BROWNSTOWN
On a cold, rainy October Friday night, Brownstown Central’s football team started sluggishly but ended strongly during a 51-7 victory over Scottsburg.
The Warriors (1-8) staggered Brownstown’s defense on their first possession of the game when they confidently marched 71 yards on 11 plays to score a touchdown that tied the game midway through the first quarter.
Behind the bruising efforts of 220-pound running back Andrew Banet and 231-pound back Jordan Bristol, Scottsburg ran for 124 yards in the first half.
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After that opening burst, however, the Braves’ defense shut the Warriors down. Brownstown forced four straight turnovers on downs followed by three straight punts.
The Braves limited the Warriors to just 42 second-half offensive yards.
“Give Scottsburg credit, they ran a totally different thing at the start,” Braves head coach Reed May said. “In all the games we watched, we never saw them run that. Plus, they’ve got two huge backs. Once we figured out what they were doing, we did fine. We did a good job adjusting.”
Dustin Justice and Sam Huber stopped Scottsburg’s run game on attempted fourth-down conversions. Derek Thompson and Lucas Hines later knocked down attempted passes on two fourth-down conversion attempts.
Especially in the second half, the Braves’ defenders spent a lot of time in Scottsburg’s backfield. Justice and Robbie Branaman each finished with a sack, while Huber, Branaman, Hines, Logan Overshiner and Dustyn Kocsis added tackles for loss.
The Braves’ offense, meanwhile, was efficient throughout the game with quarterback Hayden Kinsler throwing three touchdown passes and running for two more scores.
The junior QB finished the night with 189 yards on 8-for-11 passing.
“Under the conditions, (Kinsler) did really well,” May said.
One of Kinsler’s TD passes went to Hines, who contributed in nearly every way possible to the Braves’ victory. In addition to his previously mentioned defensive plays, the sophomore finished with three special teams tackles, caught a 47-yard TD pass and returned a fumble recovery 62 yards for another score.
“He was playing positions he’s never played before tonight,” May said. “He’s a football player. He’s a sophomore, and they sometimes need time to adjust, but he’s starting to figure it out.”
Derek Thompson caught Kinsler’s first TD pass of the night when he wrestled the ball from Scottsburg defender Kaden Sparkman and ran 66 yards for the game’s first touchdown.
Following Scottsburg’s touchdown, Brownstown scored the game’s next 44 points.
Kinsler broke free for a 24-yard TD run, then scored again moments later on a 5-yard run that gave Brownstown a 20-7 lead at halftime.
Caleb Bollinger got the Braves going in the second half with a 18-yard scoring run. Kinsler and Hines then connected for their TD pass to push the lead to 34-7.
Ethan Sevakis kicked a 23-yard field goal as the third quarter ended, followed by a pretty 24-yard TD pass from Kinsler to Seth Borden as Borden fell out of bounds.
Hines’ fumble return capped the Braves’ scoring.
Friday’s win improved the Braves’ season record to 8-1, the 20th straight season they have won at least eight games in a season. The last time Brownstown failed to win eight games was 1998.
The victory over Scottsburg also gave Brownstown a perfect Mid-Southern Conference record and the outright conference crown.
The Braves open sectional play next week with a home contest against Corydon Central. Brownstown defeated Corydon 49-0 in the first week of the season.
“The weather was nasty tonight, but the kids played well,” May said. “I’m proud of how they came out tonight and competed.”