By Dylan Wallace | The Tribune
Brownstown Central’s offensive game plan isn’t a huge secret to opponents.
The Braves like to run the ball, and so far through two games this season, no one has been able to stop them from doing so.
Brownstown has wins over Corydon Central (43-6) and Charlestown (49-20), and the Braves have accumulated 792 rushing yards in those games so far.
A big key to that success has been the offensive line. Head coach Reed May said despite losing some key skill players from last season, he knew the O-line would all be returning, so Brownstown would hang its hat on that.
“We felt like if we weren’t able to run the ball, it’d be a long year for us,” May said. “So our offensive line has done a great job so far.”
Last week against Charlestown, Brownstown had some explosive plays.
May moved Kiernan Tiemeyer, who played QB last season, into the slot this year to give Brownstown a spark at that position.
“We knew Kiernan was pretty explosive,” May said. “He has good speed.”
Coming in at quarterback for the Braves this year is Carson Darlage, who played QB in middle school but tight end last year as a sophomore.
Darlage threw the ball well in Brownstown’s first game two weeks ago, but the Braves weren’t able to catch the ball. Last week, that changed, and Darlage had a good day.
He has 124 yards passing in two games so far and completed a 50-yard TD pass to Jake Pauley last week off of play-action.
“Opponents are thinking stop the run, stop the run, stop the run, so hopefully, we can get some big play-action plays, and that’s what we were able to do Friday night,” May said.
May said he knew Darlage could play quarterback, but it has been refreshing for him to see those skills come to light this season.
Other players who have impressed May through the first two weeks are Wyatt Steward, who is playing well at outside linebacker, and Jonathon Garvey, a senior that they didn’t originally have a position for.
But they stuck Garvey at fullback, and he has excelled in that role.
“He has done a great job at fullback,” May said. “Those three kids have been pleasant surprises.”
Brownstown is 2-0 to start the season and will travel to Eastern (Pekin) this Friday at 7 p.m.
Eastern is 0-2 this season with losses to West Washington (20-16) and North Daviess (43-12). The Musketeers are a young team as 75% of their roster is made up of freshmen and sophomores.
It’s a team that Brownstown has traditionally handled in the past, but May is cautioning his players to not think that.
May hopes his 16 seniors will lead the charge to make sure the Braves don’t lose focus as they look to improve to 3-0 on the season and May goes for win No. 277 in his tenure at Brownstown Central.
“Like I told the team this morning, anybody can beat anybody, so if we come into the game with a lackadaisical attitude, we aren’t going to play well,” May said. “Our goal is to get better each week.”