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Cubs earn comeback win over Clovers
CLOVERDALE—A halftime lead gave the Cloverdale Clovers something to be optimistic about, but the visiting Greencastle Tiger Cubs used a second-half rally to win, 21-13.
“At the end we did what we had to do,” Tiger Cub coach Mike Meyer said. “We made some plays on defense that put us in good field position.”
Both teams struggled to sustain drives early in the first half and penalties killed drives that had momentum. The Clovers (0-2 0-0 WIC East) had the ball deep in Tiger Cub (2-0 0-0 WIC West) territory on their first possession and an illegal procedure kept them from moving any farther. They settled for a 44-yard field goal attempt from Trey Henry, but the ball hit the crossbar and fell short.
“I really thought we came out ready for a dog fight,” Clover coach Tom Winders said. “We came out ready to hit. We totally respect Greencastle, and they have a good coaching staff. They have some big linebackers that we had to prepare for. In the first half we were right there with them.”
The field goal opportunity was the only scoring threat by either team until late in the first half when the Tiger Cubs fumbled off a bad center-quarterback exchange. Sophomore Trey Dickison recovered for the Clovers and gave them excellent field position with 1:41 remaining at the Tiger Cub 49-yard line.
Greencastle thought it had held the Clovers when it was fourth-and-five, but junior Parker Watts found senior Tyler Kaeff for a 36-yard completion down to the eight-yard line.
On the next play Watts ran it in from eight yards out. After the Henry kick the Clovers had their only lead of the game and it would only last a few minutes into the second half.
Cloverdale started the second half with the football and a chance to put the Tiger Cubs on their toes, but a quick three-and-out resulted in a punt. The punt, which was pressured, only went five yards and gave Greencastle great field position at their own 46-yard line.
With 6:45 remaining in the third Andrew Fajt scored on the same possession with a two-yard run and Evan Crowe tied it with the kick.
With 3:10 left on the third the Clovers were forced to punt from their own 17-yard line and Henry’s kick only went 25 yards. Dakota Campbell received the punt and ran it back the whole 25 yards. A couple of plays later Alex Costin threw it to Campbell for a 16-yard score.
Costin, a junior, is also the Tiger Cub punter and he made the most of this job on Friday. Two straight punts pinned the Clovers on their own nine-yard line and own one-yard line. Both times senior Jacob Meyer forced safeties. The first came when he tackled Tyce Jackson in the end zone and the second was a result of sacking Drew Boyette in the end zone.
“Jacob Meyer did a great job with those two safeties,” coach Meyer said. “I thought our D-line was in their face. You can’t take anything away from Cloverdale. They came to play and they played hard. Coach Winders and his staff have to be very proud the way their kids are playing. We won the field position part. We put them back a couple of times and I thought our punting game was really good.”
“When your punter puts it on the one- and nine-yard lines it makes it difficult,” Winders said. “He did exactly what he needed to do to beat us. Their linebacker corps was bringing the house on us and we didn’t have a stop for it.”
Despite starting inside their own territory only twice in the second half the Tiger Cubs still struggled with the Cloverdale defense which only allowed the two touchdowns. The defense forced an average rush of less than three yards per carry.
“Our defense was strong tonight,” Winders said. “I thought we were holding them, but their punter was putting them right where they needed to be.”
The Tiger Cub defense was just as stout as the front line and blitzing group gave the Clovers fits as they averaged only one yard per carry.
“I thought they played very, very well,” Meyer said. “Cloverdale had a very tough time getting their feet set. I thought we did a nice job. I’m happy with it.”
Greencastle tacked one more score on with 49.6 seconds left in the game when Crowe hit a 27-yard field goal.
After a great return by junior Jake Wilkes and personal foul penalty, Watts answered with 31.4 seconds remaining when he found senior Nick Winders for a 26-yard touchdown reception. The snap was fumbled on the extra point.
Watts did not play the first week because of an injury, but Coach Winders believes he will be a big threat for many pass defenses and with the ability to use his legs.
“Parker Watts is just an unbelievable athlete,” Winders said. “Unfortunately, he was banged up last week and this week I could only use him sparingly. He’s got a few things to take care of injury wise, but when we get him back full strength he’s going to be tough to handle.”
Cloverdale had one more chance, but Henry’s onside kick rolled out of bounds and the Tiger Cubs took a knee to end the game.
Next Friday the Tiger Cubs will host West Vigo and the Clovers will be at Edgewood. Both games start at 7 p.m.
Greencastle 0 0 14 7--21
Cloverdale 0 7 0 6—13
C — Watts 8-yd run (Henry Kick) 0:08 Q2 7-0
G — Fajt 2-yd run (Crowe Kick) 6:45 Q3 7-7
G — Campbell 16-yd reception from Costin (Crowe Kick) 1:36 Q3 14-7
G — Jackson tackled by Meyer for safety 11:30 Q4 16-7
G — Boyette sacked by Meyer for safety 4:58 Q4 18-7
G — Crowe 27-yd field goal 0:49 Q4 21-7
C — Winders 26-yd reception from Watts (attempt failed) 0:31 Q4 21-13
| G | C | |
| First Downs | 8 | 9 |
| Penalties | 9-75 | 6-31 |
| Turnovers | 1 | 1 |
| Punts | 7-229 | 4-77 |
Individual Statistics
Passing — Greencastle: Costin 4-10 58 TD. Cloverdale: Watts 2-6 62 TD, Boyette 5-9 42.
Rushing — Greencastle (41-109 TD): Fajt 29-100 TD, Buttery 6-12, Costin 8-(-3). Cloverdale (51-51 TD): Jackson 12-53, Kaeff 5-13, Abner 6-12, Winders 1-2, Watts 2-(-3) TD, Boyette 8-(-26).
Receiving — Greencastle (4-58): Bollman 3-52, Campbell 1-16 TD. Cloverdale (7-104): Kaeff 5-58, Winders 3-46 TD.