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Creek heads to UL in battle of 2-0 teams

By AARON PETCHAL 5 min read

MORRISTOWN -- The Indian Creek football team will take on Union Local this week in a battle of the unbeatens.

The Redskins are set to take on the Jets at 7 p.m. Friday night on the road.

Indian Creek enters this week's matchup coming off of a 20-14 victory against East Liverpool last Friday night inside Kettlewell Stadium.

"I thought there were a couple of big keys for us," Indian Creek (2-0) head coach Andrew Connor said about his team's win against the Potters. "The first one was how we handled adversity. That is something we have struggled with in the past. That is something we have made a lot of progress on.

"The second was we were able to run the football against a good East Liverpool front."

The Redskins were able to come away with the victory against the Potters despite turning the ball over twice.

"That has been something we have needed to work on," Connor said. "We are averaging two turnovers a game, and that is something we are going to have to get better on. We have done a very good job defensively of not giving up big plays. We have made really big strides when it comes to that. Offensively, we turned the ball over twice. Defensively, we made big stop when we had to. We made the big goal line stand.

"Defensively, we are doing a good job. Offensively, we are doing a good job of sustaining drives whether it is in our regular offense or in our wishbone offense. We have been able to stay in front of the chains and get first downs. I'm happy with how things are going minus the turnover thing."

On the other side, Union Local (2-0) comes into this game fresh off a 42-21 victory against Buckeye Local at home.

"Union Local has a lot of good skill players," Connor said. "They rotate No. 5 (Isaiah Tomolonis) and 7 (Colby Carpenter) in at quarterback. They have scored on some big plays against Southern and against Buckeye Local.

"They have a big play offense. That is something we are going over at practice. We're going to focus on not giving up the big plays."

The Jets accounted for nearly 520 yards of offense in the win aganst the Panthers.

Tomolonis threw for 81 yards and a touchdown, while rushing for 59 yards and another score in Union Local's victory last week, while Carpenter threw for 118 yards and a touchdown. Dre Saunders delivered seven catches for 79 yards and a touchdown to lead the way at receiver, while Brody Perzanowski produced 210 yards and a pair of touchdowns on 27 carries.

"They are combination," Connor said asked if Union Local ran or threw the ball more. "I think they want to run more. They want to spread the field horizontally. They like to throw screens. They like to get the ball to their players out in space."

Buckeye Local scored two touchdowns on big plays as the Panthers scored on a 95-yard run and a 73-yard catch.

"They run a 4-2-5," Connor said. "We had not seen a four man front until we played East Liverpool. In our first game and in our scrimmages, we saw three-man fronts. They are big up front. They have good linebackers in 22 (Peyton Causby) and 12 (Logan Hess). They fill well. They tackle well. They don't get beat deep.

"We are going to have to be patient. We are going to have to set up the pass."

Both teams have some good size up front.

"We are about the same size-wise," Connor said. "They are a little quicker than we are, but we are about the same size-wise."

The game is Indian Creek's first road game of the season. Indian Creek opened the season with a 41-13 victory against Cambridge at home.

"We talked about that," Connor said about some of his younger players playing on the road for the first time. "This is our first road game, and this is our first game on grass. We talked about those are excuses. They are not reasons. Everyone has to travel. Everyone has to play on grass. We just have to stay focused. We are going to have to do a good job with our preparation."

This week, the Redskins are hoping they can avoid turning the ball over, while also being able to sustain drives and score points.

"Offensively, we have to correct the turnover situation," Connor said. "We are going to have to continue to run the ball. We are going to have to stay in front of the chains. We also are going to have to throw the ball when we don't have to.

"Defensively, we are going to have to take away the big play. We are going to have to be tackle well in space."

Union Local opened the season with a 34-20 victory at Southern Local.

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