Class 4A, No. 5 East Central defeated Greenwood 44-14 on Friday in St. Leon setting up next week’s sectional semifinal matchup at No. 6 Mooresville.
A 23-yard touchdown strike from Cole Burton to Nate Buesing on 4th-and-21 put East Central up 7-0 on its game opening drive.
After Sophie Browndyke made the extra point on the scoring possession, she followed that up with a 23-yard field goal on the Trojans first possession of the second quarter. It was 10-0.
On the next EC possession, Burton found Eli Aston in the end zone for a 29-yard completion. The Browndyke extra point gave the Trojans a 17-0 lead.
Greenwood then put together its best offensive drive of the night going 64 yards, scoring off a Noah Apgar 6-yard run to cut the Trojan advantage to 17-7.
On the ensuing kickoff, Sam Ringer wrestled all of the momentum back to East Central with a determined an impressive 75-yard return for a touchdown. Ringer ran into a host of Greenwood would-be tacklers near midfield, but with the help of several teammates, he was able to move the pile and eventually break free to go the last 40 yards untouched into the end zone. The PAT try failed due to a bad snap, but the Trojans took a 23-7 lead into halftime.
East Central took the opening drive of the second half and marched 67 yards to pay dirt. The drive was capped by a 13-yard TD pass from Burton to Ryan Brotherton. Browndyke’s extra point increased the Trojan favorable spread to 30-7.
After the EC defense kept Greenwood from converting on a 4th-and-1, the Trojans took over at the Greenwood 33. On the next play from scrimmage, Cole Burton scampered 33-yards for the touchdown and a 37-7 East Central advantage with the Browndyke boot afterwards.
The Trojan defense then forced a Woodmen punt which Aston fielded on a hop and returned it 74 yards for the score. Browndyke’s XP gave the St. Leon hosts a 44-7 lead and started the running clock with 2:56 left to play in the third quarter.
A 1-yard TD plunge from Gavin Ruppert gave the Woodmen their last points of the season with 1:14 to play in the fourth and set the final score at 44-14.
Coach Jake Meiners’ Trojans run their record to 8-2 as they prepare to face the team who ended their season each of the last two years. East Central will make the trip to Mooresville for the third consecutive year for the sectional semifinal game next Friday night. You can catch all of the action on WRBI.
We thank WRBI’s Rob Moorhead for this edited report.