The Braves during The Star Spangled Banner prior to a home game against Salem September 10, 2021. Brownstown’s season ended Friday night in a 35-14 loss at Lawrenceburg.
Greg Jones | For The Tribune
LAWRENCEBURG — In a depressingly familiar storyline, Brownstown Central’s football team saw a promising season come to an end at the hands of a talented Lawrenceburg squad.
The Braves fell to Lawrenceburg, 35-14, in Friday night’s Class 3A Sectional 31 championship game. It was the third time in the last six seasons that the Tigers have been Brownstown’s stopping point.
Brownstown’s running game was productive against a strong Lawrenceburg defense, but the Braves had difficulty breaking off their signature big plays. The Braves entered Friday’s game averaging nearly eight yards per carry but managed just 5.5 against the Tigers.
After Brownstown tied the game at 7 on a 14-yard touchdown run by Carson Darlage early in the second quarter, Lawrenceburg scored 20 straight points to create insurmountable separation on the Braves.
Showing fight until the end, Brownstown assembled a final impressive drive in the fourth quarter, travelling 74 yards on 17 plays over a seven-minute stretch.
The Braves converted on three fourth downs during the possession before Kiernan Tiemeyer scored on a three-yard run.
Brownstown ended with 285 rushing yards, with Darlage running for a team-high 160 yards. Friday’s effort was Darlage’s seventh 100-yard game.
Tiemeyer followed with 61 yards on 14 carries, while Jake Pauley finished with 38 yards on 11 attempts.
Lawrenceburg (11-1) advances to next week’s regional where the winner of the Sectional 32 championship between Gibson Southern and Heritage Hills awaits.
Friday’s win gives Lawrenceburg three consecutive sectional titles.
For Brownstown (11-1), meanwhile, the loss denied it a 14th sectional title. The Braves are now 13-8 in sectional championship games.
The Tigers have now defeated BC four consecutive times and hold a 8-2 record over Brownstown. The Braves last beat Lawrenceburg in 2009, but have since suffered losses to the Tigers in a memorable one-point semistate battle in 2016 and then in sectional contests in 2017, 2020 and on Friday night.
Despite the loss, Brownstown’s players and coaches have much to be proud of in their 2021 effort, including: an undefeated regular season, the 12th in the team’s history, a third straight win over county rival Seymour, and the program’s 20th Mid-Southern Conference title.
The Braves won their first 11 games of the season, a feat accomplished eight previous times in the program’s history but not since the 2013 season.