With his star running back hobbling off the field on crutches, and immediately after his Indians had suffered a season-worst 33-point thumping at the hands of the Dayton Broncos, you might not have thought Coach Matt Burnett would not be smiling. But he was.

“Jake Hemmings got hit in the thigh,” Burnett said, following the District 22-4A champs 40-7 loss to Dayton, which ended the Indians’ seven-game winning streak. “He’s got a thigh bruise and we decided to hold him out in the second half. We wanted him to rest it and we’ll treat it with rest and ice and I fully expect him to play next week.”

The loss, which snapped a seven-game winning streak, was a disappointing one for the Indians, who finished in a three-way tie with Dayton and Lumberton with 6-1 district records atop District 22-4A.

“We came here with every intent to win this game,” said Burnett, whose team hosts 21-4A champion Galena Park next Friday. “I’m glad we had taken care of business and were co-champs. We got beat by a real good team, who is playing very well. We’ll learn something from this game. Maybe it’s just what we needed.”

The Indians showed little regard for the highly-touted Broncos defense, taking the opening kickoff and marching 80 yards in eight plays. Hemmings, who had 63 yards on the drive, raced around left end for the final 25 yards. Mason English added the PAT to give PN-G a 7-0 lead with 8:37 left in the first quarter.

But the Broncos had just a little too much of receiver Ronnie Powell and quarterback Gregory Charles for the Indians to handle.

Charles, the Broncos’ signal-caller, passed for 233 yards and five touchdowns, with Powell on the receiving end of three scoring passes from him and one from A.J. Dugat. Powell wound up with seven receptions for 129 yards and the four TDs.

Following the Indians only score, Powell returned the kickoff 32 yards and an illegal procedure penalty set the Broncos up at the Indians 37. Four plays later Charles found Powell alone in the end zone with a 19-yard scoring pass. Powell’s PAT tied the score, 7-7, with 7:07 left in the first.

Aaron Jenkins recovered a Harrison Tatum fumble at the PN-G 33 and, on the next play, Charles pitched to A.J. Dugat, who heaved a pass to Powell behind a bewildered Indian defense to give Dayton a 13-7 lead with 9:45 left in the second.

Later in the quarter, Dayton’s Ford Smesny returned a Hemmings’ punt 42 yards to the PN-G 24. On the fourth play plays, Smesny was the recipient of a 12-yard Charles pass that increased Dayton’s lead to 19-7.

The Indians struggled to gain yardage in the second quarter, managing only two first downs, one by penalty.

The Broncos took possession at their own 31 with 3:51 left in the half. Six plays later, Charles connected with Powell behind Brett Doty with a 30-yard scoring strike with 2:07 left in the half. Powell added the PAT that gave Dayton a 26-7 halftime lead.

“We lost the field position battle tonight,” Burnett said. “And we lost those two fumbles. The fumbles and the kicking game put us in a bind tonight and you can't do that against a team like Dayton. We really put our defense in trouble with a short field.”

The teams spent most of the third quarter exchanging punts but on the final play of the quarter, Charles connected with Dugat on a short pass, and the diminutive receiver danced and weaved his way 67 yards into the end zone to increase the lead to 33-7.

“I thought we battled them defensively in the third quarter, but Dugat just kept making us miss,” said Burnett, whose team finished with a 7-3 record, 6-1 in district play. “I really thought we'd be OK defensively.