just before the game was suspended with 8:04 remaining, Greenwood (1-1) opened Saturday morning with a two-point pass from Ayden Houseman to Brady Cave that trimmed the deficit to 35-28.

Indian Creek (0-2) handed the ball to Malachi Mink five straight times in an effort to kill off the clock, but the Woodmen forced third and long and Evan Clark’s pass was picked off by Anthony Scaramazzo and brought to the Braves’ 36-yard line. Four plays later, Gunner Ruppert ran it in from the 12 four plays later, and William Thompson’s point after tied the game with 3:56 on the clock.

Less than a minute later, Ruppert stepped in front of another Clark throw to set the Woodmen up at the Creek 28. His 22-yard run gave Greenwood first and goal at the 4, and Houseman hooked up with Cave from the 3 on third down to give the home side its only lead of the game — and the only one it needed.

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The Braves got the ball at their 34 with 49.1 seconds left and advanced to the Greenwood 33, but four straight passes fell incomplete.

“We had the momentum kind of going in our direction when we ended last night, obviously, with the score,” Boser said. “Had the two-point play drawn up as soon as we went inside last night, so we knew exactly what we wanted. Kids came out and executed; defensively, made a couple of adjustments, kids executed again, and just super proud of the way they came back and fought hard. (Creek’s) a good 3A football team, and they’re going to do good things this year, but we needed that one to get us ready for our conference.”

The Woodmen wasted little time jumping on top, as Ruppert took a handoff on the first play from scrimmage and went up the middle untouched for a 68-yard touchdown run. The Braves appeared set to strike right back, getting a 48-yard throw from Clark to Bobby Emberton for 48 yards on their first play — but Clark’s next pass was intercepted in the end zone by Greenwood’s Ethan Reed.

Indian Creek got the ball back at the Woodmen 48 after a short punt and had first and goal at the 4-yard line. On third down from the 11, Clark lobbed a jump ball to the left side of the end zone for Emberton, who made an impressive grab in traffic to tie the game at 7-7 with 5:20 left in the opening quarter.

Greenwood turned the ball over on downs at its own 37 to give the Braves another short field, and Clark took advantage. On second down from the 30, the freshman shipped one over the middle and caught Jaxon Ramey in stride for an easy touchdown and a seven-point lead at the 3:44 mark.

The Braves then got another free possession when Jacob Doughty recovered a fumble at the Woodmen 22 on the next snap. Three plays later, Clark delivered a 20-yard strike to Ramey in the back of the end zone to make it 21-7.

“We got out of alignment a few times, and you just can’t do that on a counter team like that and good receivers that can make some plays,” Boser said.

Facing fourth and inches to start the second quarter, Greenwood converted and then cut into the deficit when Houseman caught a streaking Jeremiah Carter in stride up the left sideline for a 32-yard touchdown pass. The momentum continued to swing back toward the home team when Davion Jones picked off a Clark throw and returned it all the way to the Braves’ 33-yard line, but Indian Creek’s defense came up with a fourth-down stop to quell the rally.

Having leaned heavily on Clark to that point, the Braves put together a nine-play, 66-yard drive exclusively running the ball. Mink toted it eight times, including an 11-yard scoring run with 2:40 remaining in the half to push the lead back to 14 points. Clark tried to add to that cushion with a deep throw in the final minute of the quarter, but Jones stepped in front of it for his second pickoff of the night at the Greenwood 4-yard line.

The Woodmen looked to be on their way into the end zone on their first possession of the third quarter, but a fumble on the doorstep of the goal line was recovered by Indian Creek’s Brayden Lowhorn. A defensive stop gave Greenwood another shot late in the period, though, and after a 39-yard heave from Houseman to Ben Hommell put the ball on the Braves’ 12-yard line, and Houseman scored on a 1-yard keeper on the first play of the second half to get the score to 28-20.

The visitors responded. Levi Pappas returned the kickoff to midfield, and after four straight Mink runs advanced the ball to the Greenwood 22, the Braves scored when Clark shook off a pass rush and his throw into end zone traffic was tipped by a defender but caught by Emberton with 8:58 left in the contest.

Ruppert darted 39 yards to the end zone just 54 seconds later, cutting it to 35-26, but lightning flashed while the teams were lined up for the point after. Following a delay of about 90 minutes with the storm dragging out, the game was put on hold.

Once it resumed, it was all Woodmen.

“(Greenwood) took the night and realized that they’ve got to play harder and play to their ability, because I think we caught them on their heels last night,” Braves coach Max Goodin said. “We’re a good football team; that’s what I told our kids. We’ve just got to learn from it.”

Ruppert finished with 241 yards rushing on 27 carries, while Mink rushed 30 times for 161 yards to lead the Braves.

While Boser was thrilled with the comeback win, he said his team needs to get off to better starts when Mid-State Conference play begins next weekend.

“We’ve got to be ready to put all four quarters together on a Friday night,” he said. “Not a Friday and a Saturday morning.”