Brownstown hosting North Harrison for Senior Night

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By Dylan Wallace | The Tribune

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Brownstown Central head coach Reed May vividly remembered when Salem held his offense to 12 points in 2020 and scored a victory over Brownstown.

So last Friday when the Braves hosted the Lions for a big game in the Mid-Southern Conference, he challenged his offense, specifically his offensive line.

“Challenged the offensive line that we need to move the ball, and I thought except for the two kickoff returns, we dominated the first half, so I was really pleased with them,” May said.

Special teams is an area May said he wants to be more consistent in, but for the most part, the Braves answered the challenge and came away with a 35-26 victory to improve to 4-0 on the season.

They did so without some key players, as well. Ethan Fultz (thumb injury) and Kiernan Tiemeyer (out due to a targeting penalty from the week prior) were unavailable, forcing May to insert sophomore Lane Zike at slotback and move Adam Wayt to outside linebacker and Eli Wischmeier to middle linebacker.

Zike finished the game with 93 yards and a touchdown on 16 carries, while Wischmeier finished with six tackles, including one for loss.

“I thought those kids stepped up,” May said. “To be 4-0 at this point is a great achievement for us. So far, I think we’ve overcome some adversity. Hopefully, we continue to get better. We want to be at our best come tournament time.”

The next opponent on slate for Brownstown is North Harrison at home Friday night.

The Cougars are currently 1-3 on the season with losses to Salem (38-0), Scottsburg (42-30) and Charlestown (39-7). Their only win came in Week 3 against Corydon Central, 28-7.

“They do a bunch of different things offensively,” May said. “We just need to make sure we’re lined up right and playing the right gap responsibilities on defense.”

Even though North Harrison has struggled this season, May used a college example from last Saturday when Florida State got beat by Jacksonville State, telling his team, “If you don’t play well, these people can beat you.”

Friday night also marks senior night for Brownstown.

The Braves will be honoring 16 seniors: Jake Pauley, Tiemeyer, Wyatt Steward, Brandon Reynolds, Trapper Dean, Nick Goecker, Thad Goecker, Cooper Wolka, Jonathon Garvey, Wischmeier, Cole Darlage, Kahne Bell, Brayden Millick, Dustyn Kocsis, Xavier Huffman and Creed Gambrel.

“Seniors, that’s your lifeblood of your program,” May said. “To be honest with you, I didn’t know three or four of them how much playing time they would actually get this year even though they were seniors. But they’ve played well this year.”

For Pauley, he said he doesn’t feel like a senior.

“It’s crazy,” he said. “It came so quick. You’ve got to enjoy all of it.”

So far this season, Pauley has 50 carries for 344 yards and seven touchdowns, but he gives all of the credit to the O-line, with whom he grew up playing.

“I rely on them a lot,” he said. “If they’re not there, I’m not running the ball. They create holes for me to get big runs. I grew up with all of them. We played together in middle school, and now, we’re here.”

May believes a big reason the O-line has been successful is because he hasn’t had to start any of them on the defensive line, which May said is rare at this level.

All of them are seniors starting up front.

“The good news is we have 10 seniors starting on offense,” May said. “The bad news is for next year, we have 10 seniors starting on offense.”

But for Friday, May wants the team to enjoy everything and take care of business during the game.

It also just so happens that all 16 seniors for Brownstown will start Friday night, and May doesn’t start players just because of their class standing.

“We don’t just start people just because they’re seniors on senior night,” May said. “So to actually have all 16 of those kids in a starting role come Friday night, I’m very proud of them for that.”

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