Talk of football polls, some college news

North Putnam fell only slightly from a No. 9 state ranking in the Associated Press media poll last week following Friday night’s lightning-delayed loss at Sullivan.

The 3-1 Cougars fell into a tie for No. 11 this week.

The Cougars were also No. 9 in the Indiana Football Coaches’ Association poll last week, and dropped to No. 14.

The pollsters have not yet given any votes to the undefeated Greencastle Tiger Cubs.

The unquestioned issue must be with Greencastle’s schedule, which is ranked 277th best among the 320 football playing schools by the Sagarin rating system.

Should the Tiger Cubs take care of business on Friday at Cascade, they will have a chance to impress the pollsters the next two weeks with games against Sullivan and Northview.

I’d bet every nickel I have that coach Mike Meyer couldn’t care less about such things, however.

• The first full College Report recapping all local athletes will appear next week, but there are a few notes.

Former Cascade soccer standout Jaylynn Gorman was one of six Franklin athletes named Player of the Week by the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference.

Last week, the freshman forward found the back of the net once in each of Franklin’s two road triumphs.

She tallied the game-winning goal in a 2-0 season-opening win at Millikin University on Thursday, before having an insurance goal in the team’s 3-1 victory at Ohio Wesleyan University on Sunday.

Owen Valley sophomore catcher Lexi Carver has made a verbal commitment to play softball for the University of Pittsburgh in the Atlantic Coast Conference.

As a freshman last year, Carver helped the Patriots to a regional championship by batting .634 with 17 doubles, four triples and 24 RBI. She also stole 29 bases in 31 attempts and scored 38 runs.

Carver is one of two outstanding sophomore catchers in the area.

South Putnam’s Drew Bratcher compiled huge numbers in her first varsity season which compare favorably with Carver. Bratcher had a .526 batting average for the Eagles last spring, with 22 doubles, two triples, two home runs, 40 RBI and 39 runs scored.

There were not many omissions reported from last week’s College Report list.

One was South Putnam’s Grady McHugh, who is a freshman quarterback at Wooster. Did a story on him, not sure how he got bypassed.

Marian has not yet released its women’s lacrosse roster, but McHugh’s sister Katie will be on it. Alexandria Lesko of South Putnam, whose mother even works at the Banner Graphic, is a freshman tennis player at Olivet (Mich.)