Football Friday: Cougars, Clovers provide county clash; Tiger Cubs, Golden Arrows look to get over .500; Eagles look to right ship against Mustangs

After the wild shootout between Greencastle and South Putnam last week, the midpoint of the 2023 season will see the other half of the county square off when North Putnam travels to Cloverdale.

The Tiger Cubs and Eagles will square off against WIC Large Division foes this week as the former hosts Sullivan, looking to build off last week’s win, while the latter travels to Edgewood.

As in 2022, the Cougars come into the week five matchup against the Clovers looking for their first win of the season, having fallen short of Covenant Christian a week ago.

All things offensive have gone through Christian Kramer for North Putnam as the sophomore leads the team with 404 rushing yards through four games, including last week’s 171-yard effort against the Warriors. No other back has 100 yards of rushing yet this season.

Trough the air, Kramer is 61-of-122 for 663 yards, most of the yards going to either Brogan Woodall (254 yards, two TD), Wes Murphy (158 yards) or Paxton O’Brien (116 yards).

Caiden Hankins leads the team in tackles with 38 while Jesse Bryan has five tackles for loss among his 20 tackles on the defensive line.

North Putnam will get a chance to get the running game up to speed against a Cloverdale squad that was gashed by Cascade for 447 yards a week ago.

The Clovers will also be sweating the health of quarterback Tayt Jackson, who exited against the Cadets with a leg injury. Jackson has thrown for 213 yards on 16-of-43 passing in four weeks with Jaxton Helton netting 98 of those yards receiving.

Jackson also leads the team with 196 rushing yards while Levi Johnson has 176 yards out of the backfield.

Two wins in a row has Greencastle back at .500 with a chance to move into positive territory with the visit of Sullivan, though the Golden Arrows will be looking to do the same after dropping back to back games against Northview and Linton.

The Golden Arrows have relied on the arm of sophomore Blake Fraker to do most of the heavy lifting out of their spread sets, throwing for 705 yards on 45-of-83 passing with six touchdowns and no interceptions.

James Propes (17 catches, 252 yards) and DJ Gaines (12 catches, 147 yards) have been the primary targets, but Seth Pirtle (six catches, 173 yards, three TD) has been the explosive play receiver.

Three runners have more than 20 carries but none have cracked 100 yards this year as Laytin Huff tops the list with 80 yards.

Huff, Gaines and Pirtle all have more than 40 tackles this season while Camden Singer tops the tackle total with 50, including six for loss out of the 3-3-5 stack.

Cole Stephens will be closing in on 1,000 yards passing at the midway point of the season, currently sitting on 870 yards for the Tiger Cubs on 53-of-88 passing, though the game against the Eagles saw the freshman run into trouble at times, throwing three interceptions along with four touchdown passes.

Lamar Moore is just six rushing yards shy of 500 for the season, moving to 494 yards after a 159-yard performance a week ago, doubling his touchdown total to six.

Brendle Brennan and Owen Huff both sit over 200 yards receiving with eight touchdown receptions between the senior duo while Ian Williamson and Brayden Monroe are above 100 yards receiving this season.

Moore continues to lead the team in tackles with 48 while Cameron Pingleton and Parker Welker both have topped 30 tackles this season.

South Putnam will look to get back on track with a visit to a struggling Edgewood team that has struggled since a week one win over Mitchell.

The Mustangs, despite spending a lot of time in the spread, are a run-heavy team, often utilizing an I-formation for a large chunk of plays.

Gabe Drew leads the running attack with 317 yards on 49 carries and three scores while Gunner Caswell has 86 yards on 31 carries.

Michael Law has been the main quarterback as the sophomore is 13-of-32 for 73 yards, a touchdown and four interceptions. Christian Crouch leads the team with eight receptions for 67 yards.

Running a 3-3-5 stack defense, Terrence Moore leads the team with 32 tackles while Nehemiah Strunk has 31 tackles, two for loss and a sack. Kolby Harcourt had his best outing of the season for South Putnam in the backfield, running for 121 yards and two scores.

Wyatt Mullin threw his first interception of the year against Greencastle but still threw for 269 yards and three scores, moving to 887 yards on the season through the air.

Wyatt Switzer is a yard short of 300 for the season with five scores while Drew Hill has 242 yards and Bransyn Hanley is up to 190 yards for the season.

Aiden Beadles has 66 tackles to lead the defense with 12 for loss and 3.5 sacks while Caiden Switzer and Keenan Mower-Shields have 30 tackles each.