Goal No. 4 on the Brownstown Central football checklist this season is to win a sectional championship.
They’ll start the process towards achieving that goal this Friday against a familiar foe in Mid-Southern Conference rival Charlestown.
Their first three goals of the year were: To have a winning season, defeat Jackson County rival Seymour and win conference.
In the second week of the season, the Braves needed a come-from-behind effort — and three touchdowns from quarterback Derek Thompson — to overcome the Pirates, 21-14, in a battle of the league’s two premier runners.
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The Pirates’ Marion Lukes, a Central Michigan commit, was involved in both scoring plays during the Aug. 30 matchup, but was held largely in check by the Braves’ defense.
He rattled off a 30-yard rushing touchdown with under a minute to go in the first quarter and was on the receiving end of a 40-yard touchdown strike from Pirate quarterback Andrew Snider in the final four minutes of the first half.
Yet Lukes, who eclipsed 5,000 yards for his career two weeks ago and is Charlestown High School’s all-time leading rusher, was held to just 24 yards on the ground against the Braves.
After his big first half, he didn’t gain another yard on the ground in the second. In fact, he went backwards more often than forwards.
According to Sagarin, the Braves are expected to win another close one over the Pirates, but coach Reed May isn’t talking about the game as though it’s a given.
He knows it’ll take another great effort on defense to slow down Lukes if they want to advance to the next round of the postseason.
“Lukes is a great running back," he said. "We barely got them the first time around and it’ll be an exciting game.”
This is just the ninth postseason meeting between the two programs since 1991 with the Braves owning the all-time postseason record at 5-3.
They’ve split the last four meetings dating back to 2012. They own the all-time head-to-head, 32-24.
Their last meeting was in 2015 in a sectional semifinal that the Braves won 44-19 in Charlestown.
Drawing the Pirates first was one of two teams the Braves may have been hoping to avoid in the first round.
According to Sagarin, the Braves and the Pirates are Nos. 2 and 4, respectively, with Lawrenceburg and Franklin County ranked first and third.
If they want to win their 14th sectional title, and second in a row, they’d likely have to take down all three of those teams in a row.
That’s a tall task, but May isn’t deterred saying when his teams have gotten tougher draws in the past, it makes them focus more.
"It’s something that in some years it seems like when we have a harder tournament draw, we do better because we’re more focused," May said. "Sometimes when you have an easy draw, you don’t focus as well and you don’t get better every week."
Those who won’t be able to make the contest on Friday night will be able to stream the game through IHSAAtv.org. Pregame coverage starts at 6:45 p.m. with kickoff to follow at 7.
Winner of the game will face the winner of Scottsburg and Lawrenceburg on Nov. 1.
Seymour is off this Friday and will start their sectional grind next Friday at Franklin.
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Hoosier Hills Conference standings
Team;HHC;All
Columbus East;6-0;7-2
Floyd Central;5-1;7-2
New Albany;3-3;4-5
Bedford North Lawrence;3-3;3-6
Jeffersonville;3-3;3-6
Seymour;2-4;4-5
Jennings County;1-5;3-6
Madison;1-5;1-8
Mid-Southern Conference
Team;MSC;All
Brownstown Central;8-0;9-0
Silver Creek;7-1;8-1
Charlestown;6-2;7-2
Salem;5-3;6-3
North Harrison;3-5;3-5
Clarksville;3-5;3-6
Scottsburg;3-5;3-6
Corydon Central;1-7;2-7
Eastern (Pekin);0-8;0-9
Class 5A Sectional 14
Team;Class;All
Franklin;2-0;7-2
New Palestine;1-0;9-0
Seymour;1-3;4-5
Whiteland;1-2;6-3
Class 3A Sectional 31
Team;Class;All
Lawrenceburg;4-0;8-1
Brownstown Central;5-0;9-0
Greensburg;3-1;5-4
Charlestown;4-1;7-2
Franklin County;2-2;5-4
Batesville;1-3;3-6
Scottsburg;1-5;3-6
Rushville;0-4;1-8
Jackson County leaders
Passing
Player;Com;Att;Yds;TD;I
Smith (S);54;121;940;10;9
Thompson (BC);28;47;560;6;0
Receiving
Player;C;Yds;Avg;TD
Henderson (S);23;365;15.9;3
D. Vehslage (S);13;334;25.7;5
Cope (BC);10;253;25.3;2
K. Tiemeyer (BC);7;131;18.7;1
Brown (BC);6;118;19.7;2
Barker (S);6;100;16.7;1
Kruse (S);1;33;33;0
Elmore (S);3;22;7.3.0
Lowe (S);2;10;5.0.0
Rushing
Player;Att;Yds;Avg;TD
Thompson (BC);139;1249;9.0;15
Drummond (S);173;1068;6.2;8
Smith (S);114;538;4.7;7
Walker (BC);52;437;8.4;3
Greathouse (S);56;415;7.4;4
Brown (BC);30;303;10.1;1
K. Tiemeyer (BC);31;195;6.3;2
Hines (BC);24;137;5.7;2
Huber (BC);24;112;4.7;1
Defense
Player;T;A;TT
Pennington (S);46;64;110
Hines (BC);41;67;108
Corwin (S);37;61;98
Weddell (S);26;42;68
Walker (BC);18;37;55
Schroeder (S);18;31;49
James (S);24;21;45
Huber (BC);17;21;38
J. Tiemeyer (BC);7;24;31
Neal (S);11;23;34
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What: Brownstown Central (9-0) at Charlestown (7-2)
When: 7 p.m. Friday
Radio: 96.3 WJAA
Streaming: IHSAAtv.org
Where: Reis Field
Last meeting: Brownstown Central, 21-14, Aug. 30, 2019
Series past 35 years: Brownstown Central, 29-16
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