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WELLSBURG -- With the Bruins trailing rival Indian Creek late in the second quarter and star quarterback Braelyn Sperringer on the sidelines with an injury, it would have been easy for doubt to creep into Brooke’s minds.
It did not, however, as several players stepped up in key moments and came through with a pair of scores when it mattered most to break a fourth quarter tie to pull away for a 21-7 victory Thursday night at Brooke Memorial Stadium and a 2-0 start to the season.
"It would be real easy for a high school football team to put their heads down and go away when a kid like Braelyn Sperringer goes down early in the game ... but we had some guys step up in a big way," Brooke coach Mac McLean said. "It was an expensive win, but I am proud as heck of these guys.
"It was a dogfight. Indian Creek is well-coached and came out and fought us."
Sperringer, who left the game in the first half and did not return, was replaced by Hunter Mozingo, who ran for a score and connected on a key 32-yard pass in the fourth quarter.
"Hunter did a great job stepping up into some big shoes," McLean said. "Hunter Is our jayvee quarterback and gets reps against our No. 1 defense. I was not surprised he didn’t crumble and I am extremely proud of the effort he put forth.
"As things stand, he’s the starting quarterback for the Brooke Bruins. We’re going to have to wait and see what is wrong with Braelyn and go from there."
Helping him out were the rushing efforts of Gavin Moore and Jace Campinelli leading a ground attack that racked up 218 of the the Bruins’ 250 yards of offense. Moore ran for 127 and two scores, including a 63-yarder in the fourth quarter to make it a two-score lead, while Campinelli added 64 yards on 19 totes.
"Gavin and Jace both did a good job," McLean said. "Gavin finally broke one. We’ve been waiting for him to break one all of last year and into this year, and he couldn’t have picked a better moment to do it."
Mozingo’s score on a 1-yard sneak to cap the first drive of the final quarter broke what had been a 7-7 tie since the final minute of the second quarter when Brooke got a 8-yard score from Moore as the defenses were battling.
The Bruins, though, were eventually able to break through the defensive struggle first.
"I thought they wore us out at the end," Indian Creek head coach Andrew Connor said. "I thought our kids played hard. I love our kids’ effort and physicality. All you can ask is your kids play hard and they did. We’ll go back, look at the film, take the positives and build off it. No one is going to feel sorry for us, we have to work to get better and keep playing hard.
"It was a hard-fought game. Brooke is a good team, they executed well. Coach McLean does a great job and he has a good football team. I thought we played even with them most of the game and there are a lot of positives for us to look at and we’re going to work on what we need to."
Meanwhile, the Brooke defense was stout from start to finish as the lone Creek score, a 15-yard Zion McGee run in the second quarter, came on a short field after a Brooke fumble set the Redskins (1-2) up at the 19.
McGee, who ran for nearly 200 yards the week prior, was limited to 57 yards while Bruins secondary held Creek without a completed pass until late in the fourth and limited the Redskins to just 100 yards of offense.
"I gave the game ball to our defensive coordinator Jeremy Sadler," McLean said. "Our defense won this football game for us. We’ve gave up 13 points to this point in the season and we’re very proud of that."
UP NEXT
Indian Creek: Returns home next Friday to host Weir High.
Brooke: Travels south to test University next Friday night.
Brooke 21, Indian Creek 7
Indian Creek 0-7-0-0 - 7
Brooke 0-7-0-14 - 21
SCORING
First Quarter
None
Second Quarter
IC: McGee 15-yard run (Gross kick) 9:51
B: Moore 8-yard run (Serevicz kick) :45
Third Quarter
None
Fourth Quarter
B: Mozingo 1-yard run (Serevicz kick) 10:22
B: Moore 63-yard run (Serevicz kick) 3:37
RUSHING: Indian Creek 28-85-TD (McGee 14-57-TD; McAfee 6-3; Robinson 4-14; Mazar 1-2; Barcalow 1-(-1); Vergona 1-10); Brooke 53-218-3TD (Moore 13-127-2TD; Sperringer 2-(-1); Campinelli 19-64; Mozingo 15-18-TD; Taylor 4-10).
PASSING: Indian Creek 1-13-15 (Barcalow 0-12; Mazar 1-1-15); Brooke 1-5-32 (Sperringer 0-3; Mozingo 1-2-32).
RECEIVING: Indian Creek 1-15 (all by Robinson); Brooke 1-32 (all by Campinelli).
FIRST DOWNS: Indian Creek 6; Brooke 12.
PENALTIES-YARDS: Indian Creek 7-57; Brooke 7-70.
FUMBLES-LOST: Indian Creek 1-0; Brooke 3-1.