Tiger Cubs, Cougars face challenges

Thursday, October 27, 2016

Greencastle and Danville have not met in high school football since 2007, so their semifinal sectional matchup tonight will pair relatively unfamiliar faces against each other.

Greg Barrett and the North Putnam Cougars, meanwhile, would rather just forget about last year’s game with Monrovia as they travel to Morgan County for a rematch with the defending state champions.

Both the Tiger Cubs and Cougars need to pick up wins tonight to advance to next Friday’s sectional championship games, and neither has an easy task.

Greencastle is riding a hot streak into its home contest with the 8-2 Warriors, who Tiger Cub coach Mike Meyer notes are more of a passing team than a running team.

The Tiger Cubs suffered their only loss of the year at Sullivan, a team which starts passing from the opening kickoff.

“We know Danville has a good quarterback [Christian Schabel] and a good receiver [Ben Stevens],” Meyer said. “They have a lot of other good players also. We feel very confident in our preparation and focus, and it’s going to be a heckuva good game.”

Schabel has passed for 1,965 yards and 23 touchdowns, with seven interceptions.

Meyer sees similarities between Danville and Sullivan, whose quarterback (Trey Powell) has passed for more than 2,700 yards this season.

“Their quarterback does a great job of extending plays and getting the ball to open receivers,” he said. “We have to get pressure on the quarterback, and we have to eliminate the big plays.”

Meyer notes that Danville can also run the ball well, keeping defenses honest.

“We have to worry about our pass defense, but defensively we have been successful,” he said. “Their running backs appear to be fairly quick and they come at you. They keep you on your toes.”

Greencastle presents a problem of its own for Danville in senior running back Devin Clar, who ranks eighth in the state in rushing — averaging 176.2 yards per game — and has scored 19 touchdowns.

The Tiger Cubs have received a boost over the past two games from senior kicker Ben Webb, who has kicked three of his five field goals in those contests to help his team pick up a pair of three-point victories.

“This is a big one, and they’re all big ones now,” Meyer said. “Our kids have worked very hard this week, and we are ready. It’s going to be a heckuva game.”

Although Meyer wishes his team had won at Sullivan, a circumstance which would have his team still undefeated, he now thinks the lopsided 56-7 is proving beneficial.

“The Sullivan game has been very helpful over the last part of the season,” he said. “It’s given us a little bit of motivation that has gotten us through several close games.”

Monrovia went to North Putnam in the sectional championship last year and abused the Cougars on their own field, winning 50-0.

Barrett has several key players back who were a part of that game, and hopes they can also turn a negative into a positive like Greencastle has done.

“We’re not really happy with how things went last year,” said Barrett, whose team has gone 9-5 against the Bulldogs since 2004. “You know you have to get through his game to win a sectional championship. We’re excited about where we are.”

The Bulldogs have lost four games this season, although the teams who have beaten them have all won at least seven games.

“They’re obviously a good football team,” he said. “They have a lot of big, physical kids and they are fast. It’s going to be tough.”

Monrovia primarily runs the ball, but Barrett noted they can “hit you with the deep pass when they need to” and are a hard team to play against.

“They understand the system and they play it well,,” he said. “They are very disciplined. For us to succeed, we have to stop the run, and hang on to the football. We have to take advantage of each opportunity and every possession we get.”

The Bulldogs defeated Whiting 33-6 to win the Class 2A title game last year, but lost some key linemen to graduation and have had some injuries this year which have slowed them down.

“They were pretty senior dominant last year,” Barrett said. “They still execute well and block well. They are similar to other good teams with tradition — they don’t rebuild, they reload.”

The teams met for many years in the regular season until ending the series after the 2013 season, and are very familiar with each other.

“We’ve played a lot over the year, and we’ve beaten each other in sectional championship battles,” Barrett said. “It’s turned out to be an unbelievable rivalry. There should be a lot of people there, and it should be a great night.”

Danville (8-2) at Greencastle (9-1)

Game time: 7 p.m.

