Tiger Cubs fall just short after delay

Saturday, September 5, 2015
Greencastle senior Chase Chew (11) breaks two West Vigo tackles Friday at home. GHS will be in action tomorrow for the conclusion of the game. (Banner Graphic/NICK WILSON)

Greencastle recovered two fumbles against West Vigo and converted both into touchdowns. But the Tiger Cubs' only turnover allowed West Vigo to win the Western Indiana Conference football game 20-13 at Harbison Stadium on Saturday morning.

West Vigo was clinging to a seven-point lead with 7:50 to play as Greencastle drove from its own 11-yard line to the Vikings' 27.

Quarterback Nick Costin, who was 9-14 for 100 yards passing, threw to Jackie Scanland for gains of 14 and 11 yards; Chase Chew broke free for runs of 25 and 8 yards, then pulled in a six-yard pass. Greencastle had the momentum.

But with 2:20 to play, the ball popped free at the West Vigo 27-yard line. West Vigo recovered the loose ball and finished out the victory with its big running backs.

It was a disappointing finish to a game that left coach Mike Meyer with mixed emotions -- disappointed with the loss, but happy with how the Tiger Cubs played.

"It was there for the taking. It's tough to comeback after overnight with the rain delay. I thought our kids played well, unfortunately we make a couple of mistakes there at the end, but so did (West Vigo). Unfortunately ours was a little bigger than theirs," Meyer said.

"Greencastle played a near-perfect game. I think they had one turnover the whole game. That's a credit to Mike (Meyer) and his staff and his kids. They played a good game," West Vigo coach Jeff Cobb said.

The first WIC West Division contest of the season was interrupted Friday night by storms. West Vigo led 14-17 when the two teams left John Fallis Field for halftime.

That's when the storms hit and contest was postponed to Saturday morning.

The weather delay gave both teams an opportunity make big adjustments. Both coach Meyer and his counterpart Jeff Cobb were looking at how quickly their players made the adjustments and executed under unusual circumstances.

"I was pleased with the defense because West Vigo does a great job. They mix it up, they were double-wing stuff all (Friday). They come out and spread it out. We made some adjustments. I thought defensively that helped. Offensively we moved the ball, we just weren't able to get it into the end zone. I was pleased with the running game. I was pleased with the passing game. We did some nice things. The kids picked up the adjustments we made over night, unfortunately we came up on the short end," Meyer said.

Greencastle showed a balanced offense, running the ball for 100 yards while throwing for 97. Chase Chew did a little of everything, carrying the ball seven time for 54 yards while making five catches for 49 yards.

Trailing 14-7 when action resumed on Saturday, Greencastle accepted the West Vigo kickoff and Chew returned it 27 yards midfield where the Tiger Cubs quickly put together 58-yard, 12-play touchdown drive.

The Vikings appeared to have the drive stopped when quarterback Nick Costin was sacked on second down and the Tiger Cubs were flagged for illegal procedure on the following snap. But on third down, Greencastle's Chew leaped in the air between two West Vigo defenders and pulled down a one-hand catch for 32-yards that sparked the Tiger Cubs to a touchdown. Chew took a swing-pass from Costin six-yards for the score.

"Overall, I think when we sit back and watch film, I think Chase had a very good game both offensively and defensively," Meyer said.

The point-after-touchdown kick failed, leaving Greencastle in a 14-13 hole. West Vigo immediately launched a drive toward the end zone. But at the Greencastle 3-yard line the Vikings fumbled and the Tiger Cubs' Derek Ummel recovered the loose ball.

West Vigo increased its lead to 20-13 with a nine-play touchdown drive. The Vikings, running the ball inside, scored on a 16-yard pass play with 7:52 to play.

Greencastle immediately started a come back that could come up one play short.

Meyer saw a lot to be positive about going into next week's contest with South Putnam.

"I thought we had consistency on offense. Our defense was forced to really bow up and really hold up against a pretty good heavy on slaught, and I thought they did for the most part," Meyer said.

"Like I told the kids after the game, we're better than we were week one, we're better than we were week two. We got to get better because we got South Putnam (next week)."

At Greencastle

West Vigo 20 Greencastle 13

West Vigo 7 7 0 6 -- 20

Greencastle 0 7 6 0 -- 13

Scoring

1st Quarter

WV -- Dakota Short, 20 run (Sean Beaver kick), 7-0 3:08

2nd Quarter

G -- Devin Clar 15 run (Jacob Kessler kick), 7-7 10:52

WV -- Short 2 run (Beaver kick), 14-7, :40

3rd quarter

G -- Chase Chew 6 pass from Nick Costin (kick failed), 14-13, 6:38 Q3.

4th quarter

WV -- Hunter Voils 16 pass from Jake Lautenschlager (kick failed), 20-13, 7:52 Q4.

=WV=G

First downs=18=9

Rushes-yards=48-297=29-100

Passing yards=36=97

Comp-Att-Int=3-6-0=9-14-0

Total offense=54-333=43-197

Return yards=23=115

Punts-Avg.=1-40=3-37

Fumbles-lost=2-2=1-1

Penalties-yards =5-40=7-55

Individual statistics

Rushing -- West Vigo: Short 17-130, Voils 13-88, Parker 14-84, McCalister 1-6, Lautenschlager 3-(-11). Greencastle: Clar 20-65, Chew 7-54, N. Costin 2-(-19).

Passing -- West Vigo: Lautenschlager 3-6-0--36. Greencastle: N. Costin 9-14-0--97.

Receiving -- West Vigo: Voils 2-22, Parker 1-14. Greencastle: Chew 5-49, Scanland 4-48.

Next game -- On Friday, Greencastle (1-2, 0-1 in WIC West) plays at South Putnam.

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