By Justin Sokeland
WBIW.com
BROWNSTOWN – With no second chance to make a good first impression, Bedford North Lawrence could have chosen an easy, lay-down victim for the debut of the program’s directional change. In boxing terms, that’s known as a “tomato can.”
Brownstown is definitely not a chump. Just the opposite. The Braves, one of the state powers in Class 2A, have visions of a trip to Lucas Oil Stadium dancing in their padded helmets. They can land hard punches. The Stars took a few of those, learning way more during this IHSAA-sanctioned scrimmage than a false sense of security against an inferior opponent would have provided.
BNL made its preseason debut on Friday night, battling the Braves in a workout that doesn’t count on the scoreboard but counted heavily in many ways. New head coach Brayden Tidd and his revamped staff, playing with handcuffs while staying as base and vanilla as possible in terms of calls and formations, had many questions. Some were answered positively, some not.
Brownstown coach Reed May would rather play a 10th regular-season contest than risk key injuries during a glorified practice. BNL is not quite ready for that. Now the Stars will have to be, as the real deal looms next. They have a better understanding of true strengths and weaknesses, which was the reason for the exercise.
“I was proud of the way we fought and competed,” Tidd said. “We came out a little slow, but we responded well. We’re a little deeper in some spots than I thought, which is good. We had a lot of young guys step up.
”We have guys that will fight and compete until the end, and that’s all I wanted. That’s a really good team, a lot of people are picking them to go to the state finals, so we competed against one of the best.”
There were some quality highlights. The Stars scored four times (none during the goal-line situations) as veteran quarterback Dayson Kirby threw accurate deep balls, connecting for three scores. BNL junior Jackson Jones picked off a pass in the secondary. There were issues. The Braves, with their single-wing wizardry rivaling a magician’s sleight of hand, ran for 143 yards, scored three times during the long-field sets, and dominated the goal-work with four scores in 10 plays from point-blank range.
Brownstown, with the bulk of its roster back from last year’s 12-1 campaign, was in fine-tune mode. The Braves know what they have. It’s a program on cruise control under a Hall of Fame coach. His first-look thoughts were more general in nature.
”Until we watch the film, we really don’t know,” May said. “I thought we moved the ball pretty well, our defense played pretty well. But we made some errors, which you’re always going to make. It’s one step at a time. We have a veteran crew, but we still make mistakes.
”Personally, I’d rather play a game. I’d rather play a 10th game, play Bedford in a game, rather than a scrimmage. I don’t want to get anyone hurt. We’ve lost linemen, years ago, in a jamboree and scrimmage. You’re just praying.“
Brownstown started slow in its first offensive set from the 35-yard line. Jones’ interception was followed by a fumbled snap on the reset, and a holding penalty pushed the Braves back to a 2nd-and-36 debacle. Then they converted that with two big plays, setting up Brock Dean’s 11-yard TD scamper.
BNL scored on its first set when the Braves blew a secondary coverage, allowing Luke Morris to race alarmingly alone down the left sideline and snag a 50-yard touchdown bomb.
The goal-line scenario, 10 snaps from the 10-yard line or closer, created the only tense moment. Quarterbacks were off limits, a boundary BNL’s Gibson Crane momentarily forgot. He blasted in for a big-hit sack on Brownstown’s Micah Sheffer – a play that will be celebrated during the regular season. The Braves were displeased by the lapse.
“I was a little upset,” May said. “That was unneeded. What if our quarterback got hurt? It was unfortunate than a kid made a mistake.”
That didn’t slow down the riled Braves, who got touchdowns from Preston Garrison, Trevor Branaman, Lindan Lanier and Dean during the short-yardage set. They added two more TDs during their final set from the 35, with Garrison gashing a breakaway from 40 yards and Dawson Branaman adding an 8-yard scoring run.
BNL’s best moments came in the final set. Kirby launched a 35-yard strike to Malakai Goodman, who broke a tackle and rumbled the rest of the way, then hit Jones for 31 yards to set up Jaden Gilbert’s 3-yard burst. Kirby found Cam Gates for another 35-yard TD to cap the scoring.
Kirby was 9 of 17 for 201 yards. But the Stars struggled to run the ball, finishing with minus-31 yards (including two sacks and lost yards because of high-snap issues in the shotgun) on the ground. That has to improve.
”We need to get better at executing our stuff we installed on Day One,” Tidd said. “The beginning was really rough, just operating the base stuff. So if we do that, we have a chance to do good things.”
Brownstown spread the wealth in the run game, with Dean totaling 47 yards on 5 carries. BNL’s Parker Kern had another interception during the third set. The Braves are their best when running that wing attack, with the opponent only praying it can locate the ball.
“They’re really good at what they do, for a reason,” Tidd said. “They’re the caliber of team they are for a reason.”
Both teams will now pivot to the regular season. Brownstown will host Corydon, while BNL will visit Martinsville next week.
