Greenfield-Central’s Cooper Hinton, shown here from a game last season, had three touchdowns, two rushing and one on a fumble recovery, in Friday’s win at Beech Grove.
Tom Russo | Daily Reporter
BEECH GROVE — The Greenfield-Central football team started its 2024 campaign in dominant fashion, blowing out the Beech Grove Hornets 50-8 Friday night.
The Cougar defense’s front seven controlled the game from the opening drive, forcing a three-and-out, which the special teams converted into a touchdown on a muffed snap by Beech Grove’s punting unit, which senior Kody Smith dove on in the end zone for the season’s first score.
The Cougar defense continued to attack the run-heavy Hornet offense with pressure, forcing nine tackles for loss on the night. The rush was led by senior defensive end Jake VanOsdel, who netted a pair of sacks in the win.
“Everything just kind of came together,” VanOsdel said. “We had really good calls from our defense coordinator… We’ve been waiting, we’ve been fired up all offseason and we’ve been ready to get after it.”
The Greenfield-Central offense started slow, surrendering a fumble on its first drive of the game, but began to get rolling late in the first quarter as senior quarterback Dallas Freeman connected with senior receiver Boston Willard for a 48-yard catch-and-run for the first offensive score of the season.
“Dallas and Boston have been playing together since they’re little kids, and that shows, because they’ve got a really special connection,” Greenfield-Central head coach Travis Nolting said.
The Freeman-Willard duo connected again for a 17-yard touchdown pass early in the second quarter to give Greenfield-Central a 22-0 lead.
Cooper Hinton scooped up another muffed punt for a 12-yard touchdown return to extend the lead to 29, but just as it looked like Freeman and Willard might have a third score on a post route, Willard bobbled the catch, allowing Beech Grove sophomore Tyler Hixon to snatch the ball out of the air for an interception. It set up the Hornets with good field position following a late hit on the return.
Star Beech Grove running back Jeremiah Lee finally got going, turning what appeared to be a broken play and short pass into a 62-yard scamper. After breaking a tackle, bouncing it outside, he scorched past the Cougar defense down the sideline. After a two-point conversion, the score was 29-8.
That was as much momentum as Beech Grove got throughout the night, though, as an end-around provided enough misdirection for Hinton to scamper into the end zone with his second touchdown of the evening, ending the first half with a 36-8 Cougar lead.
The second half was all Greenfield-Central, as junior fullback Braylen Benavente, who got the lion’s share of the handoffs on the night, barreled through the line to start a dominant running half for the Cougars with a 12-yard touchdown.
The defense continued to burst into the backfield, forcing Beech Grove further and further back to set Greenfield-Central up with good field position throughout the night, which Hinton took advantage of to close the night with an explosive 36-yard run for his third trip to the house, closing the scoring at 50-8.
The running clock trickled down quickly throughout the fourth, and the Cougars started the year comfortably undefeated, dealing first-year Beech Grove head coach Rajshawn Mosley his first loss as a Hornet.
Freeman ended his night with 105 yards through the air and another 13 on the ground, while the running back trio of Hinton, Benavente, and senior Payton Foley combined for 184 rushing yards.
Greenfield-Central will return to action next Friday night for its home opener against Greensburg, who will be looking to rebound after its 22-point loss to Shelbyville tonight.
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Greenfield-Central 50, Beech Grove 8
Greenfield-Central(1-0);15;21;14;0; —;50
Beech Grove (0-1);0;8;0;0; — ;8
Scoring Summary
1st Quarter
GC – Kody Smith 0 fumble return (two-point conversion good), 10:04
GC – Boston Willard 48 pass from Dallas Freeman (Andrew Trabel kick), 0:46
2nd Quarter
GC – Willard 17 pass from Freeman (Trabel kick), 10:22
GC – Cooper Hinton 12 fumble return (Trabel kick), 8:43
BG – Jeremiah Lee 62 pass from Bishop Moore (two-point conversion good), 4:44
GC – Hinton 4 run (Trabel kick), 0:44
3rd Quarter
GC – Braylen Benavente 12 run (Trabel kick), 9:32
GC – Hinton 35 run (Trabel kick), 4:06
