By John Regruth
For The Tribune
Brownstown Central’s football team literally made quick work of North Harrison during a 43-12 victory on Friday night.
Five of the Braves’ six scoring drives took less than 90 seconds, including points-bearing possessions of 11, 18 and 45 seconds.
By contrast, North Harrison’s deliberate, piecemeal, run-centric offense consumed huge chunks of time throughout the game, giving a distorted sense of the importance of time of possession. The Cougars possessed the ball for 38 of the games 48 minutes and ran 64 plays to just 26 snaps for Brownstown’s offense.
“They’re a ground-and-pound offense, so we knew we were going to have to score pretty quickly,” Brownstown head coach Reed May said.
The Brave who played with the greatest sense of urgency was Kiernan Tiemeyer.
The senior was kept out of last week’s game against Salem due to a targeting penalty the previous week at Madison.
Because of a knee injury suffered by regular quarterback Carson Darlage, May put Tiemeyer at quarterback on Friday.
Tiemeyer didn’t disappoint, running for 247 yards and four touchdowns on just 12 carries. He also threw a 32-yard touchdown pass to fellow senior Jake Pauley.
“I wasn’t too excited to play quarterback because I like to play slot,” Tiemeyer said. “But because I didn’t get to play last week, I’ve been excited to get back for the last two weeks.”
Tiemeyer scored BC’s first two touchdowns in the first quarter on runs of 65 and 55 yards. He added scoring runs of three and 28 yards in the second half.
“Kiernan’s a great athlete,” May said. “He wanted to make up for not playing last week. He played a great game tonight.”
Pauley added 101 rushing yards on just five attempts for Brownstown, including a 54-yard run that set up his 32-yard TD reception.
Lane Zike also scored for the Braves, carrying the ball 13 yards for a touchdown in the third quarter.
Cooper Wolka, meanwhile, made all five of his extra-point attempts and now has made 17 straight.
On the field for long stretches, the Braves’ defense produced impressive numbers. Eli Wischmeier, for instance, led with a game-high 15 tackles, including one for loss.
Ryan Branaman followed with 11 tackles. Dustin Kocsis ended with three tackles for losses of seven yards. Cole Darlage, Adam Wayt and Bryce Neal also added tackles for loss.
Friday’s victory, BC’s fourth straight over North Harrison, sends Brownstown into next week’s intra-county rivalry game against Seymour with a perfect 5-0 record.
Since the two Jackson County schools resumed their series in 2007, Brownstown has taken a perfect record into the matchup seven previous times. Seymour has handed BC its first loss of the season in three of those seven games, including two of the last three.
Brownstown, however, has the edge in the series since the ’07 reboot with an 8-6 record. That mark includes a win in last year’s breathtaking contest, which featured three touchdowns and three lead changes in the final 40 seconds.
“It’s a great county rivalry,” May said. “We’re 5-0. They’ve got that great win over (Columbus) East. Whenever you get to play your county rival, it’s going to be a great game.”
Tiemeyer added, “The atmosphere is crazy. It’s always a good game, no matter what. We’ve got to get ready.”