Tonight, Indiana high school football score — stole, maybe — a hell of a win over its neighbor to the east, as Brownsburg High School rallied to beat Cincinnati St. Xavier 30-24 in overtime, an ESPN2-televised game that for one night at least made all that has gone into making this season possible well worth it.
The Bulldogs seemed cooked on a number of occasions, done in by missed opportunities, fourth-down failures in scoring territory and a disastrous touchdown allowed off a fumbled punt return, but its defense forced a turnover down seven in the game's closing minutes as St. X was trying to drain the clock, and Brownsburg tied the game on a Luke Lacey TD catch with 30 seconds or so to go. It had a chance to win it in regulation shortly thereafter after another disastrous St. Xavier giveaway, but the hosts gave it right back, throwing into double coverage on a shot to the end zone for Lacey, who was outstanding in this game, going for nine catches for nearly 150 yards and two scores.
He lined up opposite Purdue wide receiver commitment Preston Terrell, whose lone catch on probably around eight targets for 32 yards. He also drew a PI flag on one of those targets.
Brownsburg coach John Hart said afterward that Terrell was "off," and that there was good reason for that. Lacey also said — to the Indianapolis Star — that St. Xavier's attention on Terrell helped open him up.
"We pulled him out for about three weeks because he had a hamstring pull, and it's a great testament to just how important practice is," Hart said. "Once you have a hamstring pull, you just have to sit. He fought us on it, because he is a competitor and a great player. And he'll have his nights. But he was off in his timing, his breaks, maybe sometimes some of the routes, where they were supposed to end up."
Hart did have some words for Terrell privately on the field immediately after the game.
"But he was the first person to be accountable for it," Hart said. "He was he was almost in tears thinking that he cost us the ballgame. And that's that's the heart of a champion. He wasn't pouting about anything. He felt like he'd let us down, and that shows the character of the kid."
Terrell, obviously, felt better about things after a surreal win over national TV.
"Just battling," Terrell said. "We kept battling. Like they say, fourth quarter, we had the heart of a lion and we kept pushing them."
It was a hell of a win early on this season, a season where teams all over the state are playing with the thought in mind that tomorrow isn't a guarantee. These are not normal times and no one in the high school football community is naive to the fact that an outbreak here or there and the plug may get pulled.
"We've got to take it step by step," Terrell said. "Any game could be our last, so we have to play it like it's our last one. Monday through Friday, we have to keep pushing and pushing until we get to the end and Friday's that's when it's going to show."
After a four-catch outing in a rout of Ben Davis last weekend, most of Terrell's targets on Friday night came on vertical balls, resulting in the one catch and the one PI flag.
"There's definitely some things I need to work on so we need to that next step forward," Terrell said. "Find those details, find those little things in film and keep pushing through it and working on it."
Last edited:
