WESTPORT
For Indian Creek quarterback Gynson Robley, there was much to like about Friday night’s offensive showing.
“The key to our football team is getting the running game going, and that opened up everything,” Robley said. “We had good play calls, got us in a rhythm.
“Our receivers were open, and I gave them the ball.”
Robley tossed four touchdown passes in Indian Creek’s 43-14 romp against South Decatur in the final Mid-Indiana Football Conference game for the Braves.
Indian Creek finished the regular season with five consecutive victories to improve to 6-3 and 4-1 in the Mid-Indiana.
“We weren’t happy about being 1-3, but we play so many kids and we’re so young,” Braves coach Mike Gillin said. “We got back to coaching hard and practicing hard. We really played well in the last three weeks.”
The Braves established the running game early and took an 8-0 lead on Elijah Dunn’s 5-yard touchdown run and Dunn’s conversion run. Dunn finished with 61 rushing yards on 14 carries.
“Dunn is making our passing game a lot better because we’re getting our running game going with him,” Gillin said.
The game finished with a running clock for the last five-plus minutes as injuries mounted for South Decatur and the game got out of reach.
“It was more, ‘Let’s play it safe and lick our wounds,” said South Decatur coach Tony Bell, who has just 30 players on his roster.
Late in the first quarter, Cougars quarterback Jordan Ortman scored a 1-yard run to narrow the deficit to 8-7. The Braves quickly answered with a 51-yard TD pass from Robley to Bryce Hogue. A two-point conversion pass from Robley to Austin Coy gave Indian Creek a 16-7 lead with 22 seconds left in the first quarter.
In the second quarter, Dunn’s 4-yard TD run made it 22-7. The conversion pass failed.
South Decatur cut the deficit to 22-14 on Damon Allen’s 19-yard touchdown run in the third quarter. Robley tossed a 3-yard TD pass to Austin, followed by Robley hitting Hogue for the conversion score, making it 30-14.
Robley followed with TD passes of 53 yards to freshman Isaiah Lacey and 17 to Parker Osborn. Robley completed 14 of 20 passes for 280 yards.
Allen led the Cougars (5-4, 2-3) with 151 yards on 25 carries.
“Allen can play for anyone,” Gillin said. “That kid can run the ball. We knew he give us trouble. I thought we buckled down and played defense in the second half.”
South Decatur quarterback Jordan Ortman was hurt with 2:51 left in the third quarter while playing defensive back. Early in the game, Brandon Farr hurt his ribs and didn’t return. Cecil Richey, a lineman, hurt his ankle in the second half. All three are key two-way players.
“I’m optimistic they’ll be OK and love to think they’re tough boys, and they’ll bounce right back,” Bell said. “But when you have a severe injury, you never know.”
