Indians Win A Nail Biter To Claim First Round Victory
The Oskaloosa Indians celebrate a thrilling come from behind victory Wednesday night
Oskaloosa, Iowa – In a last play dash for the TD, the Indians pulled out a nail biter that at times looked like a near impossible feat. The Indians recovered from being down 22 to 9 at the end of the 3rd quarter, and claimed a victory in the first round of the state playoffs.
“It’s been our theme all year, play four quarters. We had more kids playing then they did. I feel like we kind of wore them down there in the fourth quarter,” Coach Schilb said about his team’s never give up attitude. “Our kids played with heart all year. It wasn’t pretty by any means, but the kids kept pluggin.”
Two injuries for the Indians were also a headline for the evening. “It was big to lose Drew Richmond there. They’re a very good option football team. We had him in position to really make a lot of plays on defense. Other kids just stepped in and kept playing,” Schilb said of the first injury of the game.
“Tyler Hafner’s ability to make plays in the second half was the key there,” Schilb said of their work on the passing game for the past month. “We had to go to that tonight, trying to mix it up a little bit more. I saw a senior quarterback wanting to continue to play,” Schilb said.
Adam Rowley (33) is seen here collecting a portion of his 186 yards in rushing, before being sidlined with injury
“We just really challenged them at the half. Turn your pads in or [do] you want to keep playing,” Schilb said of a challenge set before his team while at half time.
The Indians put the first points of the contest on the board with a 38 yard FG by Tristan Cook with 4:04 on the game clock. The scores was Indians 3, Wildcats 0
The second quarter was the Carlisle Wildcats as Carter Stephens ran right for 17 yards scoring a TD. The PAT from Mauricio Utey was no good, putting the Wildcats up 6-3 over the Indians at the 10:09 mark.
Daniel Hupke scored for the Wildcats finishing off their second score of the quarter. His 5 yard run down the middle coupled with the PAT pass Jeremy Flaws to Corbin Clark put the Wildcats up even further; 14 – 3 with 6:18 remaining in the half.
After half-time, the Indians once again set the pace initially with a 27 yard pass from Tyler Hafner to Dillon Daniel. Hafner saw his PAT toss go incomplete at the 9:11 mark in the third quarter, with the Wildcats still leading 14-9.
With Carlisle wrapped up, the Indians (8-2) move on to ADM Adel (10-0) Monday night
The Wildcats didn’t let the Indians TD go unanswered as they quickly moved down the field in 9 plays covering 80 yards. Once again Daniel Hupke was able to sneak in from one yard out. Jeremy Flaws completed the PAT pass to Daniel Hintz with 3:03 remaining in the third quarter. The Wildcats went further ahead with a score of 22 to 9 over the Indians.
The fourth quarter was all the Indians. Tyler Hafner took off to the right for a 12 yard TD dash and Tristan Cook booted it in for the PAT and saw the Indians close the gap with the Wildcats. The score was 22 to 16 in favor of the Wildcats.
On a fumble, the Indians recovered opening up the opportunity with time running out for the Indians in Wildcat territory. After 9 plays that inched the Indians closer to the end-zone, Tyler Hafner took off right for 3 yards to tie the game at 22 to 22. The foot of Tristan Cook would decide if the Indians would claim victory or if the game was going to overtime. With robotic proficiency, Cook placed it between the uprights to put the Indians out front once again since they lost the lead in the first quarter.
With the kick-off return stopped, the Indians claimed victory with a final score of Oskaloosa Indians 23, Carlisle Wildcats 22.
