For The Tribune

NORTH VERNON

Brownstown Central’s football team made a strong first impression both offensively and defensively during

Friday night’s controlled scrimmage with Jennings County.

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On the first play of the night, with the Braves on defense, BC linebacker Luke Shelton scooped up a fumble in the Panther backfield and likely would have returned the ball for a score had the play not been whistled to a stop.

Later, on Brownstown’s first offensive snap, senior back Caleb Bollinger ran the ball 65 yards along the right sideline to give the Braves their first touchdown.

Overall, BC ended the night as the unofficial winner, scoring six TDs to Jennings County’s two.

Friday’s scrimmage featured prescribed numbers of plays run consecutively by each team’s offense from various parts of the field. Each squad’s special teams also had opportunities to execute plays against live competition. Despite his team’s favorable impressionism, BC head coach Reed May saw Friday’s effort in pointillist terms, focusing on the details underlying the big picture.

“The biggest problem we’ve had so far in practice is too many busted assignments,” May said. “Even on (Bollinger’s touchdown run), we missed assignments. But we had an athletic back (Bollinger) who could make people miss.”{/div} {div} {/div} {div}Making May’s night more out-of-focus was the absence of his varsity and JV quarterbacks, both of whom sat out the scrimmage while recovering from illness. {/div} {div} {/div} {div}Derek Thompson stepped in for fellow junior Hayden Kinsler as quarterback during the varsity reps, while sophomore Justin Howard filled in for freshman Kiernan Tiemeyer during the JV session. The two backup QBs each led their teams to three touchdowns.{/div} {div} {/div} {div}Under Thompson’s guidance, the varsity accumulated 276 yards of offense, including 233 yards from the running game. {/div} {div} {/div} {div}Bollinger added a 35-yard scoring run to his opening-snap TD. The 5-foot-8 senior finished with 118 yards on just three attempts. {/div} {div} {/div} {div}Braeden Walker scored the third varsity touchdown on a 10-yard run and finished with 48 yards on three carries.{/div} {div} {/div} {div}When Kinsler returns to the lineup, May said he’ll move Thompson back to his running back position, strengthening that part of the BC offense. He then hopes to begin experimenting with Kinsler’s arm to diversify his offense.{/div} {div} {/div} {div}“During our team camp, (Kinsler) got better and better,” May said. “The last two years, we were very run heavy. Hayden’s got a great arm, so we may try to open things up a little.”{/div} {div} {/div} {div}The BC varsity defense also enjoyed a productive evening. Besides Shelton’s fumble recovery, the Braves generated two interceptions (by Bollinger and Seth Borden) and a quarterback sack on Jennings County’s first nine plays.{/div} {div} {/div} {div}“Defensively, we’re still an unknown,” May said. “I thought we played well {span class=”aBn” data-term=”goog_821351952”}{span class=”aQJ”}tonight{/span}{/span}. We’ve got a lot of new guys, but the big thing is, we’ve got a lot of speed.”{/div} {div} {/div} {div}When the JV offense took the field during the scrimmage’s last offensive set, a slow start by the Braves gave way to a burst of scoring. Jennings contained BC on the first six plays before the Braves scored three times on their next six snaps.{/div} {div} {/div} {div}Sophomore Jayden Steinkamp scored on a 25-yard run, followed four plays later by sophomore Jacob Blann’s 10-yard TD run. Howard capped the night’s scoring with a 35-yard jaunt on the next play.{/div} {div} {/div} {div}Brownstown will open the regular season with a road trip to Corydon Central {span class=”aBn” data-term=”goog_821351953”}{span class=”aQJ”}next Friday{/span}{/span}.{/div}