Media coverage: WREB 94.3 will broadcast the game.

The coaches: Mike Meyer is in his seventh year at Greencastle. K.C. Woods is in his first year at Danville.

Last week: Greencastle got a clutch field goal from senior Ben Webb to edge West Vigo 33-30.

Danville won its sectional opener by defeating Indianapolis Northwest 53-12.

History: The teams have not played since 2007, and the Warriors have won the last five meetings. Danville won 42-10 that year in the sectional opener. Danville also won 34-7 in the sectional semifinals in 2006, 49-15 in 1998, 59-20 in 1997 and 15-8 in the 1995 sectional opener.

Season recap: Greencastle’s only loss came 56-7 at Sullivan (WIC champs). The Tiger Cubs have won their last four games, and have had the state’s biggest record turnaround by going from 1-9 last year to 9-1 this year.

Danville lost its third and fourth games of the season after winning the first two games, and has won the last six weeks. The Warriors lost 28-21 at Lebanon (Sagamore Conference runnerup) and 24-14 at home to No. 5-ranked Tri-West (Sagamore Conference champs).

Common opponents: Both teams played Northview and Crawfordsville. Greencastle defeated Northview 14-0, while Danville beat Northview 15-0. Greencastle edged Crawfordsville 27-20 in Week 1, while Danville beat the Athenians 42-9 in Week 9.

By the numbers: Greencastle averages 25.7 points per game, while allowing 17.32 points per game, while Danville averages 29.3 points per game and allows 15.4.

Key players: Danville quarterback Christian Schabel ran for two touchdowns in Friday’s win over Indianapolis Northwest and threw for three others. He had 370 yards of total offense. Ben Stevens caught touchdown passes of 65 and seven yards, and has 13 TD receptions on the season.

Greencastle’s Devin Clar has 1,720 yards rushing (eighth in state) and 19 touchdowns.

North Putnam (7-3) at Monrovia (6-4)

Game time: 7 p.m.

Media coverage: WGRE-FM 91.5 will broadcast the game, and MTC Sports will telecast the game online at mtcsports.net.

The coaches: Greg Barrett is in his eighth year at North Putnam. Kevin Hutchins is in his eighth year at Monrovia.

Last week: Monrovia routed Southmont 44-6 in first-round sectional action, while North Putnam beat Paoli 42-20.

History: Monrovia won 50-0 last year in the sectional championship on its way to the state title. North Putnam’s last win was a 49-7 regular-season game in 2011. Since 2004, the Cougars have won nine of 14 meetings.

Season recap: Monrovia won its first two games, but has gone 4-4 since then. The Bulldogs lost 24-21 to undefeated Linton, 40-28 to Beech Grove (7-3 record), 18-13 to Indianapolis Lutheran (7-3 record) and 14-13 to Indianapolis Scecina (8-2).

North Putnam lost 33-18 at Sullivan (9-1), 34-13 at Northview (6-4) and 28-17 to Greencastle (9-1 record).

Common opponents: Both teams beat Cascade and Southmont. North Putnam defeated Cascade 20-13 in the opening week and then 50-7 in week 9 in the WIC seventh-place crossover game. Monrovia beat Cascade 51-0 in week 2. Monrovia beat Southmont last week by 38 points, while the Cougars beat the Mounties 12-6 in week 2.

By the numbers: North Putnam averages 30.3 points per game and allows 16.7, while Monrovia scores 34.1 points per game and allows 16.5.

Key players: Junior quarterback Conner Jelley has thrown for 445 yards and eight touchdowns.

Junior running back Dalton Smith has rushed for 1,220 yards and 15 touchdowns, with a long run of 97 yards. Gabe Milton, another junior, has carried 101 times for 659 yards and eight touchdowns.

Senior Eli Stock leads the defense with 92 tackles, 44 of them unassisted.Senior Aaron Cravens has made five interceptions.

North Putnam’s Solomon Gross has 20 touchdowns and 970 rushing yards.

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