Brave Sean Burton tackles a Lion runner for no gain on Friday night during Brownstown Central's 14-12 loss at Salem. Jeff Lubker | For The Tribune

By John Regruth

For The Tribune

SALEM

Ignoring decades of futility by its predecessors, Salem stunned Brownstown Central’s football team 14-12 on Friday night.

The victory is the Lions’ first over Brownstown since 2005 and just the second over a Braves team since 1995. BC entered the contest with a 30-1 record against Salem over the previous 25 seasons.

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None of that history mattered Friday, however, because this proved to be a different kind of Salem football team. This Lions squad fielded a confident, strong-armed quarterback, a couple of tough-possession running backs and a fast defense that never allowed BC’s productive run game to get started.

The Braves (2-1) entered the game averaging more than 300 yards on the ground, but Salem (2-2) limited them to just 104 yards on 27 carries (3.9 average).

BC quarterback Kiernan Tiemeyer tried to make up for the lost yardage with his best throwing game of the season, 159 yards on 9-for-17 passing, but the Lions intercepted two of the junior’s passes in the second half.

“They’re really quick and move around well on defense,” Brownstown head coach Reed May said of Salem. “You have to give them credit. We didn’t play well tonight, but they were the reason why we didn’t play well.”

The Lions’ defense accomplished a rare feat by shutting out the Braves in the first half, which allowed Salem to take a 7-0 lead into the half.

Both of Salem’s touchdowns were well-thrown passes from senior quarterback Peyton Arthur to fellow senior receiver Reese McCoskey.

The first was a 23-yard reception that came with just 56 seconds left in the second quarter. Brownstown nearly answered that score in the closing seconds of the first half, but after getting to Salem’s 5-yard line, Tiemeyer’s pass just eluded the grasp of Carson Darlage as the buzzer sounded.

Brownstown looked like it would start rolling on its first possession of the second half when Lucas Hines ran 23 yards for a touchdown. A mishandled snap on the extra point, however, kept Salem in front at 7-6.

With 6:06 left in the fourth, Salem cemented its lead when Arthur found McCoskey on a 7-yard pass that pushed the advantage to 14-6.

Tiemeyer and Darlage answered just 2 minutes later on a pretty 38-yard jump ball pass in the Salem end zone that Darlage wrestled away from McCoskey, who was defending on the play.

Salem again managed to hold onto the lead, however, when the Braves failed on the two-point conversion.

Arthur ended with 197 yards on 11-for-21 passing for Salem.

Hines led all BC runners with 48 yards on eight carries. Tiemeyer followed with 27 yards on 10 attempts.

Hines and junior Jake Pauley led BC defensively with 10 tackles each, including a tackle for loss for each. Tiemeyer had three pass breakups in his defensive back position. Jayden Steinkamp added a fumble recovery.

“Defensively, we didn’t play too badly,” May said. “We just couldn’t sustain a drive offensively. We didn’t execute the way we needed to. Salem had a lot to do with that.”