GREENSBURG

Indian Creek established control early on, ruining the North Decatur Homecoming with a 40-7 victory Friday night over their Mid-Indiana Football Conference opponent and moving their record to 5-2.

The defense set the tone from the opening kickoff as they completely shut down the Chargers in their three quarters of action before the reserves manned the fourth quarter. So drastic was their domination, they only allowed seven yards rushing and two first downs in that time frame, along with just 19 yards passing in the first half. The Chargers picked up most of their yards late against Indian Creek’s junior varsity. The Braves also forced two fumbles, recovering one.

“I was concerned about number 44 (North Decatur’s 6-3, 248lb senior running back Stephen Speer) because he is a big, nice looking athlete. That first play of the game, I think our two linebackers hit him head up for no gain, and that set the tone for the whole game. It really turned into a one-dimensional game for them. They had to throw the ball once we took the ground game away,” Indian Creek Coach Mike Gillin said about his team’s play, picking up win number 232 of his career along the way.

Indian Creek’s offense got untracked after getting pinned on it’s own four yard line from a 65 yard punt. They broke the ice with a 96 yard drive finished off by Brandon Collins with a 14-yard catch and run for the touchdown to take a 6-0 lead - the extra point attempt was blocked. The next drive ended with another score as Joel Ankney went in from three yards out. Although the conversion pass failed, Indian Creek was up by a 12-0 count.

It got even worse for North on their next offensive series as Collins stripped the ball from the North Decatur receiver at their three-yard line and Josh Phelps jumped on the fumble to set up a one-yard touchdown run by Zac Tharpe. Collins brought in the catch for the two-point conversion and a 20-0 Braves advantage that they took into halftime.

The Braves continued from the break right where they left off, driving downfield for another score with Walker Vleck bringing in a five yard pass from quarterback Trey Reese and Tharpe adding the extra point kick. From there, the Braves poured it on with Ankney running the ball into the end zone from three yards out and Blake Smith going in from one yard out to open the fourth quarter after Phelps blocked the North Decatur punt. At that point, the scoreboard read 40-0, and the varsity players’ night was done and the reserves got their opportunity.

“We didn’t want to look ahead, but we knew if we could get by this game, then we could play for a share of the conference championship. We hit on all cylinders on the offensive side, finally got the ground game going as our offensive line was healthy with seven guys playing a lot in there. Trey Reese had a good ball game. He spread the ball out. A lot of receivers touched the ball. Offensively, that’s what it’s all about. Get the ground game going, throw the ball well, and spread it out to all your receivers, and we’re hard to defend,” Gillin said.

The Braves offense finished the evening with 173 yards on the ground, and 274 in the air. Reese was 22 of 33 for 271 yards passing and three touchdowns. Collins had 11 of those catches for 107 yards, while Tharpe wound up with 138 yards on eight receptions. Ankney led the rushing with 101 yards in his 19 carries as well as adding two touchdown runs.

The Braves go on the road to battle Triton Central next Friday. The Tigers, two-time defending Mid-Indiana Football Conference champs, are 6-1 for the year, and undefeated in conference play, as is Indian Creek. Kickoff is scheduled for 7 p.m.