Gallery by Heather Belcher
Summersville – Independence head coach John H. Lilly needed to take a moment to compose himself after Friday’s game.
Steaming, he spoke bluntly about the 11 penalties that cost his team 115 yards.
“I’m not happy with it and it will be addressed on Monday,” Lilly said.
Still, there was a lot to be happy about for the veteran head coach such as the fact the Patriots compiled 528 yards of total offense, sacked Nicholas County QB Coleton Hellems six times and intercepted him twice in a 41-14 demolition of the Grizzlies in Memorial Stadium.
The Patriots thrived on big plays on both sides of the ball. After losing a yard and punting on their opening drive, they scored on their next four drives needing a total of 21 plays to cap drives of 90, 88, 66 and 81 yards. Neither drive required more than six plays to reach pay dirt.
Indy’s quadruplet of quarterback Brock Green (219 yards passing), running back Sylas Nelson (228 yards rushing) and wide receivers Christian Linksweiler (122 yards receiving) and Dalton Adkins (77 yards receiving) led the charge in terrorizing the Nicholas County defense.
“We had to play man to man, load the box up to try to stop the run,” Nicholas County head coach Gene Morris said. “So when that kind of started, they hit us with a few big plays. And, you know you just have to play zone. You have to make some adjustments. And when you do that, then you’re loosening the box you’re taking one guy out of the box that you had originally to help stop the run.”
Pinned at their own 10 to open their second drive, the Patriots (2-1) relied on Nelson early with a 39-yard run preceding a 38-yard jaunt that opened the scoring.
Nicholas County’s (1-2) next drive stalled out at the Indy 49, but a hold on the punt return aided the home defense with Indy pinned on its own 12. Much like the previous drive, distance was but a number as Green hit on completions of 37 and 47 yards to Adkins and Linksweiler, respectively, resulting in Nelson’s second rushing score, this one from two yards out.
Nicholas again found itself in Indy territory on its following drive but a third-and-15 pass attempt tipped into the Indy secondary and into the hands of Kaden Bradbury at the Indy 20 who returned it to the 34. A run of 16 yards from Nelson and a 33-yard pass to Adkins highlighted another drive that ended in a two-yard score from Nelson.
Seeing no reason to stop, Lilly repeatedly took what the defense gave him with a 67-yard pass to Linksweiler eventually setting up a 19-yard scoring run from Nelson to push the lead to 27-0 with 5:10 to play in the half.
That’s when the penalties began to swing the game. Three consecutive miscues gave the Grizzlies 35 free yards, eventually leading to a 3-yard rushing score from Devin Nash for their only offensive touchdown of the evening.
“I think we’re pretty good football team when we want to be,” Lilly said. “Either we’re incapable of learning or just don’t. We had three touchdown lead in the second half and lose composure, and tonight we had opportunities to do some things and you lose your composure. We’ve got to grow up and get better with those things.”
Indy relied less on explosives after the intermission, scoring its only offensive touchdown on a 1-yard plunge from Green.
Interception returns accounted for the final points with Lucas Milam picking Green and returning it for 69 yards for a touchdown in the third and Bradbury housing one from 52 yards out for Indy with 1:53 to play. It put an exclamation point on a defensive effort that saw Alex Blankenship and Myles Greenway pick up two sacks each with Isiah Conley and Landon Riddle rounding out the pass rush with one apiece.
“They’re just bigger and quicker,” Morris said. “I mean, they’re just gonna send six or send seven sometimes, and they were able to guard us fairly well playing, playing their off-man coverage.”
The offensive output slowed for Indy in the second half after the guests picked up 335 yards of offense in the first. Still it was a statement win in a contest that featured a pair of playoff hopefuls.
“I’m proud of my team,” Lilly said. “We just got to clean up some stuff and you know, if we’re going to be a great team we can’t (commit that many penalties). We can’t. We can’t lose our composure. If we’re going to be a great team – we can be a good team, or we can choose to be a great team. And the jury’s still out.”
Nicholas County will travel to Lincoln next week while Independence will host fellow Class AA title contender Scott in its home opener.
Email: tylerjackson@lootpress.com and follow on Twitter @tjack94
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