Independence has enjoyed one of the more successful runs over the last five years.
For the fifth consecutive season the Patriots have advanced to the Class AA quarterfinals where they boast a remarkable 3-1 record.
They’ll hope to improve that mark to 4-1 Saturday when they play host to No. 6 Philip Barbour at 4 p.m.
After trailing 17-14 at halftime of their playoff opener against James Monroe, the Patriots hit the gas in the second half, riding running back Sylas Nelson to the end zone four times in a career performance that saw him rush for 338 yards.
That mark is the second best in program history, coming in behind a nearly 400-yard performance posted by 2022 Kennedy Award winner Judah Price in the state title game that season. While that showing may not be totally replicable, the Patriots would settle for something resembling it as they host a stout Philip Barbour team.
“Their offensive line is college big,” Indy head coach John H. Lilly said. “They’re 6-foot-7, 305 pounds at right tackle and big across the board. That’s somewhat of a mismatch for us this year. They’ve got a good tailback that’s pretty similar to the tailbacks we’ve faced the last two weeks. He’s about 5-foot-10, 200 pounds with low gravity. Defensively they’re big and not too many people have been able to run the ball against them at all because of their size.
“They’re well-coached and once again, when you get to this point everybody is good. You’ve just got to play your best ball at the right time.”
Running back Logan Beam has led the charge for the Colts this season. He rushed for 1,148 yards and 17 touchdowns in the regular season, almost 800 more than anybody else on the roster. At QB the Colts have a pair of passers that have combined for 107 passing attempts, each with over 400 yards passing. Rounding out the stable of impact skill players are receivers Cameron Bennett (29-519-5) and Malachi Poling (15-395-5).
On defense Robbie Jones has six interceptions while Tyler Vance has 20 tackles for a loss. They pace a defense that’s generated turnovers all year and relied and them again to crawl out of a 14-0 deficit to beat Clay County 28-17 last week.
“What will we get? That’s the million dollar question,” Lilly said. “Last week (James Monroe) wasn’t going to let us throw. They bracketed (Christian) Linksweiler and mixed up their coverages. They did everything in the world to keep us from throwing but on the flip side they let us run. For us we’ve got to be patient and take what they give us. Where we’re not familiar with each other so it’s going to be one of those games. They’re not familiar with us aside from we’ve been in camps and 7-on-7s together but other than that we’ve never really faced each other. I think the unfamiliarity for us is trying not to them get up on us.”
While the teams are unfamiliar with each other, Indy is experienced and acquainted with playoff adversity. They’re used to deep playoff runs and have won on the road and in comeback fashion. Last week’s second-half comeback was just another reinforcing chapter in the golden era of the program and Lilly expects his squad will be able to lean on that experience.
“I do think there’s a lot of merit to being battle tested,” Lilly said. “Being in close games, even in the regular season helps. We battled with Herbert Hoover, who’s in the quarterfinals in triple-A, and blew a two-touchdown lead. A couple weeks later we lost by a point to a 10-1 Oak Hill team that’s in the Class AAA quarterfinals too. I think those situations through the season get you ready for that. The first year when we were blowing everybody away I was worried about how we’d respond in the playoffs. We’re kind of battle tested right now. The schedule that we played and the playoffs we’re been in, these guys have just been in playoff situations.”
The Patriot offense has performed well up to this point.
Sylas Nelson leads the offense with 1,631 yards and 25 rushing touchdowns while QB Brock Green has thrown for 1,701 yards with 12 touchdown passes. Receivers Dalton Adkins (34-479-4) and Linksweiler (30-652-6) have been Green’s top targets.
Independence has powered through adversity all year from weather delays to postponements and cancelations. That will unfortunately be the case again as tragedy struck Monday when a close supporter and mother of the program suffered a cerebrovascular accident.
Football has understandably taken a backseat for the time being.
“We’ve had a tragedy and the kids have been through so much this year,” Lilly said. “At the end of the day they’re still teenagers. Right now we’ve got other emotions going. We’re going to do whatever we’ve got to do for the boys even if that means doing things differently with preparation. This is bigger than football.”
