Pirates, Braves create one of season’s most exciting games
A crowd unlike any other seen on The Hill in Sugarcreek greeted the Garaway Pirates and Indian Valley Braves on Friday, Oct. 4. These two heavy hitters waged an epic battle, won by the Braves 40-35, in a contest that will surely be remembered as one of the state's best and biggest games of the regular season.
On the heels of Indian Valley’s 40-35 victory over Garaway on Friday, Oct. 4 on The Hill in Sugarcreek, more than one Pirate player left the locker room in tears.
For Garaway head coach Jason Wallick, that’s fine because it only shows how much it means to each player.
“It hurts because of their dedication and commitment to this program, but they’ve got nothing to be ashamed of after this one,” Wallick said. “That is one heck of a football team we faced tonight, and that was the best we’ve run the ball, the best we’ve thrown the ball and caught the ball all season.”
Wallick said the only flaw was the trio of turnovers that haunted the Pirates.
As for the atmosphere, which saw the bleachers packed and fans lined several deep on every portion of the fence surrounding the stadium, Wallick said it was simply electric.
“That was pretty wild,” he said. “Playing a team like this in this type of an atmosphere is something we as a coaching staff will take every night out. It’s what makes us better, win or lose. I’d take this over a blowout win any time.”
He loved that his team played extremely hard until the final whistle.
Indian Valley head coach Matt Lancaster said the tournament-type atmosphere is the second time this season his crew has ventured into hostile territory and pulled off a huge win, the first coming in an upset victory over Dover.
Lancaster said they scheduled the Dover game to prepare for what they knew would be a massively huge conference showdown with the Pirates. The atmosphere was electric, and all night long it was like this one was a late-run playoff game.
“What a great high school football game between two great teams,” Lancaster said. “Bottom line, we came out one score on top. Our kids kept battling; their kids kept battling. We just made one more play in the end.”
That play may have been a pick-six from sophomore defensive back Carsen Hostetler, who stepped in front of a Brady Geibel offering and was off to the races, lunging into the end zone on a big momentum swing after Garaway took its early shots.
“Just a great read by Carson that got us back in the game,” Lancaster said.
Amazingly, the 40 points posted by the Braves marks their lowest offensive output of the season. This team has been a juggernaut with the ball in hand, averaging almost 48 points per outing.
The victory ended the Pirates’ 36-game regular-season winning streak, something Lancaster said they tried not to focus on in preparing for the contest.
“We knew it was out there, and we knew we had a tough challenge ahead of us,” Lancaster said. “That’s a very good team, a proud program and well coached. This was just a great high school football game, and it feels great to come away with a win. It wouldn’t be that big of a deal if they hadn’t accomplished everything they’ve done.”
How difficult was it to put a 40-spot on the Pirates?
Garaway had given up a grand total of 36 points through its first six contests, and Jason Wallick’s teams have been absolutely ferocious on the defensive side of the ball over the past several seasons.
Wallick said the team will adhere to the 24-hour rule, lament the loss for a short time and get back to work.
In the end both teams left the field knowing they got a lot better in facing an opponent of that stature.