BACK IN THE PLAYOFFS — Andrew Connor has guided Indian Creek back to the playoffs this season as the Redskins host Johnstown on Friday night. - Michael D. McElwain

WINTERSVILLE — The Indian Creek football team is hoping a big victory to close out the regular season will spur the Redskins on as they are set to open postseason play this week.

Indian Creek trailed Edison on multiple occasions last week, however, the Redskins came up with a pair of big plays in overtime en route to defeating the Wildcats, 21-15, last Friday on the road out at the Edison Unified Sports Complex.

“The kids played hard,” Indian Creek (9-1) head coach Andrew Connor said. “A big thing is how you handle adversity. It goes back to the second half against St. Clairsville. We did a good job of handling adversity in the second half of that game, and we were able to keep it going against Edison. Our kids have learned how to play from behind. They keep fighting, and they showed that last Friday night.”

The game was Indian Creek’s second-straight to go into overtime. The week before, Indian Creek came up short against St. Clairsville as the Red Devils escaped Kettlewell Stadium with a 28-21 victory, handing the Redskins their lone loss of the regular season.

“I went a long time without having an overtime game,” Connor said. “To get this last one was important. You don’t want to have back-to-back losses in overtime going into the state playoffs.

“Both teams played very well. I have to give Coach Pierro a lot of credit. He did an excellent job. His kids were prepared to play. It was a great win for us against a good opponent. It was a well-played game both teams.”

This week, sixth-seeded Indian Creek is set to take on No. 11 seed Johnston in the first round of the Ohio Division V, Region 15 playoffs at 7 p.m. Friday night at home.

“They run the ball,” Connor said about the Johnnies. “That’s the No. 1 thing. They have a really good tailback. They have a good fullback. It’s like old-school football. They run traps. They get their fullback involved. Their tailback does a good job of running the ball inside, but he is also able to bounce it outside. They throw it enough to keep you honest.”

Johnstown defeated Zanesville (0-10), 70-26, and Centerburg (9-1), 42-14 to open the season before falling to Granville (7-3), 33-14, and Mount Vernon (6-4), 35-34, in overtime the next two weeks. The Johnnies flipped the script the next week as Johnstown defeated Watkins Memorial (4-6), 43-42, in overtime to get back over .500 on the season. Johnstown then lost for the third time in four weeks as Heath (6-4) came away with a 14-7 win in Week 6, however, the Johnnies ended the regular season on a four-game winning streak as Johnstown defeated Northridge (4-6), 51-15, Lakewood (0-10), 71-0, and Utica (4-6), 56-20, before closing out the regular season with a 52-7 victory against Newark Catholic (2-8).

“They run a basic four-man front,” Connor said. “Their linebackers do a good job of getting to the ball. They do a good job of not giving up the big play. They have played really well defensively the last three weeks. We are going to have to maintain our blocks and stay in front of the chains.”

Winning the line of scrimmage will be crucial in determining the winner Friday night.

“Our offensive line to their defensive line, I would say we have the advantage,” Connor said. “We are a little bigger. We have our two tailbacks Gavin (Pownall) and Bruce. We want to establish the run, and feed our passing game off that. Ian does a good job for us.

“We have some big guys on our defensive line. They play hard. I thought Friday night was their best. They have quality guys on their offensive line. Their tackles are big. They do a lot of things well. They are a good football team. I would say we have a slight advantage size-wise.”

The Redskins cannot afford to become one dimensional against the Johnnies.

“I think the biggest thing for us is we are going to have to mix up our offense,” Connor said. “We don’t want to be one dimensional. It will be important for us to get our running game going. We have the two good tailbacks, and we want to mix in the quarterback run along with Ian throwing the football. Last week, I thought we did a really good job in our 2-minute empty set. We had some good pass plays out of that. We want to stay in front of the chains. Defensively, we are going to have to stop the run. That’s not hard to figure out. We are going to have to be able to stop the run. They want to run the ball, and we are going to have to be able to stop it. We have to make them throw the football.”

Indian Creek will get a big lift from playing in front of its home crowd this week.

“You don’t want have to travel,” Connor said. “You don’t want to have to get on a bus. Being able to stay home is big. Our region is wide open. You don’t want to have to travel 2 hours and 20 minutes. It is a lot easier being able to stay home. We are expecting a big crowd. This is only the second home playoff game we have had in school history. It is going to be a great atmosphere. Playing in that, is going to be a big plus for us.”

The Redskins have made the playoffs in back-to-back seasons, and the Red-and-Gold have now made it to the postseason 10 times in school history with the first trip coming back in 1996.