Fightin’ Indians deliver in finale

A choked up Blaine Wise had difficulty finding the words to tell his teammates as they huddled together after they faced off with Bacone at Haskell Stadium on Saturday.

So the Haskell Indian Nation senior defensive lineman summed his thoughts up in one simple statement.

“Us seniors want to thank all of you for giving everything you’ve got to come away with this win,” said Wise, who is one of just four seniors; Terrill Denny, Mike See and Kelvin Starks are the others.

The HINU seniors helped make history with a 16-10 victory over the Warriors. It was the first time the Indians had beaten Bacone.

“This emotion is overwhelming,” Wise said. “We’ve been playing Bacone tough for four years now, and it just feels really good to finally get a victory against these guys and basically put an exclamation mark for the four of us seniors. So it feels really good, and the emotions have just gotten the best of me.

“There were several times throughout the week that I’d catch myself tear up in practice, and even on the drive over here today, even getting taped this morning, I was just fighting back tears.”

Denny made his presence felt in his final game with Haskell by intercepting Bacone’s Kyle Dieckman twice. One of his picks put the Indians at the Warriors’ 11-yard line.

Haskell running back Bubba Mills tears past Bacone linebacker Justin Ficklin. Haskell won its season finale, 16-10, against Bacone on Saturday at Haskell Stadium.

However, three plays later, red-shirt freshman running back Bubba Wills made his only mistake of the day – a fumble at the goal line.

Wills finished the game with 224 yards rushing on 36 attempts, bringing his season total to 212 carries for 1,132 yards – despite missing the two games prior to the season finale because of injury.

Fellow red-shirt freshman Marlon Dick had a solid game behind center, going 10-for-21 for 90 yards and two touchdowns – both caught by Hunter Smith, who had 52 yards receiving.

Dick also found Terance Benitez – yet another red-shirt freshman – for 32 yards on three catches.

“It’s just a stepping stone for them,” Wise said of the freshmen. “They’ve still got a career to play – they’ve still got three more seasons and have got one under the belt. Unfortunately, it wasn’t a winning season, but I think it was a learning season, which I hope will pay off in the future – and I know it probably will.”

HINU coach Eric Brock added: “When you go out and try to build a team, you try to get a quarterback, you try to get a tailback and try to get a receiver. So we’re happy our quarterback is young, and he’s only going to get better, and our tailback is only going to get better. And that’s very encouraging. These kids are smart. They know that the key players on our team are freshmen and sophomores and that they’re only going to get better. So it’s enthusiastic.”