With a 54-0 win over Southern Buckeye on October 22, the Peebles Indians captured their third consecutive Southern Ohio Independent League Super Bowl championship. (Photo by Mark Carpenter)
Indians romp to another SOIL championship
Peebles offensive lineman Tyler McDonald, left, cradles the “rock” after he scored the first touchdown of his high school career in the fourth quarter of the Indians’ SOIL title game win over Southern Buckeye on October 22. (Photo by Mark Carpenter)
This diving interception by Peebles’ Brandon Rayburn was one of four turnovers forced by the Indians in their 54-0 win over Southern Buckeye in the SOIL title game. (Photo by Mark Carpenter)
By Mark Carpenter
People’s Defender
In some respects, it has been a tough season for the Southern Ohio Independent League, but all of that was forgotten as Patriot Field in Peebles hosted the league’s Super Bowl Saturday night. It was a big night for the host Peebles Indians as they hosted the Southern Buckeye Warriors with a giant goal in mind. The Indians were the two-time defending SOIL Super Bowl champions and were looking to make a claim to perhaps being the most talented football team ever to grace the gridiron in Adams County.
The Indians made that claim in a huge way on Saturday night. Coming out of the gates with the will to dominate, the Indians throttled the Warriors from start to finish, and made it three SOIL titles in a row with a very convincing 54-0 victory. Three and a half years ago, the Peebles program was in a bit of disarray and at that point, Coach Mike McDonald took the helm and the rest is Adams County football history.
“Honestly when I took this job I thought we could be very good,” said Coach McDonald said in the aftermath of his team’s celebration. “I knew these seniors were a very special group and I knew how good they could be. They are a very good group of boys and have always treated each other like family. They complain and argue but in the end, they’re like brothers.”
The outcome of Saturday’s title game was determined early as the Indians’ first possession began at the Southern Buckeye 28 and quickly resulted in a touchdown run by senior quarterback Zane Knechtly, the first of his three scores in the win. The Warriors were forced to punt on their ensuing possession and Knechtly struck again, flying by every Southern Buckeye tackler on his way to a 70-yard punt return for a TD that made it 14-0 with 3:57 left in the opening period.
The stingy Peebles defense then forced a turnover, an acrobatic diving interception from Brandon Rayburn after the Warriors had driven deep into Peebles territory. Coach McDonald often talks about his offensive line, his “road graders”, and they showed up big on the first Peebles snap after the interception, opening up a huge hole for running back Jayce West, who then outraced the Buckeye defense all the way to the end zone for a 90-yard score that gave the Indians a 20-0 lead at the end of the first quarter.
“Always with me, success starts with the big guys up front,” said Coach McDonald. “With our line and the backfield that we have, they are special. The blocking from the offensive line is important but the running backs really enjoy blocking for each other and sometimes that is hard to get a bunch of young me to understand, that blocking comes first.”
The second quarter was much of the same, much to the delight of the large home crowd. After another Buckeye punt, the Indian offense drove 60 yards, culminating in a one-yard scoring run by West, followed by a two-point pass from Knechtly to Nathaniel Cummings to make it 28-0. The next Warrior possession lasted one play, an interception by Peebles’ Hunter Meade that led to a five-yard touchdown run by Cummings and a Knechtly conversion run and a commanding 34-0 halftime lead for the Tribe.
With the +30 point margin, the running clock rule went into effect but that didn’t slow down the Peebles offense as a 27-yard scoring run from West, his third of the game, plus the Knechtly conversion extended the lead out to 42-0. In the final quarter, a seven-yard TD run by Knechtly made it 48-0 and set the stage for a touchdown run that Peebles players and fans will remember for a long time.
The kickoff after the Knechtly score was fumbled by the Warriors and recovered by Peebles’ Bransyn Browning at the Buckeye 27. As the Indians got closer to the end zone, Knechtly ran the ball around the right end with a clear path to score but instead ran out of bounds on the 2-yard line, leaving many to wonder, “Why did he do that”? Well, he did that because he is a selfless player and he wanted a teammate to get his chance to make a lifelong memory.
One of those “road graders” up front is Coach McDonald’s son Tyler, who was playing in his final game.
“The one thing he told me before the game was ‘Dad. don’t take me out tonight’.” said Coach McDonald. “Well, I took him out for a play and he told me “Okay you owe me a touchdown now.”
With the ball at the 2, Knechtly took the snap and handed it off to the massive McDonald, who pushed his way across the goal line for every offensive lineman’s dream and the first touchdown of his outstanding high school career, plus a memory that will last a lifetime for he and his teammates, who were right there in the celebration with big #77.
That score came with 5:28 to play and was the fitting end to a night to remember to remember for the Indians, their coaches and their fans. a third consecutive Super Bowl title and an 18-game winning streak, with only one loss over the past three seasons, quite a remarkable run and one to remember.
“What I want to carry from this is that I want it to carry over into next year,” adds Coach McDonald. “I’m losing a fantastic group of seniors but it’s weird how things work out. I’ve got eight seniors leaving but I’ve got eight eighth graders coming up and I have a really good core in the middle.”
The eight seniors that Coach McDonald referred to have left a lasting legacy with the Peebles football program. They are: Zane Knechtly, Jayden Abbott, Tyler McDonald, Bransyn Browning, Sean Copley, Hunter Meade, Michael Hudgel and Sol Beech-Turner.
