Charlestown’s football team forced its Mid-Southern Conference rivals to do a collective double-take last week with a dominant 44-13 win over Silver Creek.

Any remaining doubters will surely be won over by Friday night’s comfortable 30-13 victory over Brownstown Central.

Shut out in the first half and forced to be one-dimensional offensively, the Braves never seriously threatened Charlestown. Friday’s 13 points are the fewest scored by BC since a 14-12 loss to Salem two years ago.

Brownstown didn’t lack for opportunities to score. Three of its first six possessions reached the red zone (inside the opponents’ 20 yards line), but each was stopped by a stubborn Pirate defense.

In fact, after a 52-yard run by Grant Killey, the Braves had a promising first-and-goal from the Charlestown 9 yard line midway through the first quarter. But the drive ended at the 2 yard line following three consecutive attempts by BC’s most effective runner, quarterback Carson Darlage, were stuffed.

Charlestown, too, had difficulty figuring out Brownstown’s stingy defense, until the Pirates found answers in the second quarter.

Taking advantage of a short-field possession that started at BC’s 29 yard line, Charlestown quarterback Clay McClelland showed off his elusive feet with four rushes for 25 yards, the last of which was a four-yard touchdown plunge.

McClelland then loosened his arm on his team’s next drive, completing three passes for 90 yards. The third toss was a slant to Jake Otterbach that resulted in a 35-yard touchdown, giving the Pirates a 14-0 halftime lead.

Brownstown showed signs of life on their second drive of the second half, getting consecutive 35-yard runs from Darlage and Lane Zike.

Zike’s scamper to the right side resulted in a touchdown and narrowed the Braves’ deficit to 14-7 with 6:57 left in the third quarter.

Charlestown’s passing game, however, proved to be Brownstown’s undoing.

McClelland connected with Ethan French on fourth-quarter TD throws of 16 and 11 yards to keep Brownstown at arm’s length.

Even a 75-yard kickoff return by Zike couldn’t revive the Braves’ chances.

BC ended the game with 276 rushing yards, but unlike last week during a 53-28 win over Corydon, the Braves never got their passing game going. Darlage ended with zero yards on 0-for-5 passing.

Charlestown countered with a more balanced attack, running for 232 yards and throwing for 167.

Ethan Fultz led Brownstown’s defense with eight tackles, followed by Adam Wayt, Keetan Burcham-Jones and Ryan Branaman who each had five stops.

Isiaah Engle provided a highlight with a second-quarter interception that he returned 39 yards.

With its two season-opening wins over potential title contenders, Charlestown (2-0) figures to have the Mid-Southern Conference title in its grasp.

Meanwhile, Friday’s loss knocked Brownstown down to 1-1 both for the season and in the MSC standings.

GAME STATS

Pirates;30

Braves;13

Charlestown (2-0);0;14;0;16;—;30

Brownstown Central (1-1);0;0;7;6;—;13

Second quarter

C: Clay McClelland 4 run (run failed), 6:50

C: Jake Ottersbach 35 pass from McClelland (Zander Morris pass from McClelland), 1:20

Third quarter

BC: Lane Zike 35 run (Gregory Hutcheson kick), 6:57

Fourth Quarter

C: Ethan French 16 pass from McClelland (Zander Morris run), 8:07

BC: Zike 75 kickoff return (pass failed), 7:56

C: French 11 pass from McClelland (Chris Graham run), 5:12

INDIVIDUAL BC STATISTICS

Rushing: Carson Darlage 19-109, Zike 8-74, Grant Killey 6-56, Isiaah Engle 7-26, Quentin Tiemeyer 2-9, Adam Wayt 1-2.

Passing: Darlage 0 for 5.