The anticipated battle in the trenches between Indian Creek and Edgewood never materialized on Friday night in Ellettsville. Instead, the Braves’ special teams and secondary took over the game before the Mustangs’ dangerous ground game ever had a chance to get started.
Brandon Murray’s opening kickoff return set Indian Creek up on the Edgewood 34, and the Braves didn’t exit Edgewood territory until the second quarter. By that time, the Braves had already built a 20-point lead, set up by two short fields off of Edgewood turnovers. The result was that the Mustangs were thrown completely off their game, as the Braves intercepted five passes from Andrew Blessinger and never let Edgewood get started in a comfortable 27-7 road win.
“That’s a testament to our secondary and our secondary coaches,” Indian Creek coach Steve Spinks said. “(Coaches) Mark Stantz and Ken Knight did a great job this week getting the secondary prepared. When the ball comes your way, you’ve got to make the play, and (the secondary) was able to do that.”
Jordan Gorham did most of the damage for Indian Creek (4-2, 2-0 WIC Gold), snagging three passes from Blessinger, who never came close to getting comfortable against the Braves’ secondary. Blessinger’s first two passes found Braves defenders, as first Gorham and then Zach Kaufman put a quick end to Edgewood (3-3, 1-1) possessions, setting up the Creek offense inside the Mustangs’ 40.
“Jordan Gorham is as good a player as anyone that we have in the county,” Spinks said. “I just can’t say enough about how much potential he has, and he’s a great kid on top of all that. He’s a great leader for us, and I’m really happy that he’s reaping the benefits of some really good play and hustle.”
For Gorham, it was simply a matter of answering the bell after Spinks challenged his team to throw the first punch and take Edgewood out of the game early.
“It was just a different energy this game,” said Gorham, who also caught a touchdown pass for Indian Creek’s first score. “We’ve been lacking on away games, so I was just trying to pick up the energy as much as possible and punch them in the mouth in the first quarter.”
Those three opening punches from Murray, Gorham and Kaufman were all that Connor Fruits and the Braves’ offensive line needed to get started. After Gorham’s first interception, Fruits went to work, scoring from 11 yards and 8 yards out on Creek’s next two possessions. Within seven minutes, Creek led 20-0, allowing the Braves to ride Fruits the rest of the way and keep the Edgewood offense on the sidelines.
The running back finished with 209 yards and allowed Indian Creek to withstand a severe letdown in the second half. The Braves successfully hit the Mustangs early, but didn’t score again over the final 34 minutes because of three turnovers and several penalties, leaving Spinks less than pleased with how his team finished the game.
“That (start) doesn’t hide the fact that we played like stir-fried crap in the second half as far as penalties, jumping offsides and doing really dumb things that we’ve got to fix,” Spinks said.
“That will be rectified Monday at practice.”
