Nearly 4,000 fans packed Dwaine C. Bell Stadium for the opening game of the high school football season on Friday night looking for a battle of star receivers.
Branden Sharpe on the visiting Brownsburg side. Monshun Sales on the home Lawrence North side. Both players committed to defending national champion Indiana. It had all the makings of a wild shootout. Even influencer A.J. Greene and his team showed up to share the scene with their millions of social media followers.
Then Brady Lewis stole the show.
There is nothing flashy about the 5-9, 190-pound Lewis. The Brownsburg senior running back puts a foot in the ground and gets downhill. He can break a tackle, fall forward, then pick himself up and do it all over again. Remember those “Built Ford Tough” commercials? That’s Lewis.
All he did in Friday’s season-opening 48-25 win for Class 6A top-ranked Brownsburg over No. 4 Lawrence North was carry the ball 35 times for 225 yards and two touchdowns.
“When got him new wheels, so he’s running on fresh legs,” Brownsburg coach John Hart said. “I thought he did great and I thought the kids that came in for him, the sophomore (Parker Condon), did a great job. We knew that he was about two steps faster last year and he was a really good running back last year.”
Lewis is not exactly new to the scene for the Bulldogs. He has run for more than 700 yards in each of the past two seasons, both ending in state championships. Lewis was not the team’s top runner either of those seasons, but was reliable in key spots both years. Hart said the difference this year is Lewis’ added speed. He showed it on a 43-yard run on his 30th carry of the night.
“Speed training,” Lewis said. “In the offseason I started improving my 40 times and getting faster. Obviously, I can get faster. I’m not the fastest dude out here. But I can get downhill and feel like I have enough speed where I can get going. But I like to get downhill and lower my pads.”
Lewis had a big first half, piling up 119 yards on 20 carries, but Brownsburg found itself facing a 19-14 deficit after Lawrence North struck for a 15-yard touchdown pass from Darian Prather to Amari Moore with 1.9 seconds left in the first half. It was a disastrous finish to the half for Brownsburg, which led 14-6 before Izayveon Moore broke off a 27-yard touchdown run and the Bulldogs failed to pick up a fourth down, leaving time for the Wildcats to score again.
But just when it looked like things were about to get really interesting, Brownsburg played like a team that had been there before.
“They have a special team and their skill position players are out of this world,” Hart said of Lawrence North. “I thought they made great adjustments in the first half and had us wheeling a little bit … the speed they put on the field is incredible. Adjusting to that was a challenge but, man, we answered.”
The turning point was arguably on Brownsburg’s first possession of the second half. The Bulldogs were faced with a third-and-13 at midfield when quarterback Oscar Frye sailed a pass deep over the head of a receiver. But the Lawrence North defender was called for pass interference, keeping the drive alive. A few plays later, Condon fired off the left side for an 8-yard touchdown run to give Brownsburg a 21-19 lead.
After a Lawrence North three-and-out, Brownsburg needed just one play – a perfectly-thrown 48-yard pass from Frye to a streaking Sharpe over the top of the Lawrence North secondary – to give the Bulldogs a 28-19 lead midway through the third quarter.
“Anywhere Oscar puts the ball, I trust him,” Sharpe said. “He’s going to put it in the right spot. I knew it was going to be perfect.”
Sharpe did most of his damage in the second half, finishing with four catches for 88 yards. He also caught a 6-yard touchdown pass from Frye on Brownsburg’s first drive of the game. Frye, the Illinois State commit, finished 10-for-15 passing for 165 yards and three touchdowns.
The second half – the third quarter specifically – was a rough scene for Lawrence North, which surrendered 28 consecutive points until Izayveon Moore’s 96-yard kickoff return for a touchdown in the final minute of the quarter.
“We can’t give a great team like that opportunities,” Lawrence North coach Pat Mallory said. “We snap the ball over the head of our punter and they score another touchdown. It just kind of steamrolled from there. I know we’ll go back to the drawing board and get some stuff corrected and see if we needed to move some people around. It’s game one. It’s hard to prepare for game one. Sometimes you get lucky and sometimes you don’t.”
Sales, the five-star wide receiver, caught just two passes for 13 yards. He was playing both at safety and receiver and appeared to be suffering from some cramps at different points in the game. Lawrence North quarterback Darian Prather ran for 107 yards on 13 carries and was 10-for-26 passing for 89 yards with three interceptions.
Other than the kickoff return and the 27-yard TD run, Brownsburg’s defense kept the elusive Moore, a Purdue recruit, under wraps. He finished with 67 yards rushing on 14 carries.
“I thought our defensive line caused so much conflict up front,” Hart said. “If he got going, he’s the best running back in the state. But if we got to him before he got going, then the quarterback had to keep it more, and then we were trying to tackle him.”
It was a complete performance for Brownsburg, which is ranked No. 17 in the country by High School Football America. The Bulldogs will get a challenge next week at home against a Georgia power, Rabun Gap, a team that will bring a few big-time prospects of its own.
Lewis might not be as highly-ranked as some of those players. But there was not a more impactful player on the field on Friday night.
“I’m just happy winning games,” Lewis said with a smile. “I’m never trash talking or acting crazy. I’m just happy for my teammates and trying to help us win games.”
Call Star reporter Kyle Neddenriep at (317) 444-6649. Get IndyStar’s high school coverage sent directly to your inbox with the High School Sports newsletter.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Flashy? Maybe not. But Brownsburg’s Brady Lewis is reliable and tough – and he wins.
Reporting by Kyle Neddenriep, Indianapolis Star / Indianapolis Star
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Kyle Neddenriep, Indianapolis Star | USA TODAY Network
