Indian Creek - September 4, 2015

Sadly, the Potters’ balloon didn’t stay inflated too long following their opening game win, as Coach Andre Connor and his Wintersville Redskins rolled into town and pitched a 26-point shut-out at Patterson Field on this first Friday of September, 2015.

After exchanging punts following the opening kickoff received by the locals, Coach Josh Ludwig and his crew went on an impressive 14-play, forty-yard drive that took them down to the ten where an incomplete fourth down pass saw the ball exchange hands with 1:40 remaining in a scoreless first quarter.

Unfortunately, the second quarter would prove to be the Blue and White’s undoing, as the visitors lit up the scoreboard with 19 points to effectively derail the Potters’ hope for the night.
The disastrous stanza saw Jaban Taylor burst up the middle from the EL 20 at 6:31, followed by Ensign Maiorano’s conversion kick to make it 7-0 for the visitors.

A nice kickoff return back to his 38 by Ryan Bombich, went for naught as the team failed to convert on a fourth-and-two at midfield, allowing Creek to take over on the EL 40.

Nine plays later, Chris Mazari found Greg Wade from 18 yards out. After the conversion kick failed, it was 13-0 as Ryan Bombich brought the ensuing kickoff out to the 28.

From this point, the determined Blue and White moved the ball with a combination of Austin Mayfield’s passing and Austyn Dozier’s running until Robert Coppa picked up an EL fumble and rambled 25 yards to the house to make it 19-0. A two point conversion kick failed and there would be no further first half scoring.

Creek would score only one additional TD at 8:44 in the third when Mazari passed to Wade from the 28-yard line followed by Maiorano’s extra point kick for his team’s 26th point, their 46th of the young season.

COACH’S COMMENTS:

" Early on, we got away from the game plan because they started throwing us off,” said a frustrated Coach Josh Ludwig."
“First quarter, a scoreless and everybody’s playing good football, but then we let it get away from us a bit. We started to lose composure, and the composure of this team is what I have been proud of up to this point, so we have to get back on track,” Ludwig concluded."

DIGGER’S DUGOUT:

While many area games were delayed or cancelled by inclement weather on this night, there was minimal rain at Patterson Field with just a few drops falling in the third quarter.

Indian Creek brought one of the largest marching aggregations to town fans had seen in a long time. Included among the nearly 200 piece band were eight tubas and a snappy group of  majorettes performing the old throwback flaming baton routine.

Austin Mayfield was 7-for-19 passing, good for 80 yards compared to 160 yards through the air against Edison. He also fell short of the 81 yards he gained on the ground in the Edison game, rushing 14 times for 50 yards. Cramping caused the junior signal caller to be removed from the game, after his team moved the ball within a few feet of the goal line with 8:26 remaining to be played. Running out of a reconfigured offense, the Potters fumbled, giving the ball up on the Creek’s one.