PHOTO: Indian Valley’s Grady Kinsey evades a Jonathan Alder defender
Grady Kinsey’s last high school football game at Indian Valley’s home field was certainly a memorable show.
The senior tailback ran for 302 yards and added six touchdowns and a two-point conversion run as the Braves rolled to a 47-28 win over Jonathan Alder in a Region 15 semifinal at Brotherhood HVAC Stadium in Gnadenhutten.
Indian Valley advances in the Division IV tournament with an 11-0 record. The Braves have now won 27 straight games, which includes eight straight playoff wins.
Next up is the Region 15 championship game against New Lexington. The teams will meet Friday night at Coshocton’s Stewart Field.
Along the way in the win over Alder, Kinsey also set a new state record for career rushing touchdowns.
“I knew I was approaching the record, but at the end of the day, that’s not what this is about. It’s more about getting to the next week successful and healthy. Thankfully, we got both done tonight.”
His four scores in the first half gave him 125 rushing scores, passing the mark of 124 set by Harvest Prep’s Daniel Bangura. His six scores also tied the state record for total career touchdowns with 133.
“On nights when he’s able to get stats like that, he deserves it,” said Indian Valley coach Matt Lancaster. “There have been times he’s run out of bounds intentionally so a lineman could score a touchdown.”
“I knew I was approaching the record, but at the end of the day, that’s not what this is about,” Kinsey said. “It’s more about getting to the next week successful and healthy. Thankfully, we got both done tonight.”
It didn’t take long for the Braves to unleash Kinsey. He went 68 yards for a touchdown on Indian Valley’s first offensive play.
Quarterback Ryker Williams went 23 yards on Indian Valley’s second possession to make the score 13-0.
Indian Valley went on to score a touchdown on every offensive possession with the exception of their final set of downs when they took a knee to kill the clock.
Kinsey added a pair of short runs in the second quarter, giving the Braves a 28-7 lead.
The Pioneers put together a drive late in the second quarter, but Brett O’Connor intercepted a Brock Hughes pass with 1:39 on the clock. The Braves used that time to drive for another short Kinsey run with 14 seconds on the clock that made the halftime score 34-7.
“That was a big swing,” Lancaster said. “They could have scored and made it a two-score game, but we got the interception and then went down and scored to make it 34-7 at halftime and that was a big momentum swing for us.”
Kinsey added scoring runs of 64 and 2 yards in the second half to keep the Braves in control of the game.
Alder (10-2) had three touchdowns in the second half, but the Pioneers couldn’t match Indian Valley on the scoreboard.
“They did some good things, they’re a good football team,” Lancaster said of the Pioneers. “They won 10 games this season for a reason.”
Kinsey now has 2,395 rushing yards on the season.
