TRAFALGAR

Although the Indian Creek High School football team has won the last eight games in a row against its next opponent, Braves coach Mike Gillin is hopeful the team doesn’t fall under the same trap it slipped into last week.

Indian Creek came from behind to win its homecoming game against Milan, another team the Braves had won eight in a row entering the game, last week.

Bad field position for the Braves early on and the Indians making some plays gave Milan a 14-0 lead late in the second quarter. Indian Creek eventually came back for a 20-17 win, but it hopefully taught the team a valuable lesson, Gillin said.

“I just hope we learned a little lesson of how to play hard for four quarters and good things can happen,” he said.

The Braves will take that lesson into this week’s game traveling to North Decatur (2-4 overall, 1-2 Mid-Indiana Conference). Most of the past eight games haven’t been close, although two of the more recent match-ups have been.

“I’m sure that makes them that much more determined,” he said of the streak. “I’m sure they’re talking about it.”

The Braves beat the Chargers 25-20 last year.

“They gave us fits last year,” Gillin said.

North Decatur has lost four in a row after winning its first two games this season. The Chargers pulled out close wins against Union County and Edinburgh to start the season but have since lost to Triton Central, the top team in the conference, Knightstown, Milan and Eastern Hancock.

Eighteen starters from last year are back, but the Chargers lost three all-state players from last year’s team. This is a rebuilding year for North Decatur because of that, Gillin said.

“They’ve struggled at times, they’ve looked really good at times,” he said.

Running back Stephen Speer is one of eight starters back from last year, along with Adam Warren.

Brandon Collins leads the team with 519 yards on 44 catches for six touchdowns. Zac Tharpe has gained 376 yards for 28 receptions and seven touchdowns. Trey Reese has completed 53 percent of his passes for 1,063 yards and 14 touchdowns.

Defensively, the Braves are led by Jared Neff and Jeremy Doll, who have 38 and 27 tackles, respectively. Josh Bales leads the team with four sacks, followed by Josiah Harrell’s three.

“We want to put it all together quickly, and move forward to the last two games of the schedule,” Gillin said.