Stogner, zone read lead Greenwood past Indian Creek
By CLIFF BRUNT
ISL Editor
GREENWOOD, Ind. — A simple tweak completely changed Friday’s game between Greenwood and Indian Creek.
Greenwood coach Mike Campbell couldn’t get his offense rolling in a slugfest of a first half that ended with his Woodmen leading 13-7.
That’s when he broke out a new weapon: the zone read option play.
The idea is simple enough: the quarterback takes a shotgun snap, puts the ball in the running back’s belly, reads the defense and decides whether or not to keep the ball.
It was too much for Indian Creek to defend.
The play resulted in two long touchdown runs on back-to-back possessions early in the second half: a 55-yarder by Kole Stogner and a 57-yarder by quarterback Ben Heller to give Greenwood (2-0) control of the game.
“We felt that they were more physical than we were, so we went to our zone game,” Campbell said. “It’s something we started working on in the offseason, in the summer, because we really felt like Kole was going to be that kind of back, and obviously, any time we can keep the ball in Ben Heller’s hands and let him be the decision maker on the field, we feel like that’s our best opportunity to be successful offensively.”
Stogner, who was suspended for the opener, finished with 217 yards and two touchdowns on 26 carries while Heller finished with 102 yards on eight carries.
Campbell gave Indian Creek credit for slowing his team down early.
“They had a great scheme defensively in the first half, and it was executed by them about perfectly,” he said.
Though Stogner had a solid first half, Campbell felt his star running back, who says he is being recruited by Ivy League schools, had more in him.
“Once he gets in game rhythm, that’s the kind of back he is,” Campbell said. “He makes cuts, he’s a bouncer, he’s hard to handle in open space and he’s got great lateral quickness. We were happy with how he performed in the second half.”
Greenwood outscored Indian Creek 24-0 in the second half.
“We preach adversity,” Campbell said. “The content of our character is going to be how we respond to that adversity. The last thing I said is, ‘I like the content of our character. I know we’re going to respond to this adversity,’ and we did.”
Matthew Wray passed for 216 yards for Indian Creek (0-2), but he threw two interceptions, lost a fumble and was sacked five times. Jordan Betserai had both
interceptions for Greenwood to help slow Indian Creek’s strong passing attack. Michael Lyons had four sacks for the Woodmen.
The winning combination of a strong defense and running game have put Greenwood in a good position heading into next week’s game against Martinsville.
“You always want to be 2-0,” Campbell said. “We talk about a war is a long time. You fight one battle at a time. We like where we’re at, but obviously, we’re not satisfied. We have yet to put together four quarters of offense and defense together.”
