Indian Creek airs out 34-10 win over North Putnam

North Putnam Cougars hosted the Indian Creek Braves in the first match-up ever between the two schools on Friday night.

The Braves took control of the game in the second half to pick up a 34-10 win between two Western Indiana Conference teams.

The bigger Braves wore down the Cougars. Indian Creek held North to just two yards rushing on 18 attempts, while piling up 174 yards on the ground themselves. The rushing disparity led to Indian Creek taking control early in the third quarter and cruising to the victory.

“We knew they were big up front. We were worried about their size. We knew we couldn’t run inside, but we didn’t expect this. We wanted to run, but they took that away from us,” North Putnam first-year head coach Sam Carnes said.

The Braves didn’t waste any time in striking first. On their first possession, Taylor Voris hit Brade Trietsch with a 62-yard touchdown pass on their first play from scrimmage. The PAT kick was no good, but Indian Creek would have a 6-0 lead.

The Cougars rallied on their next possession. North used a nine-play drive to march down to the one-yard line, but an illegal procedure penalty pushed them back and they had to settle for a Gage Bell 22-yard field goal.

The two teams traded a couple of scoreless possessions until the Braves found their running game in the second quarter. Indian Creek rushed the ball six of eight plays to increase their lead to 14-3 on an Avery Welch five-yard touchdown run. Welch also scored the two-point conversion.

The resilient Cougars bounced right back. Hayden Rudes completed four-of-six passes on the ensuing possession and then kept the ball himself on a four-yard touchdown scramble. Bell kicked the PAT and North was in striking distance at 14-10.

Indian Creek got its second big play using the Voris-to-Trietsch combination. A 49-yard pass set up Welch’s second touchdown of the game and had the Braves up 21-10 at the half.

The Cougar defense couldn’t slow down Indian Creek after the intermission. The Braves scored on their first possession of the second half. Mixing up the pass and the run, Indian Creek marched 73 yards on the first possession of the third quarter to go up 27-10.

On the ensuing Cougar possession, North had its first turnover of the game. The Braves recovered a fumble near midfield and, although they didn’t score on that possession they took a lot of time off the clock and kept wearing down the Cougars.

“We are a good passing team, but we made a few mistakes, dropped a couple of passes. We were a couple of drops and missed tackles away from being a whole different ballgame,” Carnes said. “We have a tendency, when things go bad not to trust our reads. We tend to play backyard football and mistakes happen.”

The Cougars hope to get untracked next week as they host the Southmont Mounties.

Indian Creek 6 15 6 7 — 34

North Putnam 3 7 0 0 — 10

IC — Brandon Trietsch 62 pass from Taylor Voris (kick failed), 6-0, Q1 9:10.

NP — Gage Bell 22 field goal, 6-3, Q1 6:15.

IC — Avery Welch 5 run (Welch run) 14-3, Q2 6:13.

NP – Hayden Rudes 4 run (Bell kick) 14-10, Q2 4:10.

IC – Welch 5 run (Voris kick) 21-10, Q2 2:30.

IC – Welch 15 run (kick failed) 27-10, Q3 8:05.

IC – Michael Perkins 1 run (Voris kick) 34-10, Q4 9:15

IC NP

First downs 19 10

Rushes-yards 44-174 18-2

Passing yards 241 223

Comp-Att-Int 11-19-0 14-33-2

Total offense 63-415 51-225

Punts-Avg. 3-41.7 7-37.2

Fumbles-lost 1-0 2-1

Penalties-yards 10-80 5-45

Individual statistics

Rushing — Indian Creek: Avery Welch 14-126, Michael Perkins 13-34, Isaiah Lacey 2-17, Dylan Sprong 1-13, Mendel Shank 6-5, Aaron Hart 1-(-4), Taylor Voris 7-(-17). North Putnam: Ethan Christy 4-5, Lucious Alexander 1-5, Gage Bell 1-1, Scott Proctor 1-0, Chris Murray 2-(-4), Hayden Rudes 9-(-5).

Passing — Indian Creek: Voris 11-19-0 241. North Putnam: Rudes 13-31-1 218, Alexander 1-2-0 5.

Receiving — Indian Creek: Brade Trietsch 3-124, Sprong 4-66, Lacey 4-51 North Putnam: James Uplegor 3-80, Bell 2-41, Evan Davies 3-29, Christy 2-28, Alexander 1-25, Dillon Binnion 2-13, Darrin Tennis 2-7.