MUNCIE - When Delta football saw they would be facing Muncie Central to start their season for the fourth straight year, the Eagles circled the contest on their calendar.
“The proximity of the two schools and how much respect the two schools have for each other [matters],” Delta head coach Chris Overholt said. “It's a battle we talked about and it’s a battle for the 765.
“If someone's wearing purple and someone's wearing navy out in public, someone's got bragging rights.”
Just like the previous three installments, the opener went to the blue and gold once more as Delta defeated the Bearcats 28-7 to open the 2024 high school football season.
“I’m impressed with our grit,” Overholt said. “There's just been a lot of talk for the last two months and our guys do such a great job leading up to this game, the big games, and we just close our mouths and we show up with our pads.”
The match at Muncie Central High School began in the Eagles favor after the drive started on a 38-yard return. Soon after, Delta’s offense found momentum but were stopped after senior quarterback Bronson Edwards threw a deep incompletion in the endzone to senior receiver Zane Cline.
On fourth down, the Eagles gambled and went for it. This time, Edwards found Cline again in the endzone for the first Delta touchdown of the year. Cline finished the game with two touchdown receptions. Behind him Cline was senior receiver Cooper Bratton and junior tight end Cole Mynett who also scored with touchdowns of their own.
“We've all been friends since about third grade and were even on the same metro team,” Cline said. “I just think that connection has been built stronger and stronger and it's correlating to Friday Night Lights, which we just love to see.”
Behind the multiple scoring plays was Edwards, who finished the win going 15-for-25 with 228 passing yards and four touchdown passes. While in the pocket, the second-year starting quarterback looked comfortable before every throw.
“Honestly, that's not me,” Edwards said. “That was completely our offensive line and they played phenomenal. I had unlimited time back there to make some good plays.”
On the other side of the ball, the Eagles added more highlights to the gamefilm. Seniors Nash Keesling and Landon Brooks – a Purdue University commit – found ways to pressure Bearcat quarterbacks – juniors Alakai Wallace and Fletcher Kahle – on multiple throws. Junior Matthew Morey also recorded an interception.
To Brooks, this year’s defensive unit is trying to mirror what the previous seniors used for their success, which ended with a sectional championship.
“Our defense is just really good,” Brooks said. “You saw our secondary hustle pretty good. As long as we stop the run, we're good.”
Edwards finds Bratton for another deep touchdown pass. The Eagles are rolling and lead 14-0 with 2:48 left in the opening quarter. @dn_sports @_loganconnor @DeltaEagles_ pic.twitter.com/JZDlVLKPFT
For the Bearcats, the passing game could not get off the ground due to the Eagles’ pressure. While Muncie Central had some moments in the run game, it wasn’t enough to match Delta’s momentum on offense.
“That’s our profile [because] we’re going to run the ball all night,” Bearcats’ head coach Kyle Padgett said. “We’re going to run C-gap and try to stretch teams out, make them defend the whole nine yards. We want to use play action and quick screens to get defenses to play laterally off of that. We got some momentum tonight but not like we want moving forward.”
Wallace made his debut with the Bearcats tonight after transferring from Yorktown this summer. Wallace has been working out with the team since July, but to him, game action was a different level from practice.
“It’s always different once the bullets start flying out there,” Padgett said. “The lights turn on but I don’t think it made much of a difference to him. He settled in there in the second quarter and led a great scoring drive for us to start the second half.”
The start of the season calls for some hiccups and miscues, but Padgett was happy with the way his team battled through the adversity tonight.
“We had a few mistakes out there tonight but I wouldn’t put them on any player,” he said. “I think it was communication errors from our offensive line and coming from the sideline onto the field. That’s something we need to learn from and grow on. Honestly, I put that on the coaches. We have to put our kids into better situations and I think we kind of dropped the ball on that tonight.”
For the Eagles, this game was what they wanted to prove to themselves and the rest of the area that Delta football is looking to continue on last season’s success.
“We're a tough team that's extremely close, maybe the closest team I've ever coached,” Overholt said. “So they'll really decide how far we're going to go and how good they want to be.”
Delta will look to win back-to-back games as the Eagles travel to Norwell Friday, Aug. 30. The game will be played at 7:30 p.m. For the Bearcats, they will look for the win column when they face Yorktown on the road on the same day. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m.
Contact Zach Carter at zachary.carter@bsu.edu or on X at @ZachCarter85.
Contact Logan Connor at logan.connor@bsu.edu or on X at @_loganconnor.
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