With eight regular-season games remaining, Indian Creek football players can’t dwell on what didn’t go right Saturday afternoon.
After all, there were plenty of things that did.
Playing a rare non-Friday game, the host Braves lost to Class 2A No. 3 Evansville Mater Dei, 31-22, despite quarterback Isaiah Lacey and tailback Avery Welch rushing for over 100 yards apiece.
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“Our plan was to overpower them. Wear them down all four quarters,” said Welch, a senior who finished with 118 yards on 23 carries. “We did well, but I thought we could’ve executed better. We played all four quarters, they played all four quarters, but we wore down a little bit.”
The spread was two points or less four different times, the last when Welch scored from a yard out with 8:42 to play in the fourth to cut Mater Dei’s lead to 24-22.
Indian Creek attempted what would have been a game-tying two-point conversion, but a motion penalty pushed the ball back to the 8-yard line. Lacey’s run up the middle on the next play came up well short.
The Braves defense forced a punt on the Wildcats’ next series, giving the hosts the ball back at their 20 with 7:05 showing. Indian Creek proceeded to go backwards on a pair of runs, but on third-down netted seven yards on a short pass over the middle to Welch.
Instead of punting, coach Brett Cooper chose to go for it despite the ball being on his squad’s own 25.
Lacey’s fourth-down pass intended for senior wideout Dylan Sprong was off target, giving Evansville Mater Dei great field position with 5:01 to play. It took four plays — the biggest being junior quarterback Cole Happe’s 23-yard strike to receiver Hunter Taylor on third and 11 — for the Wildcats to make it a two-score game.
“We shot ourselves in the foot on a couple early drives, and then I put us in a bad situation late in the fourth quarter. But I put our faith in our kids, and I hope they know that,” Cooper said. “We’re going to learn and make mistakes, but we’re going to go back (Monday) and watch film and move onto Greenwood.”
Indian Creek utilized its talented offensive line to produce 313 yards of total offense compared to the Wildcats’ 299. Lacey scored the Braves’ first two touchdowns and finish with 148 rushing yards.
Cooper’s team wasn’t able to muster much a of a passing game, however. Lacey went 5 of 19 for 42 yards and was intercepted twice.
Longtime Evansville Mater Dei coach Mike Goebel, architect of four 2A state finalists with the Wildcats since 2000, said he was impressed with this Indian Creek club.
“We’re just very pleased to come out with a win against a great team and program like Indian Creek,” Goebel said. “Coach Cooper and his staff do a great job. They have some athletes. They were as good as we thought they would be, and probably a little better.”
