(New Carlisle, IN) - Following a couple of ugly games against Penn and Elkhart, New Prairie could have used a little luck when state tournament pairings were released last weekend. Instead, the Cougars drew an explosive Hobart team that had put up 113 points in their last two regular-season contests.
The two 7-2 teams clashed at New Prairie’s Amzie Miller Field Friday night.
It took the Brickies only three plays to jump out to a 7-0 lead. But the Cougars answered right back with a three-play drive of their own, culminating in a 57-yard Marshall Kmiecik touchdown run. A few minutes later, sophomore Reed Robinson scored the first of his three touchdowns on a five-yard scamper. That was all the breathing room needed for the Cougars, who dominated Hobart the rest of the game.
New Prairie closed out the first quarter with a 78-yard touchdown pass from Kmiecik to his brother Beau. With 4:22 left in the half, the Cougar defense made a fourth-down stand at their own eight-yard line. Two plays later, Robinson broke free for a 90-yard touchdown run. New Prairie squeezed in one more score before half when senior Dylan Wilson got a piece of a Hobart punt. Fellow senior Trenton Klute plucked the ball out of the air and returned it 53 yards for a touchdown.
New Prairie went on to win handily 49-14.
Though Hobart racked up 191 yards through the air, the Brickies couldn’t get much traction down the middle of a muddy field. New Prairie’s speedy runners, however, finding the grass greener outside the hash marks, accumulated 374 yards on the ground. Robinson and Kmiecik led the Cougars with 179 and 116 rushing yards, respectively. Junior Zach Henrich contributed 49 rushing yards, half of which came from a touchdown run late in the game. Kmiecik also completed three passes to three different receivers for 90 yards.
Once again, the Cougars’ key to survival was defense. Having come a long way this season, New Prairie displayed its penchant for taking a punch in the mouth early in a ball game. “It’s hard to play with butterflies,” said Coach Casey McKim after the game. “And you got to see how they’re going to attack you.” He credited his assistants— specifically Josh Bolakowski, Bobby Whitenack, and Jim Schwingendorf— for coaching up the defense. “Our coaching staff on the defensive side of the ball, those guys are just outstanding—years of experience; they’ve been around the block, they know how to break down a defense, and they know how to make adjustments. So I credit them making those adjustments and getting our kids refocused.”
New Prairie will travel to Jasper County to face Kankakee Valley (5-5) next Friday.
