By Doug Chapin

sports@vindy.com

Team

Girard

Record	Div.	Conf.
13/1	Div. IV	All-American Conference Blue Tier

LaBrae vs. Girard

Gallery

GIRARD

It was business as usual this past week in practice for the Girard High football team which was coming off its first loss of the season.

On Friday night, the Indians again got back to business, hammering LaBrae, 50-0, to clinch a tie with Campbell Memorial for the All-American Athletic Conference Blue Tier title.

Last week, the Indians suffered their first loss of the season, 42-35, to Campbell.

“We just corrected our mistakes,” Girard coach Nick Cochran said. “Practice wasn’t anything different, the guys work hard every week and every day they come out and prepare. We just had to correct the mistakes we made.

“We got beat by a pretty good football team last week and we beat a pretty good team this week. We just needed to get up. It’s something we didn’t do last week and we did this week.”

Girard (8-1, 3-1 AAC Blue) led the Division IV, Region 13 computer ratings heading into this week, while LaBrae (5-4, 2-2), which suffered its third straight loss, was seventh in the region.

The Indians, who were averaging 45 points per game headed into Friday night, continued to hit on all cylinders despite playing without 1,000-yard rusher Ahmad Eggleston. The defense bounced back from the defeat with its first shutout of the season.

“Our defense really stepped up, they worked their butts off today,” Cochran said. “Our hats go off to coach [Pat] Pearson and his staff, they did an excellent job preparing us.

“Coming off of last week our kids could have easily put their heads down, defensively. They worked on it and stopped a good offense. We bent a little bit but we didn’t break.”

Quarterback Dan Graziano passed for 241 yards and three touchdowns and ran for 114 yards and two touchdowns. He already had passed the 1,000-yard mark in both categories before this week.

“Graz all year has busted his butt. He’s just grown up since his freshman year,” Cochran said. “There are people out there that still don’t give him the credit. People have to realize Dan Graziano is Dan Graziano, he’s a great kid. I wish people would start understanding that.”

Brandon Byrd caught two of the scoring passes and ran an interception back 43 yards for a touchdown on the first play from scrimmage in the second half. That opened a 15-0 halftime advantage to 22-0 and was the start of a 35-point third quarter for the Indians.

“I think we got a little complacent [against Campbell],” Cochran said. “We had the day off from school, not that that’s an excuse, but the kids were doing different things and I don’t think we were totally focused.

“I think sometimes you need that bump on the road to wake you up a little bit and that did it for us. We played well today but there are still some things we need to work on.”

The Indians had a 21-4 edge in first downs and outgained the Vikings, 472-89 in total yardage.