With Coach Mike McDonald hoisting the Koehler-Darby Trophy high, the Peebles Indians celebrate their fourth consecutive Southern Ohio Independent League championship. (Photo by Mark Carpenter)
Peebles rolls past West Union 58-20
Peebles senior running back Jayce West plows past a couple of West Union defenders during the Indians’ 59-20 win on October 28 at Freedom Field. (Photo by Mark Carpenter)
By Mark Carpenter
People’s Defender
The Southern Ohio Independent League may at the moment be just a shell of its former self with its future in limbo, but that doesn’t in any way diminish what Coach Mike McDonald and his Peebles Indians squad have accomplished on the gridiron. With another convincing win on Saturday night over the West Union Dragons, the Indians wrapped up their fourth consecutive SOIL Super Bowl championship, once again sending the Koehler-Darby Trophy to the northern part of the county.
Peebles had dominated the Dragons in a pair of regular season meetings, 66-16 and 66-6, and Saturday night turned out to be no different. The Indians broke open a close game with an amazing 36 points in the second quarter to cruise to a 58-20 victory.
“It has been a short season but a very long season,” said coach McDonald after the win. “We didn’t have a lot of games and we did have a good game against an OHSAA Division V team (Dayton Christian) who made the playoffs. We put up 40 against them. There have been numerous weeks where we didn’t play and our kids just kept on practicing and practicing, doing their thing, doing what we do and they did a great job.”
The game began on an absolute high note for the Dragons on their home field as Allen Knauff corralled the opening kickoff and outraced the Indians’ special team all the way for a touchdown. The two-point conversion failed but the Dragons had a 6-0 lead before most fans could get settled in their seats. That lead quickly vanished when the Peebles offeNSe took the field for the first time, starting at their own 38. The drive began with a Grady Knechtly scoring run that was nullified by penalty, included a long pass connection from quarterback Josh McClary to wideout Brandon Rayburn and ended with a four-yard TD rum from Jayce West that tied the score at 6 apiece.
The first West Union offensive possession ended in a punt and the Indians wasted little time in taking the lead for good. After a pass from McClary to Knechtly took the Tribe all the way to the West Union 1, West took it in from there and a two-point run by Knechtly put the Indians up 14-6 as the first quarter closed.
On the next West Union possession, quarterback Jaden Cockrell went to the sideline with an injury and the possession ended with a punt being blocked by the Indians who took over deep in West Union territory. A touchdown run by Knechtly extended the lead to 20-6, but Knauff struck again on the ensuing kickoff, returning it all the way for the score that cut the Peebles lead to 20-12 but from that point on, the roof caved in on the Dragons.
The Indians literally “went off”. leaving no doubt who was taking home the trophy, ending the first half on a huge 30-0 run that began with a two-yard TD run by Knechtly and then a West Union fumble recovered by the Indians. That turnover resulted in a five-yard West touchdown run that increased the lead to 34-12. Three minutes later, McClary picked off a West Union pass and took it in for the pick-six. West two-point run made it 42-12 and the Indians were not done. After the Dragons turned the ball over on downs, Peebles got a 33-yard scoring run from Knechtly and a McClary two-point conversion jaunt to go to the halftime break with a 50-12 advantage.
The 38-point margin meant that the running clock rule was in effect for the entire second half, maybe the only thing that could slow down the Indians. Peebles got the only score of the third quarter, as they joined the kickoff return parade, with McClary returning the second half’s opening kickoff for a touchdown. The two-point run by Landon Storer gave the Tribe a 58-12 lead. The lone score of the final period belonged to the Dragons,a touchdown run by Knauff, his third score of the night, that made the final 58-20 in favor of the Indians.
As is always the case, the Indians will lose some seniors but will be in solid shape for a 2024 season that will hopefully see then be able to play a full schedule from start to finish.
“We refuse to say that we rebuild, we just reload,” said Coach McDonald. “We lost a lot of seniors from last year’s team but we gained a lot of freshmen and they stepped up big time for us.”
