East Liverpool quarterback Ben Myers gets the ball off before Indian Creek’s Adam Gaschler arrives Friday. (The Review/Jimmy Joe Savage)

EAST LIVERPOOL — In a battle of two playoff teams from last season, Indian Creek capitalized on two costly East Liverpool turnovers in the final minutes of the second quarter which ended up fueling the Redskins’ 37-19 win over the Potters on Friday night.

“That’s what we said at halftime, there’s no 24-point play,” said East Liverpool coach Paul Cusick, whose team trailed 23-0 at halftime. “We have to win a series and try and get it in the end zone and get stops.”

“It (getting the first-half cushion) was important,” said Indian Creek coach Andrew Connor. “When you get a turnover and score on it, it’s backbreaking, especially when you look at how close the game had been in the first half, to get those two it really opened it up and went all the way for us.”

With the win, Indian Creek remained unbeaten at 2-0, while the Potters sustained their first loss to drop to 1-1.

“I’m proud of the kids,” Connor said. “They played an extremely good football team in East Liverpool and I thought we won a very important game early in the season.”

Indian Creek rushed for 291 yards, led by the tandem of quarterback Ian Starkey (eight carries for 144 yards and a touchdown) and Bruce Mazar (101 yards on 12 carries and three touchdowns).

“They (the Redskins) played a great game offensively,” said Cusick. “They gashed us and hats off to them. Their offense just clicked tonight and they did a great job.”

Indian Creek held a narrow 7-0 lead late in the second quarter when the Redskins turned an interception and a fumble on a kickoff into 16 points in the final 2:33 of the first half.

After a scoreless first quarter, Indian Creek, which had 150 yards rushing in the first half, scored when Mazar capped a 92-yard Redskin march when he scored on a one-yard bolt over left guard. With the PAT kick, the Redskins led 7-0 with 10:50 showing before intermission.

The score remained that way until late in the second quarter when the Potters were picked off by Indian Creek defensive back Gavin Pownall at the Potters’ 39 with 2:33 showing. The Redskins capitalized on the miscue when Starkey hit a wide open Mazar with a 30-yard scoring strike down the middle. After a penalty on the Potters, the Redskins went for two and converted when Mazar scored from a yard-and-a-half out, making it 15-0 with 48.5 seconds showing on the clock.

Misfortune struck East Liverpool on the ensuing kickoff when they fumbled the ball away at their own 29, and again, Indian Creek capitalized, marching the necessary distance to score on a seven-yard pass from Starkey to Parker Heath with just 3.5 seconds left on the clock. The Potters were offsides again on the PAT and the Redskins went for two again and converted on another 11/2-yard run by Mazar, suddenly increasing their advantage to 23-0 at the break.

“We were way too emotional and immature and got the penalties,” said Cusick whose team had 105 yards in penalties. “We’re still a work in progress and that’s the part that’s disappointing and we’ve got to fix that, just flat out.”

Indian Creek outgained the Potters 236-120 in the first half, with 150 of those yards coming on the ground, led by Mozar who had 75 yards rushing at the break.

“The big thing for us is we’ve said we can run the football and our offensive line did a great job,” said Connor. “And our defense played stout the whole way.”

Indian Creek briefly made it a running clock to open the second half when Mazar scored on a 28-yard run and the PAT kick made it 30-0 at the 10:45 mark of the third.

But East Liverpool answered with a 34-yard scoring pass from Ben Myers to Dre’Keim Abercrombie and Cam Wright added the PAT, cutting the deficit to 30-7 with 3:23 left in the third.

The Potters drew within 30-13 when Abercrombie hauled in a 10-yard scoring aerial from Myers in the right corner of the end zone. The PAT boot failed with 6:13 left in the fourth.

But Indian Creek answered with a 73-yard run by Starkey down the left sideline with 5:58 remaining. With the PAT kick, the Redskins went back up, 37-13.

East Liverpool closed the scoring with a 21-yard scoring run around left end by Myers with 1:58 left as the conversion pass failed.

“We played hard, we didn’t play smart but we didn’t give up and I’m proud of that but not proud of what we did in the first half,” said Cusick.

Game notes

¯ Indian Creek leads the series with the Potters, 13-10.

Indian Creek won last year’s game with the Potters, 20-14 in Wintersville.

Before the game, a moment of silence was held for East Liverpool’s favorite son Frank “Digger” Dawson who passed away in June.

Indian Creek defeated the Potters, 20-14 last season.

The Potters will host longtime Columbiana County rival Salem next Friday evening at Patterson Field.

“That’s a fun one, whenever you hook up with Salem, and we’ve got to get ready,” said Cusick.

Indian Creek will host the Union Local Jets next Friday night at Kettlewell Memorial Stadium.

IC: 0 -23-7-7–37

EL: 0-0-7-12 –19

SCORING

IC–Bruce Mazar, 1 run, 10:50 2nd (PAT kick)

IC–Bruce Mazar, 30 pass from Ian Starkey, 48.5 2nd (Bruce Mazar run)

IC Parker Heath, 7 pass from Ian Starkey, 3.5 2nd (Bruce Mazar run)

IC –Bruce Mazar, 28 run (PAT kick)

EL–Dre’Keim Abercrombie, 34 pass from Ben Myers, 3:23 3rd (Camden Wright kick)

IC–Ian Starkey, 73 run, 5:58 4th (PAT kick)

EL–Dre’Keim Abercrombie, 10 pass from Ben Myers, 6:13 4th (Kick failed)

EL–Ben Myers, 21 run, 1:58 4th (Pass failed)

——

IC EL

First downs 19 18

Total yards 395 317

Rushes-yards 27-291 37-193

Passing 104 124

Comp-Att-Int 6-9-0 13-24-1

Penalties-Yards 10-72 11-95

Fumbles-lost 1-1 1-1

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INDIVIDUAL LEADERS

RUSHING — Indian Creek, Ian Starkey 8-144, Bruce Mazar 11-101, Gavin Pownall, 6-30; East Liverpool, Amir Baker 12-43, Ben Myers 9-40, Tamar Tisdale 16-100.

PASSING — Indian Creek, Ian Starkey 6-9-104; East Liverpool, Ben Myers 13-24-124-2-1.

RECEIVING — Indian Creek, Gavin Pownall 1-16, Bruce Mazar 3-68; East Liverpool, Dre’ Keim Abercrombie 6-88, Kirby 1-9, Meshach Harris 5-27.