GCA’s Daniel Honeycutt runs the ball during Friday’s sectional quarterfinal against Eastern Greene.
Chris Williams | For the Daily Journal
BEECH GROVE
Greenwood Christian’s first-ever state tournament game certainly wasn’t boring.
Unfortunately for the Cougars, it also didn’t result in a win.
A back-and-forth clash ended with a missed extra point that allowed Eastern Greene to pull out a 28-27 victory over GCA at Beech Grove High School in Class A sectional quarterfinal play on Friday night.
The stomach-punch defeat ended the Cougars’ best-ever season with a 7-3 record.
Already down a touchdown with the Thunderbirds (4-6) again knocking on the door, Greenwood Christian got the big defensive play it needed when a wobbly Peyton Lewis throw was picked off by Daniel Honeycutt with 7:01 left.
GCA quarterback Trey Dobson then began to work his magic, turning a would-be sack into a 7-yard gain and then completing four straight passes — an 18-yarder to Zach Haynes, tosses of 31 and 15 yards to Evan McIntire and a 9-yarder to Honeycutt — to get to the Eastern Greene 6. On third and goal, Dobson rolled right and snuck inside the pylon for a 3-yard touchdown run with 3:02 on the clock.
“Growing up, I’ve always been a quarterback,” Dobson said of the impressive crunch-time march. “So I knew, just watching NFL, watching college, that we’ve just got to hurry, I’ve got to be 100%. I’ve got to do everything I need to do to perfection, and as you can see, we did on that drive.”
The point after, however, was no good, and the onside kick was recovered by the Thunderbirds.
GCA coach Andre Dobson said he considered going for two points and the win after his son’s final TD, but opted against it.
“We’ve got a kicker (junior soccer star Bo Campbell) who’s totally perfect on the season and perfect in field goals,” he said, explaining his thought process at the time. “Let’s tie this thing up and see what we’ve got in the last three minutes.”
Needing a stop — or a quick Eastern Greene score — to have any shot to come back, the Cougar defense gave up an 11-yard run to Lewis on third and 10, and the visitors were able to kneel out the remaining time.
Neither team scored in the first quarter, with the Thunderbirds getting stopped at the GCA 11 to open the game and the Cougars punting the ball away on their first possession. Eastern Greene got itself rolling late in the quarter with a 47-yard pass play, then stayed on the ground for the next eight plays. Lewis, all 285 pounds of him, got the visitors on the board with a 4-yard keeper at the 9:11 mark of the second.
GCA didn’t need much time to respond. After a failed onside kick by the Thunderbirds, Trey Dobson rolled out to the left and got loose for a 39-yard score, evening the score at 7-7 with 7:34 to go in the half.
Eastern Greene then got a long kickoff return to put the ball at the Cougars’ 30-yard line, and six consecutive run plays helped set up a 5-yard scoring pass from Lewis to Noah Coomer.
The second quarter saw Greenwood Christian run just six plays over 2:46 of possession time.
“They held onto the ball really well,” coach Dobson said of Eastern Greene.
After halftime, the Cougars put together their best sustained march of the night, marching 61 yards in 10 plays. Dobson finished it off with a 19-yard touchdown pass to Isaiah Johnson, tying the game back up with 6:49 left in the third quarter. The Thunderbirds came back with another Lewis-heavy drive, the quarterback calling his own number on five of nine plays and finishing the job with a 3-yard keeper on fourth and goal.
Greenwood Christian clapped back quickly, moving 64 yards in five plays and scoring on a 19-yard scramble by Dobson. But another long kick return set Eastern Greene up at the Cougars’ 28, and five plays later Lewis found Kasen Cullison over the middle for a 14-yard TD to put the visitors up 28-21 with 10:31 remaining in regulation.
The Thunderbirds forced a punt that Dobson appeared to pin at the 1-yard line, but the GCA coverage team couldn’t keep the ball out of the end zone, resulting in a touchback that was immediately followed by a 67-yard pass from Lewis to Cullison. With the Cougars’ season in jeopardy, though, Honeycutt came up with a red-zone interception to keep hope alive.
GCA got 109 yards rushing and 170 passing from Dobson; Lewis finished with 155 yards rushing and 154 passing for Eastern Greene, proving to be too much for the Cougar defense to handle.
“This is our first opportunity to be here,” coach Dobson said. “We lost, and now we can use this to build off of for next season. How bad it felt to lose that close a game in our first playoff opportunity, we’ve got to come back even better.”
