Beaver Local’s Dakota Warrick (63) pressures Indian Creek quarterback David Ferroni during the Beavers’ home opener Thursday. (Morning Journal/Ron Firth)

CALCUTTA — Beaver Local’s football team christened its new artificial turf playing field in a big way Thursday night and vanquished an old nemesis in the process.

The Beavers scored early and often in rolling to a 49-0 Buckeye 8 romp over visiting Indian Creek at newly named Pastore Field. The win also snapped the Beavers’ six-year losing streak against the Redskins.

“I don’t think you could ask for much more than what happened tonight,” beamed Beaver Local head coach Mike McKenzie. “Our kids have been very excited (to play on the new turf) and we are very fortunate, we’re blessed that Jamin (Pastore) and Derek (Wolfe) stepped up like that, and we talked all week that we had an obligation to christen this thing and do it right and get a win and we did.”

The new field was provided in part through funding from Beaver Local football alums Derek Wolfe, who plays for the NFL’s Baltimore Ravens, and Jamin Pastore. The pair donated $1 million dollars toward the district’s athletic facilities.

Beaver Local quarterback Tanner Johnston who accounted for 197 of the Beavers’ 264 yards offense in the first half, along with a rushing touchdown, said it was exciting to play on the new turf at Pastore Field.

“We just had a completely good week of practice,” said Johnston. “It’s awesome (playing on the new turf), we were all excited and we want to keep it going, we have a lot of confidence built up from the last two weeks.”

“All of our players stepped up and we definitely played our best game of the year,” said McKenzie.

With the win, Beaver Local is now 2-1 overall and 1-1 in the Buckeye 8. The Beavers’ offense has scored 85 points in the past two weeks in wins over Barnesville and Indian Creek.

With the setback, youthful Indian Creek is now 0-3 overall and 0-2 in Buckeye 8 play.

“Beaver played well and it’s back to the drawing board,” said Indian Creek head coach Andrew Connor. “We just didn’t play well, we weren’t ready to play and again that’s three straight weeks on me.”

How dominate was Beaver Local in the first half while rolling up a 42-0 lead? The Beavers led in first downs 13-4, total offense 264-106, scored on five of six offensive possessions and added two defensive interception returns for touchdowns.

For the game, the Beavers piled up 490 yards of offense, including 370 on the ground.

The Beavers used eight different ballcarriers. Zane Kinsey had 83 yards on four carries, Johnston had 77 yards on eight carries, Joe Monte had four carries for 50 yards and Devon Salsberry finished with 52 yards on three carries to lead the way. Johnston also completed seven-of-nine passes for 120 yards and a touchdown in one half of play.

“I’d like to single out my coaches, they all did a great job and it’s nice to be blessed to sit back and have all those guys doing those things,” said McKenzie.

Indian Creek finished with 234 yards offense for the game, led by running back Jadyn Irizarry with 46 yards on eight carries.

The Beavers led 28-0 after the first quarter and 42-0 at half, scoring on touchdown runs of 15 yards by running back Caleb White, 40 yards by quarterback Tanner Johnston, 45 yards by running back Devon Salsberry and on a 37-yard scoring pass from Johnston to a wide open Dylan Moore who had split the Redskins’ secondary. Standout kicker Chase Flat kicked all six PAT boots.

The Beavers also added two defensive scores on interception returns of 15 yards by linebacker Tommy Wallick and 37 yards by linebacker Logan Krulik.

“Our kids came out and executed and took advantage of what was given,” said McKenzie. “It’s been a while since we’ve been able to have a victory over coach Connor and Indian Creek, so it’s nice to get that win because that’s a quality program. They’re in tough times right now but any time you beat them, it’s a quality win.”

Both coaches played many backups in the second half.

Beaver Local scored its final touchdown and the only score of the second half on an 18-yard run by Joe Monte with 7:37 left in the third quarter. Micah Jones booted the PAT.

“This is good for our kids, like I said I liked our execution and I liked the way we came out early and didn’t give them any momentum,” said McKenzie.

Indian Creek’s deepest penetration in the game was to the Beavers’ 29 and 15-yard lines in the second half but the hosts held the Redskins on downs on both occasions.

“I just told the kids we’ll keep working to get better and we’ve still got seven games left and our goal is to get better by the end of the year,” said Connor. “We’re playing hard and trying to get better as we go, as long as our kids keep fighting, we’ll keep going at it and that’s the best we’ve got right now.”

Game notes

• Indian Creek won last year’s game with Beaver Local by a 37-7 final.

• The Beavers will host winless Minerva in an independent matchup next Friday night.

“They (the Lions) are always a scary team,” said McKenzie, “because in the past few years they haven’t had success and we were able to beat them but they have everyone back. They’ve lost to two quality opponents so they’re going to be good, they have talent and if we come out and overlook them we’ll be in trouble.”

• Indian Creek travels to Buckeye Local next Friday evening to play the Panthers in a Buckeye 8 North Division game.

“We’ve got to do a lot better than we did tonight,” closed Connor.

INDIAN CREEK: 0- 0-0-0– 0

BEAVER LOCAL: 28-14-7-0–49

SCORING

BL — Caleb White, 15 run, 7:25 1st (Chase Flati kick)

BL — Dylan Moore, 37 pass from Tanner Johnston, 4:49 1st (Chase Flati kick)

BL — Tanner Johnston, 40 run, 2:15 1st (Chase Flati kick)

BL — Tommy Warrick, 15 interception return, :49 1st (Chase Flati kick)

BL — Devon Salsberry, 45 run, 5:49 2nd (Chase Flati kick)

BL — Logan Krulik, 37 interception return, 4:49 2nd (Chase Flati kick)

BL — Joe Monte, 18 run, 7:37 3rd (Micah Jones kick)]

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TEAM STATISTICS

IC BL

First downs 9 20

Total yards 234 490

Rush-yds 33-189 33-370

Passing 45 120

Comp-Att-Int 4-14-2 7-9-0

Punts 4-30 2-27

Fumbles-Lost 1-1 2-1

Penalties-Yds 5-30 5-40

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INDIVIDUAL LEADERS

RUSHING — Indian Creek, Jeremy Brown 11-16, Jadyn Irizarry 8-46, David Ferroni 4-16, Sam Coleman 4-10, Robinson 2-28, CJ Spencer 2-12, Bryssan Flaherty 2-16; Beaver Local, Tanner Johnston 8-77, Caleb White 1-15, Joe Monte 4-50, Logan Blissenbach 2-12, Dylan Salsberry 3-52, Zane Kinsey 4-83, Gabe Morgan 2-9, Shannon Williams 1-12

PASSING — Indian Creek, David Ferroni 4-10-45-0-1; Beaver Local, Tanner Johnston, 7-9-120-1-0

RECEIVING –Indian Creek, Sam Coleman 3-21; Beaver Local, Dylan Moore 4-78,Caleb White 2-39, Devon Salsberry 1-10

INTERCEPTIONS — Indian Creek, none; Beaver Local, Tommy Warrick, Logan Krulik

FUMBLE RECOVERIES — Indian Creek, Michael Belisle; Beaver Local, Nate Sprouse