Tiger Cubs roll over Mustangs for ninth place

ELLETTSVILLE — In a matchup of Western Indiana Conference football teams to determine seventh and eighth place in the overall standings, Greencastle traveled to Edgewood Friday night.

With traffic heading to Edgewood backed up for miles, the game was delayed for approximately 10 minutes. Police had traffic stopped, not letting anyone through, which is just what the Tiger Cub defense would do to the Mustang offense.

Greencastle (5-4, 2-4) held Edgewood (3-6, 2-4) to negative 28 yards over the last three quarters and picked up seventh place in the WIC with a 42-0 victory.

“We have been playing well defensively and we did that again tonight,” Greencastle head coach Mike Meyer said.

The Mustangs never threatened as they only crossed midfield once, and that was just before halftime on a kickoff return. That field position gained them no advantage as the Greencastle defense pushed them back to midfield by halftime.

Gavin Bollman got the Cubs on the board in the first quarter with a 30-yard run. Evan Crowe kicked the PAT and Greencastle led 7-0, which on this night was all the Tiger Cubs would need, but not all they would get.

Andrew Fajt would take advantage of good field position early in the second quarter to score from 16 yards out and Cubs led 14-0 after another Crowe kick.

The Tiger Cub offense bogged down a bit in the second quarter with a couple of three-and-outs, but rallied late in the half to put together seven-play, 63-yard drive with Bollman scoring again, this time from three yards out. Greencastle led 21-0 with just :52 left in the half.

Edgewood looked to break a big play on the ensuing kickoff, but kicker Crowe made jarring, touchdown-saving tackle and the rest of the defense then smothered the Mustangs heading into the locker room at halftime.

Greencastle came out in the third quarter and dominated the game, putting it away. The Tiger Cubs took their first possession of the second half and drove inside the Mustang five-yard line before turning the ball over on downs.

The tough defense got the ball back in good field position at the 31-yard line. Two plays later, Aaron Buttery broke a 21-yard touchdown run late in the quarter to push the margin to 28-0 heading into the fourth quarter.

Two possessions later, Buttery picked up all of the 43 yards in three rushing plays to boost the lead to 35-0.

Greencastle’s defense got the ball right back again by forcing a Mustang fumble that Abe Wade recovered and set up the Tiger Cubs at the eight-yard line. Damon Moody capitalized immediately by scoring on the first play to set the final 42-0 margin.

“It was a good night,” Meyer said. “We put 42 points on the board and played really well. We have lost some close ones recently and it was good to get this win.” The Tiger Cubs will host another WIC school next week in opening Class 3A Sectional 30 against the Brown County Eagles.

Greencastle 7 14 7 14 — 42

Edgewood 0 0 0 0 — 0

GHS — Gavin Bollman 30 run (Evan Crowe kick), 7-0, Q1.

GHS — Andrew Fajt 15 run (Crowe kick), 14-0, Q2 11:39.

GHS — Bollman 3 run (Crowe kick) 21-0, Q2 :52.

GHS — Aaron Buttery 21 run (Crowe kick), 28-0, Q3 2:57.

GHS — Buttery 7 run (Hector Lezama kick), 35-0, Q4 6:26.

GHS — Damon Moody 8 run (Lezama kick), 42-0, Q4 6:12.