DANE FUELLING
WZBD.com
MONROE – The predicted game of smashmouth football between undefeated Eastbrook and the unbeaten, defending state champion Adams Central Jets was everything that it was hyped up to be.
In the end, two long touchdown runs marking short drives for the Jets were the difference between bitter defeat and an exhilarating comeback victory.
On the second play of the second half, with the Jets trailing for the entire game up to that point, Vance Miller went 36 yards down the sideline to knot the game at 14-14.
Fast forward an hour or so and the score was doubled at 28-28 after Bodie Howell drew the Eastbrook Panthers level with a 20-yard run, bouncing off an Adams Central DB and using his second effort for his third touchdown of the night.
After Eastbrook’s kickoff went out of bounds and set the Jets up on the 37, Miller hauled off the longest play of the game for either side, running 63 yards for the score and a lead that the Jets would not give up.
The Jets followed up Miller’s run with a stop on fourth down and tried to run out the clock, but faced a fourth down of their own near the red zone. Facing the possibility of turning the ball back over to the visitors, the Jets took to the air, stacking Joey Everett behind Braylend Reber. Quarterback Jamison Roach had plenty of time to throw and as Reber drew coverage on his route to the back pylon of the end zone, Everett snapped off an out route and the ball was sitting there waiting for him on his back shoulder. Everett broke one tackle and won the race to the near pylon, putting the game away and sending the large Adams Central crowd into a frenzy.
A two-score victory certainly did not seem likely when Eastbrook was using Howell and fullback Ryder Gipson as a two-headed monster. The two eventually combined for 280 yards on the ground and four scores on 50 touches, starting the visitors off to a big 14-0 lead early in the second quarter.
Jamison Roach scored inside of two minutes to go in the first half to ease the stress of the home crowd, then scored again to give the Jets their first lead at 21-14 in the third.
Roach started the game with four incompletions, but in the second half he was 5 of 6 for 98 yards, including a great touchdown catch by Braylend Reber that extended the Jets’ lead to eight points on the first play of the fourth quarter (see below).
Reber sealed the game with an interception, allowing the Jets to kneel out the victory for their fifth consecutive regional title.
The victory sets up a rematch with Andrean in the Central Time Zone next Friday in the northern Semi-State of 2A football, where all four remaining teams are ranked in the top four in the IFCA poll.
Andrean are the only team in that group of four 2A teams with a loss this season and that came to neighboring Merrillville, who will play in the 5A semi-state just down the street from Andrean on Friday against Concord.
Miller ended the game for Adams Central with 191 yards on the ground, while Roach had 61 on twelve keepers.
Thomas Laughlin and Joey Everett had several key runs to pick up big first downs in the game. Laughlin finished with 46 yards and Everett with 45.
While Eastbrook more or less had their way with the Jets early in the game, they were terrorized by Cam Fravel and Carter Beaver in the second half. Fravel led the Jets with seven solo tackles and a sack, while Hayden Bluhm had six solos. Beaver had six total tackles, one of them for a loss.
SCORING SUMMARY
Quarter 1
3:43 – E – Bodie Howell 1-yd run, Keagan Hallis PAT good, 0-7
Quarter 2
10:19 – E – Bodie Howell 7-yd un, Hallis PAT good, 0-14
1:47 – AC – Jamison Roach 13-yd run, Braylen Cowans PAT good, 7-14
Quarter 3
11:41 – AC – Vance Miller 36-yd run, Cowans PAT good, 14-14
7:54 – AC – Jamison Roach 1-yd run, Cowans PAT Good, 21-14
3:42 – E – Ryder Gipson 2-yd run, Hallis PAT blocked, 21-20
Quarter 4
11:52 – AC – Braylend Reber 32-yd catch from Jamison Roach, Cowans PAT Good, 28-20
6:35 – E – Bodie Howell 20-yd run, 2-PT attempt good (Gipson run), 28-28
6:24 – AC – Vance Miller 63-yd run, Cowans PAT good, 35-28
2:25 – AC – Joey Everett 22-yd catch from Roach, Cowans PAT Good, 42-28
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