Mike Mathison GOTCHA — Indian Creek’s Andy Waggoner prepares to tackle Buckeye Local quarterback Jared Moore, while Redskins teammate Billy Haislet closes in, during the first half of Friday’s contest at World War II Memorial Stadium. The Redskins cruised, 64-0.

YORKVILLE — After dropping a seven-point decision to Cambridge in its opener, Indian Creek has been able to do very little wrong in its last three outings, including Friday night where the Redskins totally dismantled a crumbling Buckeye Local squad.

Creek took advantage of every opportunity it was afforded, while making more of its own, racing to a 57-0 halftime lead before finishing up the Panthers by a lop-sided 64-0 margin on Homecoming night at World War II Memorial Stadium.

“We had a very good week of practice and the kids came out and played hard (Friday),” Redskins head coach Andrew Connor said. “This is a big rivalry game for us, and we knew Buckeye was going to play hard also, but our kids responded in all three phases of the game.”

Indian Creek’s (3-1) first score was set-up by senior Robert Coppa, who took the opening kickoff back to mid-field. Just five plays later Coppa finished the drive with a three-yard bust at 11:09 and the deuce made it a quick 8-0 lead.

Following a one-yard punt by the Panthers (0-4), the ‘Skins covered 30 yards in four plays with Austin Rawson getting the honors from four yards away. Ensign Maiorano kicked the first of his six PATs to make it 15-0.

Trey Harton’s 72-yard run down the right sidelines came at 1:50 but after Buckeye Local finally advanced deep into enemy territory junior Andy Waggoner hauled in an interception and raced 80 yards the other way as the first quarter ended at 29-0.

Rawson scored on a 20-yard toss from Greg Wade just 20 seconds into the third quarter and five minutes later returned a punt 50 yards for another touchdown. Freshman Tyler Smarrella added a 44-yard touchdown run and sophomore Mitch Wukelic went in from a yard out late in the first half as the score grew to 57-0.

After Lexi Swiger picked the odd-colored rose to become the Panthers’ Homecoming Queen at the break, freshman Trevor Fante capped the scoring with a 19-yard run with 3:06 to play.

“Our biggest goal is to improve from week-to-week and I believe we have been doing that,” Conner added. “We were able to cut down on penalties, turnovers and didn’t give up any big plays (Friday), and that is what we are looking for.”

Since losing to Cambridge 26-19 on opening night, the Redskins have outscored their last three opponents by an amazing 140-0 margin.

First-year Buckeye Local Head Coach John Holman knows that the fans aren’t interested in seeing scores like the one from Friday night, but is hoping it doesn’t take away from his opportunity.

“We have to get back to work, watch some film and get better,” Holman admitted. “Right now we are killing ourselves. Earlier in the year we just weren’t catching fire because of our youth, but we weren’t killing ourselves.

“I know the score doesn’t look good, but I am just hoping that I have the chance, and the time as a coach to get this fixed. This team has a huge heart and we have definitely improved from July to the start of the season.

“We have lost some kids to injury, and some have quit, but we are getting some back now also. We are definitely a work in progress but I want people to understand that it is not all negatives.

“At different times we have different units play well, but we haven’t been able to get them all to play well at the same time. We are like a jigsaw puzzle right now and we need to put the pieces together.

“The good news is that it isn’t over and we have another game next week.”

Indian Creek finished with 367 total yards of offense, including 314 and six touchdowns on the ground, while limiting the Panthers to just 59 total yards.

Indian Creek 64, Buckeye Local 0

Indian Creek          29  28   0   7   —   64

Buckeye Local       0    0   0   0   —    0

IC: Coppa 3 run (Fante pass from Zrinyi)

IC: Rawson 4 run (Maiorano kick)

IC: Harton 72 run (Maiorano kick)

IC: Waggoner 80 interception return (Maiorano kick)

IC: Rawson 26 pass from Wade (Maiorano kick)

IC: Rawson 50 punt return (Maiorano kick)

IC: Smarrella 44 run (Maiorano kick)

IC: Wukelic 1 run (Hiles kick)

IC: Fante 19 run (Hiles kick)

RUSHING:Indian Creek 38-314-6td (Wade 5-44, Coppa 4-17-td, Rawson 2-10-td, Harton 2-75-td, Smarrella 4-67-td, Wukelic 4-13-td, Hague 1-15, Scales 5-24, Norris 3-3, Blair 3-30, Baksa 2-(-1), Fante 1-19-td, Mazar 2-(-2)). Buckeye Local 28-30 (Marelli 2-2, Moore 5-(-3), Reese 6-10, Millard 5-26, Callarik 8-17, Barber 2-(-22)).

PASSING:Indian Creek 2-5-53-td (Wade 1-4-26-td, Norris 1-1-27). Buckeye Local 5-17-29-4x (Moore 3-12-26-3x, Barber 2-4-3, Marelli 0-1-0-x).

RECEIVING: Indian Creek 2-53-td (Wade 1-27, Rawson 1-26-td). Buckeye Local 5-29 (Marelli 2-1, Millard 1-20, Callarik 2-8).

FIRST DOWNS: Indian Creek 13; Buckeye Local 3.

PENALTIES: Indian Creek 4-25; Buckeye Local 2-10.

FUMBLES: Indian Creek 2-1; Buckeye Local 3-1.