09/26/2025
BY JACK BULLOCK
FLORA - It's no secret what the Johnston City Indians' football team likes to do.

Anyone who has followed this program over the past few years understands the game plan every time this team suits up.

The run the ball.

The opposing teams even know it going in and on Friday night at Flora, Wolves' head coach Brian Tackitt knew exactly what the Indians were going to run but did little to stop the Indians' onslaught.

Five different JC runners rushed for at least 23-yards and the Tribe bulldozed its way to 362-yards on the ground, including a back-breaking 98-yard second quarter scoring drive that put the visitors up by two scores on their way to a 38-20 triumph in a battle of unbeaten squads.

Head coach Marshall Mummert, who took over the job this fall from long time coach Todd Thomas, has carried on the tradition of carrying the ball.

“That's what we try to do every week,” said Coach Mummert, talking about the running attack. “It's no secret what we try to do. We run the football and our motto is 'if we get four-yards, we're happy' because we will keep getting first downs, we eat the clock and score touchdowns.”

It is also tough to score when you don't have the rock.

Johnston City had the ball 32:09 of total possession, which left the Wolves very little time to put up points, especially after falling behind.

The aforementioned 98-yard drive and a third quarter 53-yard march down the field after the second half kick off burned an additional 6:25 off the clock.

“That was big (the drive) obviously but we gave one up (touchdown) when we really didn't need to,” said Coach Mummert about Flora scoring right before the half. “In the second half our defense buttoned up. Obviously they (Flora) are good. They run the ball, they can throw the ball and we knew we were going to be in for one (tough game) and I'm proud of our guys. We didn't start out the way we wanted to but we finished the way we wanted to. I was proud of the grit that we showed tonight. I'm very proud of our kids.”

The Indians were led senior tailback Trey Johnson, who ran for a game-best 125-yards on 19-attempts.

Senior back Jace Weaver, a 5-3 scat back, added 18-carries for 104 yards.

Weaver scored two of the Johnston City touchdowns while senior quarterback Kaden Koenig rushed nine times for 64-yards and the other three Indians' TD's.

Junior Marcus Leitzen, junior Aiden Sims and sophomore Jace Hampton combined for another 69-yards on the ground for Coach Mummert.

“I thought we played right with them in the first quarter. We pinned them down deep and that drive took a lot out of our guys,” said Coach Tackitt. “I was on the headsets (talking to the other coaches) asking 'what can we do?'. We were trying six-man fronts, we tried different things but we just got wore down and there was nothing we could do. It's just frustrating. We just couldn't get a stop when we needed it. You know it is coming but we just couldn't stop it.”

Flora didn't run the ball nearly as well with senior masher Kormik Massie running 14 times for 72-yards and all three of the scores for Flora.

Senior quarterback Parker Helm threw for 150-yards on 14-of-27 attempts.

The first JC score came on a 15-play, 82-yard drive that “sopped up” 7:27 of game time carrying over from a scoreless first quarter and the first 4:51 of the second frame.

Koenig only threw one pass but it was a good one, a 14-yard completion to Leitzen to the Flora two-yard line.

Weaver took the ball up the middle for the game's first tally.

Weaver also took care of the two-point conversion run for an 8-0 lead with 7:09 left in the half.

After stopping the Wolves on their next possession, Helm punted on a fourth-and-seven on the JC 45.

His kick rolled dead on the Indians' two.

But a burst up the middle from Keonig to the 28-yard line gave the Tribe some room to work.

A big run by Leitzen (20-yards) and consecutive runs by Weaver, highlighted the scoring drive.

Keonig finished the march with a nine-yard burst to the endzone.

Johnson ran in the PAT for a 16-0 advantage with just 1:03 remaining in the second quarter.

Flora struck before intermission on the strength of a pass from Helm to junior wide receiver Kehlin Crawford.

Helm found the speedster running down the right sideline, and the completion was good for 47-yards to the JC three-yard line.

A run by Massie covered the final 36-inches but the PAT run failed as the Wolves trailed 16-6 at halftime.

As they're used to doing, Johnston City took the second half kickoff and proceeded to drive 53-yards to paydirt.

After recovering the onside kick, the Indians milked another 6:25 off the clock taking 12 plays to score.

Johnson ran the ball on seven of the plays, with the biggest carry of the drive going for 10-yards on a fourth-and-two from the Flora 19.

A run by junior Aiden Simms got the ball to the three-yard line before Koenig took care of the rest with a run up the middle for the score.

Koenig added the PAT run for a 24-6 advantage with 5:35 remaining in the third quarter.

Flora scored on its next possession, a 55-yard drive with Massie and McKinney chewing up most of the ground.

Massie scored on a one-yard run and McKinney got into the endzone on a PAT run to pull the Wolves to within 24-14 with 2:20 left in the third period.

But as they have done all season, Johnston City took the ball back and produced another score.

Aided by a face mask penalty by the Wolves, JC with 51-yards in eight plays, all on the ground.

A big 11-yard run by Weaver gave the Indians a first-and-goal at the nine.

Weaver scored on a fourth down from the four, going untouched into the left part of the endzone. After penalty on the two-point conversion, JC failed on the PAT leaving the score 30-14.

Flora's final points came next, on another Massic TD run from two-yards out.

The two-point PAT pass was incomplete leaving the Wolves down 30-28 with plenty of time left at 7:58 to go.

Flora desperately needed a stop but they couldn't get the Johnston City rushing attack slowed down.

The Indians recovered the Flora onside kick attempt.

Coach Mummert's club proceeded to march 53-yards in 15-plays.

The key to the final drive and score was the conversion of three fourth downs.

Each time Flora knew exactly what JC was going to do but couldn't stop the drive.

Koenig went three-yards on a fourth-and-one from the Flora 44.

Weaver converted a fourth-and-two with a 12-yard run to the Wolves 21.

A Johnson 11-yard run on another fourth down, pushed the ball to the Flora five-yard line.

Three plays later, Koenig scored up the middle on a keeper similar to what the Philadelphia Eagles run.

A pass from Koenig to junior Wyatt Kerley for two-points closed the scoring with just 1:23 left.

Flora managed to drive to the Johnston City three-yard line but the Wolves ran out of time in their first defeat of the season.

Flora travels to Eldorado next week on Saturday afternoon while Johnston City will welcome Fairfield on Friday night.

“My last message to the guys a while ago was 'don't let one loss compound into two',” said Coach Tackitt. “We have to go to Eldorado next week and that's a tough place to play.”