EVANSVILLE

Evansville Memorial’s football team demonstrated its might quickly and overwhelmingly Friday night, scoring 42 first-half points and claiming the Class 3A regional championship 56-14 against Brownstown Central.

Memorial thoroughly avenged its 2016 regional defeat to Brownstown and advanced to next week’s semistate, where Indianapolis Chatard awaits. Chatard defeated Tri-West in the other regional 49-7.

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For Brownstown (11-2), Friday’s mission was a difficult one from the moment the Braves ended their sectional championship celebration a week ago. Memorial entered Friday’s contest as the prohibitive favorite, sporting the No. 1 ranking in Class 3A and a (now) 21-game winning streak.

All of the superlatives thrown at the Tigers (13-0) throughout the week were on display from the opening kickoff.

Memorial’s otherworldly quarterback Michael Lindauer completed his first 13 passes for 311 yards. The senior ended with 322 yards and five touchdown passes and added another two touchdowns running the ball.

Not surprisingly, Lindauer authored the night’s highlight moment in the second quarter when Brownstown flushed him out of the pocket on a pass play. Running straight toward his team’s sideline, Lindauer launched a pass off of one foot that traveled 40 yards in the air into the arms of receiver Finn McCool, who never broke his stride as he took the ball the rest of the way for a 71-yard TD reception.

Memorial’s relentless offensive efficiency — the Tigers scored on their first eight possessions and finished with 585 yards of total offense — Brownstown found itself facing diminishing returns.

None of Memorial’s six first-half touchdown drives required more than three minutes, while five of those TDs took less than 70 seconds to accomplish.

“We tried to blitz some, we tried to cover some, they’re just too good,” Brownstown head coach Reed May said. “There’s a reason why (Lindauer) is going to Southern Illinois. He’s an outstanding player.”

Though ultimately helpless to stop Memorial, Brownstown’s offense was able to move the ball on the Tigers. The Braves finished with 344 yards of offense, including 230 yards on the ground.

Down 14-0, BC scored its first TD when Derek Thompson broke through for a 42-yard scoring run.

Braeden Walker added a 14-yard TD reception midway through the second quarter, but that only narrowed the difference to 28-14.

Memorial responded with 28 unanswered points to pull away to its 42-point win.

“They’re just good,” May said. “We moved the ball, and then when we got behind, we took chances I didn’t want to take. If you get behind 28-14, a ball-control offense doesn’t work too well.”

BC quarterback Hayden Kinsler finished with 115 yards on 6-for-9 passing before departing the game at halftime after taking an apparent hit to the head.

Thompson led the Braves with 94 yards on 11 carries. Walker followed with 46 yards.

Defensively, Thompson and Lucas Hines led with nine tackles each. Matthew Bell followed with seven tackles.

Friday’s loss denied the Braves their fourth regional title. BC is now 3-10 in regional championships.

“Every senior group is special,” May said. “They all have their own identities. This group was very successful. They won three sectionals in four years. They did a nice job all year. This year’s motto was ‘total commitment.’ The guys gave me all they had. Unfortunately, we came up short today.”