By MIKE McLAIN

sports@vindy.com

LIBERTY

The calendar indicates that the high school football playoffs begin next Friday.

In actuality, the Girard Indians have been in playoff mode since they began practices for a Week 9 showdown with the then-undefeated LaBrae Vikings.

Without a win over the Vikings and a 42-12 victory over the Liberty Leopards in an All-American Conference Blue Tier game Friday night, the Indians wouldn’t have secured a spot in Region 13 of the Division IV playoffs. The need to keep winning through the final week of the regular season could prove beneficial for the Indians (9-1 and 6-0 in the tier).

“I’ll be honest, since Week 2 it’s been a playoff mentality for us,” Indians coach Pat Pearson said. “Knowing what’s at stake every week, we just want to keep on battling. I’m so proud of these kids, the student body and our community. It’s a special time to be a Girard Indian.”

The Leopards finished the season 7-3 and 4-2 in the tier.

“We overachieved,” Leopards coach Chet Allen said of the season. “I couldn’t be more proud of a team going 7-3 where people didn’t think we’d be 3-7.”

Girard eased any fears among its fans about a letdown after the win over LaBrae with touchdowns on its first two possessions. The Indians opened a 28-0 lead in the second quarter and played most of the second half with a running clock.

Senior quarterback Mark Waid was outstanding again. Despite poor field conditions because of a steady rain, Waid completed 14 of 28 passes for 277 yards and a pair of touchdowns. He added a touchdown on an 18-yard run.

If you’d ask Waid to single out a star, he’d waste no time in saying junior running back Morgan Clardy, who rushed for 82 yards and three touchdowns and added 86 yards on three receptions.

“When you have a great team around me like I do, it’s easy,” Waid said. “The offensive line opens up holes and gives me time to throw, and Morgan Clardy absolutely killed it tonight. Morgan, Terrance [Davis] and Nick [Malito] played phenomenal. Write this in the paper: Morgan Clardy is an animal.”

The Indians marched 75 yards on 11 plays to open play, scoring on a 17-yard pass from Waid to Davis, who leaped high in the end zone to grab the ball. Bailey McDermott was successful on the extra-point kick.

Girard needed just two plays to go 60 yards on its next possession, which resulted in a 26-yard scoring run by Clardy. McDermott added the point-after kick.

Waid ran 18 yards in the second quarter to extend the Indians’ lead to 20-0 (the extra point kick was blocked). Later in the quarter Waid connected with Malito on an 8-yard scoring pass. Waid then threw to Aidan Warga for the extra two points and a 28-0 lead.

By then the issue was no longer in doubt in what will be the final game — for the foreseeable future — in this rivalry.

“This is such a special game and such a special rivalry,” Pearson said. “We’re so excited we could finish this one on top. I have a lot of respect for coach Allen and his kids. They played their hearts out. Our boys have been on a mission all year long.”

The Leopards got on the scoreboard when receiver Kameron Thomas took a handoff on a reverse and threw to quarterback Migel Burgess for a 27-yard touchdown in the second period. The Indians answered with a 27-yard touchdown run by Clardy to take a 35-6 halftime lead.

Girard made it 42-6 on a 2-yard scoring run by Clardy. Liberty’s Justin Cizmar broke free on a 78-yard scoring run to close out the scoring.

“All offseason we’ve been pushing each other to get back to this feeling,” Waid said of advancing to the playoffs. “We have to build off this game. It starts tomorrow.”