Some had the Eastern-most Indians of the district to get beat by the Western-most Indians by over 40 points. The Cherokee Indians played excellent defense against the shifty, quick Paint Rock offense and held them to 34 points. The problem came when the Cherokee Indians’ offense could only manage 32 points. The hustle was excellent and the game was very exciting.

Cherokee opened the game with an onside kick to Paint Rock. PR returned the kickoff 50 yards for a TD. Time elapsed: :07 seconds. The PAT failed. The Indians bounced back with Tucker Corsi scoring on a 14 yard run. The PAT failed. PR scored again a couple of plays later on a 12 yard run. The PAT was good. With 2:20 remaining in the 1st quarter, Nieves Solis recovered a PR fumble. This set up the Indians’ next TD on an 8 yard run by Corsi. Corsi kicked the PAT to tie the score at 14-14.

PR scored the only TD of the 2nd quarter on a 15 yard pass play with :36 left in the half. The PAT was good putting PR up 14-22.

The Indians scored 40 seconds into the 3rd quarter on a 34 yard run by Jesse Perez. The PAT failed. The score was now 20-22. PR scored with 2:12 on the clock on a 12 yard run. Their PAT failed, making the score 20-28. Cherokee scored with :39 left in the quarter on a 9 yard pass from Solis to Josh Perry. The PAT failed. The score was 26-28. PR returned the onside kick for a 45 yard TD. The PAT failed. The score was now 26-34 with :27 left in the quarter. PR recovered the ensuing onside kick. Cherokee held them on downs.

With 7:15 left in the game, Cherokee lost a fumble. PR was held on downs and lined up to punt with 6:48 on the clock. Steven Austermann broke through the line and blocked the punt. The Indians recovered the ball on the 10 yard line. Two plays later, Solis found Austermann in the endzone for a 10 yard TD reception. The PAT failed. The score was 32-34. The two teams battled the rest of the game with neither team able to score on the other.

The Indians will travel to Zephyr Friday night. Kickoff is set for 7:30p.m.