Photos by: Marc Debonis–
Story by Mike Roorbach for The News Herald—
In spite of four fumbles, and a stiff wind that caused difficulties for both team, the Eastbrook Panthers “ran up” 381 yards of offense to defeat the Oak Hill Golden Eagles 28-14 on Friday night in front of a capacity crowd at the Panthers Homecoming. The Panthers combination of speed, a hurry up precision offense, and the running back trio of Luke Elliott, Andrew Barajas, and Peyton Watson overcame the Eagles recovering four fumbles and denying Eastbrook any complete passes and provided the edge needed to prevail in this battle of undefeated teams.
Eastbrook, ranked #5 in Class 2A, moved to 7-0, 5-0 in the Central Indiana Conference, and is now the odds-on favorite to win the CIC. Oak Hill, ranked #7 in Class 2A, fell to 6-1, 4-1 in the CIC. The Panthers also once again claimed the coveted Milk Can, the symbol of dominance among Grant County teams. The game was hyped because of each team’s success through the first six weeks of the season and Oak Hill had won the matchup in 2012 and 2014. However, Eastbrook’s win now makes it 2-2 between them in the last four years.
The game was played in 50 degrees and 25 mph breezes that had the capacity crowd bundled up in winter gear and kept the players on the sidelines moving around to keep warm. It limited the teams to two completed passes on only 12 attempts and the game was over in just over two hours as the game clock ran most of the time.
Eastbrook kicked off with the wind at their back and Oak Hill had the first possession. They picked up a first down and the next series, facing fourth down and two yards to go from their own 46 yard line, they elected not to punt into the strong wind. Eastbrook stopped the Oak Hill run, took possession, and aided by a roughing the passer penalty, marched into the end zone in eight plays. Luke Elliott carried it in from the one, the PAT by Ethan Cramer was good and Eastbrook took a lead it never gave up, 7-0 with 6:36 left in the first quarter.
The second Oak Hill possession resulted in a quick punt and the Panthers took over once again in Eagles’ territory at the 49 yard line. Lead by their junior quarterback Jackson Liddick, using a no-huddle offense and quick hitting runs, the result was a duplicate eight-play drive that yielded a duplicate result with Luke Elliott scoring this time from the six yard line. Another Cramer PAT and only ten minutes into the game it was 14-0 and it appeared the Panthers would have their way all evening.
But the next series the Eagles inserted senior running back Joel Durkes and it showed immediate dividends. Durkes was injured earlier in the season and was held out of the previous week’s game to be totally healthy for this important matchup. However, Coach Bud Ozmun didn’t use him the first two possessions. With the big senior running, and drawing attention when he wasn’t carrying the ball, junior quarterback Adam McDivitt engineered a drive and contributed his own 21 yard run to it. The Eagles moved the ball down to the Eastbrook 20 yard line before the Panther’s defense stiffened and took over on downs when a fourth and 16 pass attempt failed. But Oak Hill had shown that they could move the ball.
The next possessions by each team resulted in giving the ball back to the other team. Eastbrook fumbled at the Oak Hill 37 and Oak Hill turned it over on downs at their 46. This time Eastbrook used their small (5’4”, 130 pound) speedy illusive sophomore running back Andrew Barajas who ran through the defense for a 44 yard TD. Cramer was accurate on the PAT against the wind and it was 21-0, Panthers.
The Eagles weren’t done. Although forced to punt by a hard hitting sack by the Panther’s Blayne Altum, Oak Hill used the wind to allow a punt to roll to the three yard line. Two plays later Eastbrook fumbled, it was recovered by Oak Hill linebacker Kade Sheffield and Durkes scored on a three yard run. Reese Metzger kicked the extra point and it was 21-7.
Eastbrook’s final drive of the half moved the ball 75 yards from their own 21 to the Oak Hill 14. With time running out three passes into the wind fell incomplete and Oak Hill got the ball with 8.5 seconds left in the half.
The scoreboard read Eastbrook 21, Oak Hill 7 at the half. The chance to get inside was welcomed by both teams and the halftime was extended to 20 minutes because of the halftime festivities.
On the first play of the second half, the Eastbrook running back was stripped of the football and Oak Hill recovered on the 32 yard line. With Durkes and McDivitt sharing the duties the Eagles scored when McDivitt carried it the last 14 yards. Metzger converted the PAT and it was 21-14.
The last score of the game came on the ensuing Eastbrook possession. Starting from their own 20 because of a wind-aided kickoff that went into the endzone, Eastbrook then used the trio of Watson, Elliott, and Barajas to go 80 years for a score. The last 51 yards were from the speedy feet of Barajas. Cramer once again was perfect and with 6:21 to go the scoring for the night was over. 28-14 Eastbrook.
The remainder of the game the teams took turns giving the ball up. Eastbrook’s method was fumble (they gave up four fumbles in the game) and twice turned it over on downs when fourth down plays failed. Oak Hill gave it back twice by failing to make it on fourth down tries and twice on punts. Each time the Eagles offense was hampered by illegal procedure penalties (they had six on the night). In spite of the failure to score by each team the intensity and outcome of the game was in the balance until the final Panther possession which lasted seven minutes and took the ball down to the Oak Hill 19 yard line. There they turned it over on downs with 1:54 to go.
Eastbrook Coach Jeff Adamson remarked after the game, “We beat a very good team tonight. They are fundamentally sound, so disciplined and are a real credit to Coach Ozmun. We had a speed advantage and were glad to come away with the win. Wind was a tremendous factor and made the ball hard to hold onto. The fumbles are a matter of concentration but I have to give credit to Oak Hill.” When asked to cite one player who had exceeded his expectations in the game he said “(Junior LB) Zac Ketring did a good job. He’s worked with Coach Tom Wilson on technique and he did well.”
Oak Hill coach Bud Ozmun: “I’m proud of our guys. We kept fighting and our defense kept us in it. We’re obviously disappointed but we feel good about our guys. Their speed is dangerous. Speed like that at multiple positions is hard to contain and difficult to simulate in practices preparing for it.” When asked to pick who he thought exceeded his expectations he chose junior QB/DB Adam McDivitt and senior LB/TE Josh Turanchick. When asked about Durkes’ injury situation, Ozmun said “He’s in good shape. That’s a positive for us and it’ll be nice to have him back at full strength next week.”
The statistics show Eastbrook held a 381-140 advantage in total yards gained, with all but Oak Hill’s 24 yards passing coming on runs. Eastbrook had four turnovers to none for the Eagles. Oak Hill had nine penalties to only 3 for the Panthers. The leading rusher in the game was Barajas with 168 yards on 15 carries. Durkes lead Oak Hill with 50 yards on 14 carries.
Next week Eastbrook travels to Frankton and Oak Hill hosts Mississinewa.
