Gallery by Tina Laney
Friday night when Shady Spring came to George C. Covey Field in Coal City, the Class AA defending state champion Patriots had some questions to answer.
How would Indy bounce back from the combination of its first regular season loss since 2020 and a bye week? How was star running back Tyler Linksweiler’s health after an injury in the Oak Hill loss?
Independence answered those questions by putting the express back on the tracks and kicking it into high gear.
Sparked by big plays and a trio of backs that went over 100 yards rushing each, the Patriots rolled past county rival Shady Spring 63-12.
“We knew we had a big chore ahead of us, so I am really proud of our kids,” veteran head coach John H. Lilly said. “They hadn’t lost a game since 2020 and to rebound after an open date is really hard to do.”
Coming in on a two-game winning streak, Shady Spring had hoped for a more competitive contest after lopsided losses in each of the last three seasons.
The home team knocked the wind out of the visitor’s sails on the opening drive.
“I think Shady is a good football team. We have watched them the last two weeks and they have been very, very explosive on offense. We worked really hard this week on slowing down their quick seam passing routes,” Lilly said. “They do a really goad job throwing in those seams. We had RaSean (Simms) just man (Jalon Bailey) up and linebackers try to take away seams.”
Three plays into the game, Trey Bowers jumped in front of a pass for an interception and returned it 40 yards for the games first score and the Tigers never recovered.
Bowers was only playing safety due to the injury sustained by Linksweiler.
“I have been waiting for that. I didn’t even get an interception last year,” Bowers said smiling. “Yesterday they told me I was playing safety since Tyler was out. I had never played safety before today, so it was fun.”
The senior standout also had a pretty good idea what was coming, even early in the game.
“I can see a lot more back there at safety than I can at corner,” Bowers said. “(Shady Spring quarterback) Brady (Green) is a heck of a quarterback, but I just read his eyes and I saw Jalon Bailey coming across the middle. See ball, go get ball, so that is what I did.”
After the two teams exchanged punts, Green hit Nate Easley who eluded the defenders down the sideline for a 50-yard gain.
Sitting at the Independence 10-yard line, Gavin Davis ran off the left side to two-yard line giving Shady a golden opportunity to tie the game.
Unfortunately for the Tigers, the end result was three plays that netted zero yards and a turnover on downs.
“That was big, but we have done that a few times already (this year) and we did it again (tonight),” Shady Spring head coach Vince Culicerto said. “Against them you just can’t. Maybe if we had scored we could have got some momentum, but the injuries early got us and we had one big boy out ill. They beats us. We didn’t have enough for them.”
Linksweiler entered the game for the first time on the ensuing drive and provided a quick spark with runs of 11 yards and 26 yards.
“He separated his shoulder at Oak Hill and he hasn’t really practiced, so it was a last minute thing,” Bowers said about Linksweiler playing Friday. “I didn’t even know he was playing until I got here today. He had a good night and he always runs hard. He’s tough.”
After Linksweiler gave the Patriots some breathing room, Bowers hit Shady with another gut punch when he broke loose for a 70-yard touchdown run.
Following major losses on the line due to graduation, the play up front for the Patriots was a question mark coming into the season.
“They are developing every week. We had a good bye week and they went hard. They will keep improving every week,” Bowers said. “That (run) was all the line, but when I get in the open field it is hard to catch me.”
The hole became even deeper for the Tigers when the kickoff was fumbled and Indy recovered at the Shady 31-yard line.
Six plays later Linksweiler rolled in from three yards out for a 21-0 lead after the first quarter.
“Several things happened there at the beginning and you are like, no way. You have some confidence and feel like you can play a little better, then right from the get go those things happen,” Culicerto said. “We are still trying to fix some things, but they were better. They are really good.”
Going through extensive work and begging his mom to allow him to play, Linksweiler carried the ball nine times for 112 yards and two touchdowns.
“The first quarter against Oak Hill I popped my shoulder out of place. It was hassle with rehab and therapy just to get back in a matter of two small weeks,” Linksweiler said. “I just have to thank God that I was able to come out here and play tonight. It is unheard of after your shoulder popping out to play in two weeks. I had to beg my mom because she didn’t want to see me hurt again.”
Linksweiler’s second score came with 9:20 to play in the second quarter before Bowers rolled in from one yard out giving Indy a 35-0 halftime lead.
“You bottle up (Bowers) and he makes a play out of nothing,” Culicerto said. “That happened a couple times, but we just don’t have anyone that can run him down.”
Bowers ran for 110 yards and threw for 124 more on a night where he had his hands in four touchdowns.
The second half opened with Connor Bradford racing 69 yards to paydirt. The score went to 49-0 when Bowers hit Simms on a slant which the speedster took 65 yards to the house.
An Independence fumble inside its own five yard line, turned into a Gavin Davis touchdown run to get Shady on the board, but the excitement was short lived.
Taylor Dove immediately took the kickoff back 72 yards for another Indy score.
Bradford rounded out the Patriot (2-1) scoring explosion with a 31-yard jaunt later in the third quarter and led all rushers with 154 yards on ten carries.
Shady’s final score came on a three-yard pass from Green to Bailey.
With road tests the next two weeks at Mingo Central and Bluefield, Lilly was pleased with his offense, especially the development of the young men up front.
“We made some moves. We put Derrick Hypes at the tight end/sniffer position. His knee is getting better every week from that surgery in the offseason,” Lilly said. “He is a big guy and that helped a lot. Our line is slowly getting better and we knew it would take time. With two big ones back to back, we needed tonight to get our offense on track.”
Shady Spring (2-2) will look to rebound when it travels to PikeView Friday.
SS: 0 0 6 6 – 12
I: 21 14 28 0 – 63
First quarter
I: Trey Bowers 40 INT return (Micah Cuthbert kick)
I: Bowers 70 run (Cuthbert kick)
I: Tyler Linksweiler 3 run (Cuthbert kick)
Second quarter
I: Linksweiler 11 run (Cuthbert kick)
I: Bowers 1 run (Cuthbert kick)
Third quarter
I: Connor Bradford 69 run (Cuthbert kick)
I: RaSean Simms from Bowers 65 pass (Cuthbert kick)
SS: Gavin Davis 1 run (kick no good)
I: Taylor Dove 72 Kick return (Cuthbert kick)
I: Bradford 31 run (Cuthbert kick)
Fourth quarter
SS: Jalon Bailey 3 pass from Brady Green (rush failed)
Stats:
Rushing: (SS) Green 10-(-8), Davis 10-(-1)-1, Evan Romage 7-32; Bowers 8-110-2, Bradford 10-154-2, Linksweiler 9-112-2, Landon Riddle 1-7, Sylas Nelson 1-5, Lucas Waddell 4-24.
Passing: (SS) Green 14-30-156-1-1; Bowers 5-10-124-1-1.
Receiving: (SS) Bailey 6-42-1, Davis 1-2, Easley 3-64, Gabe Knoblet 3-42, Ryder Laws 1-17; Nelson 2-4, Christian Linksweiler 1-16, Dalton Adkins 1-39, Simms 1-65-1
