×

Poland Seminary shuts down, eliminates Indian Creek, 35-0

UP THE MIDDLE — Indian Creek’s Trevor Fante rushes during a Division IV, Region 13 playoff contest against Poland Seminary on Saturday. -Andrew Grimm

SALEM — Indian Creek’s group of 15 seniors gave veteran head coach Andrew Connor and the Redskin community a season to remember. Unfortunately, it came to an end Saturday night inside Salem’s Sebo Stadium.

The Redskins, who drop the curtain with a program-best 10 wins, fell 35-0 to Poland Seminary in the Division IV, Region 13 semifinals in Creek’s first appearance in the second round of postseason play in school history.

For Connor, what his group accomplished was about much more than what occurred in the 48 minutes of football.

“I told the kids that one game doesn’t define who we are as a program and what we have done this season,” he said. “We had a great run, and we have great kids. They displayed that tonight by playing hard. I’m very proud of this group and what they have accomplished this year.”

Despite the score being 28-0 at halftime, the third-seeded Redskins battled in the second half and held the second-seed Bulldogs (10-2) off the board in the half until late in the fourth quarter. Creek recorded 86 of its 96 yards of offense in the second half, as well as six of its seven first downs.

“In the second half, we challenged our kids, and they played hard until the last zeros were up on the board,” Connor said. “We challenged them at halftime, ‘Who are you and what are you made of?’ I expected them to play to the end. I think they displayed who they are in that second half.

“At 28-0, it would have been easy to let the flood gates open and pack it in, but they didn’t. They went out there and fought and played as hard as they could. For that, I’m going to be eternally grateful. At no point could you tell what the score of the football game was by how hard we were playing, and that says a lot about these kids.”

Connor and company knew coming in the Bulldogs were big and physical up front, and that gave the Redskins trouble all night.

“It wore on us a little bit,” Connor said. “One of the things they do well is run the football. I thought maybe we were a little nervous about what would happen up front and they got the better of us up front on both sides of the football.”

Indian Creek’s standout senior tailback Trevor Fante was limited to just 34 yards on 11 carries, while senior quarterback Same Mazar threw for 31 yards — all in the first half — and ran for an additional 39.

“They won more of those one-on-one battles,” Connor said. “Poland is a very good football team. They are well coached and well disciplined.”

After three-and-outs by both sides on the first four combined possessions, the big momentum swing came in the form of a bad snap on an Indian Creek punt. The snap eluded Mazar, who was punting from deep in his own end, and was recovered on the 1-yard line by the Bulldogs.

On the next snap, senior Poland running back Joshua Alessi plowed in to make it 7-0. From that point on, Creek never was able to get the momentum from the Bulldogs.

“Any time you have a momentum-breaker, it’s one of those things you hope you can come back from,” Connor said. “It’s tough when you give the ball away at your own 1.”

Alessi finished with 143 yards and three scores on 25 carries, while Poland racked up 228 rush yards in the game.

“They had a good defensive game plan, it took us a couple series to get going,” Poland head coach Ryan Williams said. “Games like that are momentum games, and when you can get a play and steal a possession like that, it makes a big difference. We were real fortunate to have that.

“I was real proud of our guys up front. I was real proud of the effort. Indian Creek was a well coached football team. I’m happy with how well prepared our guys were.”

He added another score on a 17-yard run with 32 seconds left in the opening quarter, making it 14-0. Then, after another Creek three-and-out, Andrew Contafantii hauled in a 37-yard pass from Jack Fulton off of play action to make it 21-0.

Alessi added a 6-yard run with 1:46 left before the break to make it 28-0 at the half. Creek did not gain a first down until its final possession of the half.

Despite moving the ball better in the second half, the Redksins were not able to get on the scoreboard, as the only points in the second half came on a Fulton to Michael Voitus 22-yard connection with 4:55 to play.

SENIOR FAREWELL

Indian Creek had 15 seniors suit up for the final time. They were Mazar, Fante, Bradnon Fleming, Klay Cottis, Sam Baksa, Kaleb Fenske, Brock Lucas, Bradon Hiles, Tyler Smarrella, Dylan McMillen, Logan Scheel, Garren Swickard, Jacob Hejduk, Shawn McClurg and Devon Thatcher.

“I’m really, really going to miss this senior class,” Connor said. “What they have accomplished in their time here has been tremendous. Where they have taken our program this year gives us something to try and emulate from year to year now. I love these guys.

“They raised the bar. They were good leaders, not just when things were going well, but also when we suffered adversity. They always put the program first and always tried to represent Indian Creek with the most pride they could.”

(Grimm can be reached at agrimm@heraldstaronline.com)

Poland 35, Indian Creek 0

Indian Creek 0-0-0-0 — 0

Poland 14-14-0-7 — 35

P: Alessi 1 run (Kushner kick) 6:00

P: Alessi 17 run (Kushner kick) :32

P: Contafantii 37 pass from Fulton (Kushner kick) 10:26

P: Alessi 6 run (Kushner kick) 1:46

P: Voitus 22 pass from Fulton (Kushner kick) 4:55

RUSHING: Indian Creek 34-65 (Mazar 17-39, Fante 11-34, Fleming 4-15, team 1-(-24); Poland 47-228-3TD (Alessi 25-143-3TD, Rutana 8-31, Ellis 2-6, Fulton 4-22, Kountz 1-4, Caudle 4-5, Kluchar 1-15).

PASSING: Indian Creek 7-17-31-INT (all by Mazar); Poland 3-7-82-2TD (all by Fulton).

RECEIVING: Indian Creek 7-31 (Fleming 1-0, Cottis 2-22, Baksa 2-9, Fante 1-(-5), Fenske 1-5); Poland 3-82-2TD (Contafantii 2-60-TD, Voitus 1-22-TD).

FIRST DOWNS: Indian Creek 7; Poland 14.

PENALTIES-YARDS: Indian Creek 5-58; Poland 4-30.

FUMBLES-LOST: Indian Creek 3-1; Poland 0-0.

PUNTS: Indian Creek 7-30.4; Poland 2-39.5.

NEWSLETTER

Today's breaking news and more in your inbox

I'm interested in (please check all that apply)
Are you a paying subscriber to the newspaper? *

Starting at $4.73/week.

Subscribe Today