(New Carlisle) - New Prairie bounced back Friday night after a tough opening loss last week at La Porte. The Cougars won their home opener against Goshen 29-10.

 

The Redhawks struck first when senior Drew Elliott scored on a 39-yard run. But the Cougars responded with a 31-yard touchdown pass from Martial Kmiecik to senior receiver Reece Lapczynski.

 

Goshen scored again to start the second quarter when a 25-yard run on fourth-and-one set up a 33-yard field goal. But from there, New Prairie found another gear. Kmiecik manufactured two more touchdowns on a pass and a run of over 60 yards each. Goshen lost their quarterback, junior Elliot Frey, to injury in the second quarter and played the rest of the way with freshman Carter Diaz under center.

 

Despite a series of penalties in the second half, the Cougars held on for the victory. Overall, head coach Casey McKim was pleased with his team’s effort, but not with the penalties. The Cougars were flagged 12 times for 120 yards. “The details, focusing on small things— honestly I thought we did a pretty good job most of the game,” he said after,” and then that flurry of penalties there at the end was extremely frustrating as a coach.”

 

Last week’s loss to heavy-underdog La Porte was a wake-up call for New Prairie. “That’s kind of why I tried to stay positive with our guys right afterwards, McKim said Friday. “You want to win and learn, so it’s good to have a victory, but we definitely have a lot of work to do. We have guys who are extremely explosive, guys who are extremely good athletes, but we’re not completely on the same page with our blockers.”

 

The Cougars rushed for 296 yards. 174 of those were on 14 carries by Kmiecik, who also scored two touchdowns. Sophomore running back Reed Robinson gained 82 yards on 10 carries, with a touchdown. Senior Dylan Wilson led the Cougar defense with 10 tackles, including two sacks and a fumble recovery. Senior Trenton Klute had eight tackles, including a sack, and senior Maddox Franklin had an interception.

 

New Prairie will host Lowell next Friday.