Woodcreek falls short against Inderkum

Woodcreek was seeking its first league championship in football on Friday night and to so they needed to beat Inderkum. The problem is Inderkum wasn't ready to lose the league crown they've won the last two years, as they beat Woodcreek in a high-scoring and exciting game 38-35. In such a tough, close game, the game came down to the team that made the least mistakes and that was Inderkum. Specifically, the third quarter was Woodcreek's downfall. The Timberwolves led 14-7 at halftime and had the ball to start the second half but were outscored 14-0. "We came out flat and with great field position and played slow and not really physical and they jumped on us," Woodcreek coach Kyle Stowers said. The Timberwolves got the ball near midfield and went three and out before punting. The Tigers promptly drove down the field and scored the first of four second-half touchdowns on a nine-yard pass from quarterback Brody Cole, who was sensational all night, to LeAndrew Jenkins, who was equally as clutch. When Inderkum needed a big play, one or both of these players made it. Woodcreek started its next possession at its 39-yard line but the drive quickly stalled. They faked a punt on fourth down and didn't make it, giving the Tigers the ball near midfield. Seven plays later, Inderkum took the lead on an eight-yard pass from Cole to Jordan Cole, making the score 21-14. Making matters worse for Woodcreek, Inderkum recovered an onside kick. The Tigers again converted that miscue into a third straight score early in the fourth quarter, as they now led 28-14 after another Cole-to-Jenkins touchdown pass. The Timberwolves finally snapped out it and nearly pulled out the win, as they outscored the Tigers 21-10 the rest of the way. The first of three fourth-quarter touchdowns concluded a four-play drive, as Josiah Melendez threw an 18-yard touchdown pass to Jack Torrey to bring his team within seven. Inderkum then scored its final touchdown at the midpoint of the fourth quarter on a 35-yard pass from Brody Cole to Jordan Cole to regain their 14-point lead. Just 35 seconds later, the Timberwolves cut the lead back to seven on a 20-yard pass to Ethan Keim. This play happened one play after Woodcreek's star receiver, Trace Murchison, made his first catch of the game, a 36-yard pass play from Melendez. Inderkum's defense did a great job all night taking away the dynamic Murchison. "They did a nice job taking away Trace, as they doubled him," Stowers said. "I wish I was a little faster to adjust. We're always critical of players, but we've got to be critical of coaches as well. With that said, we knew at some point teams were going to do that and we were prepared for it. I thought Ethan Keim and Jack Torrey did a good job stepping up and attacking the voids that were left." Inderkum marched right down the field again and put more points on the scoreboard, this time with a field goal. In fact, the Tigers put up points on five of six possessions in the second half. The only time they didn't score was their last possession when they ran out the clock. Again, Woodcreek answered with its final score of the game, a 65-touchdown pass to Murchison. Melendez threw about a 15-yard pass to Keim, who pitched the ball to Murchison, who ran it the last 50 yards into the end zone, as Woodcreek cut the lead to 38-35 with 2:16 to play. "That was a great high school football game," Stowers said. "Hats off to them; they made more plays than we did. I'd like to see the numbers as to what they were on third and fourth down. It seems like we had trouble getting off the field at the end. I'm really proud of the kids. I know this hurts. We went score for score with them for a while and I thought we responded well. We just needed the ball one more time and I truly believe we would have scored." Woodcreek led 14-7 at halftime. Jasper Liggins answered Inderkum's first of three touchdown passes to Cole with a two-yard run, and Keim put them in front with a little over two minutes to play in the first half with an eight-yard pass from Melendez. Melendez completed 13 of 18 passes for 270 yards and four touchdowns. Keim caught seven passes for 114 yards and two touchdowns, while Torrey caught five passes for 70 yards and a touchdown. Blake Hastings gained 70 yards on 13 carries, while Melendez picked up 29 yards on 10 carries.