SALEM
Salem emphatically proved anything that can go wrong in a high school football game will go wrong Friday night.
Brownstown Central happily took advantage of Salem’s difficulties and pulled away to an easy 49-12 victory.
The Lions entered their game with Brownstown Central with a 2-1 record that hinted that perhaps they could be a contender. Instead, Salem quarterback Seth Hobson threw interceptions on each of his first two passes.
Salem (2-2) then followed those turnovers with a missed 35-yard field goal and a turnover on downs that occurred because of a missed pass to a wide open receiver.
Brownstown (4-0) accepted the Lions’ largess, converting mistakes into points and racing to a 36-0 lead. Indeed, Brownstown’s performance was as sharp and efficient as Salem’s was error prone.
The Braves gained 425 offensive yards on just 35 plays. Quarterback Kyle Kramer was just about perfect, completing five of six pass attempts for 172 yards. Three of those passes resulted in touchdowns of 47 yards to Derek Rieckers, 43 yards to Gavin Bane and 36 yards to Colton Ritz.
Bane continued his stellar season, scoring more than 20 points for the third time this season (he ended with 22 points). The senior ran for a game-high 133 yards and two TDs on just six carries to go along with two catches for 84 yards.
Kramer and Rieckers added rushing touchdowns, as the Braves ended with 253 ground yards on 29 attempts.
Defensively, the Braves were just as dominant. Besides his interception, Cameron Eggersman led with 10 tackles. Stuckwisch augmented his interception with a fumble recovery.
Trevor Colby and Lendon Underwood were tough on the line of scrimmage for BC. Colby ended with six tackles, including a sack that resulted in a forced fumble that teammate Noah Reynolds recovered. Underwood also had six tackles and a sack.
Rieckers, meanwhile, earned special teams honors by blocking both of Salem’s extra point attempts.
Brownstown faces another solid Mid-Southern Conference team next week when it hosts North Harrison (3-1).