Football Friday: Tiger Cubs look to make it four-straight against Eagles; Clovers go long to face Cougars; SP, NP stay close to home to face off against West Vigo, Cascade

The 2023 football season has now passed the midway point and with it comes the second of three non-intra county weeks with the Putnam County schools split between home and road games.

Greencastle and Cloverdale will take lengthy trips this week as the Tiger Cubs head to Brown County while the Clovers will make a long jaunt to Decatur County to face South Decatur.

South Putnam and North Putnam stay much closer to home as the Eagles host West Vigo while the Cougars host Cascade.

Greencastle has averaged 52 ppg as part of its three-game winning streak whereas Brown County has scored a total of 89 points this season, 62 of which came in its lone win on the season over Irvington Prep Academy.

Cole Stephens added six touchdown passes to his season total against Sullivan a week ago, moving him to 16 on the season with just under 1,200 yards passing through five games.

Though a slower week on the ground, the Tiger Cubs maintained a record of rushing for more than 100 yards in each game with Lamar Moore leading the effort with 555 yards and seven touchdowns while Anthony Adams is rushing for almost 10 ypc with 176 yards on just 18 touches.

Both Owen Huff (386 yards, four scores) and Brendle Brennan (317 yards, six scores) crossed the 300-yard receiving mark after week five with Ian Williamson (285 yards, four scores) just behind.

Moore continues to lead the team in tackles with 54 on the defensive side of the ball while Cameron Pingleton has 43 tackles, including team highs in tackles for loss (six) and sacks (three).

Brown County managed to score three times and keep West Vigo from getting to a running clock last week, scoring on a 70-yard kickoff return and runs of 42 and 20 yards but has still struggled to keep opponents out of the endzone with the 28 points give up to Cloverdale the fewest the Eagles have allowed in a loss this season.

The Clovers are the other team on the road this week with a feast-or-famine first five weeks as the team has not scored in a loss this season but only allowed six points in each of its two wins.

Cloverdale was held to 90 yards last week against North Putnam, 56 yards coming through the air and 34 on the ground, going into its matchup at South Decatur.

The Cougars sport a 4-1 record though two of the wins come against non-IHSAA member schools. Both have a common win against Edinburgh with the Clovers winning 20-6 and South Decatur winning 52-14.

Levi Johnson moved past the 200-yard mark for the season last week though Tayt Jackson fell behind the same line. Jackson has thrown for 267 yards this campaign. Jaxton Helton remains closest to the 100-yard mark but has not featured in recent weeks.

Carson Caulkins and Johnson continue to lead the team in tackles with 39 and 29 respectively while Jay McDonald leads the team with four sacks.

The Cougars do most of their damage on the ground in several run-heavy packages with the bulk of the work done by Corbin Johnson, who has 744 yards on the ground and 14 touchdowns to his name.

Jayden Jackson-Ray (145 yards, four scores) and Owen Arreola (104 yards, three scores) are among the several backs the Cougars have used this season.

South Decatur will not be a team that airs it out often as Jaylylnn McMurray has 247 yards on 14-of-23 passing with Arreola hauling in five receptions for 105 yards and three scores.

The Cougars use a 3-4 front with Isaac Gasper leading the team with 42 tackles and five fumble recovers while Arreola has 31 tackles, a fumble recovery and interception, along with a blocked field goal. Tyler Bishop has 3.5 sacks while Toby Bishop and Ian Amrhein have three sacks each.

North Putnam got into the win column last week but will face a big step up in competition level against Cascade this week.

The Cougars found a balance on offense last week as Christian Kramer threw for 254 yards and rushed for 130 yards, bringing his team-leading totals to 933 yards in the air and 543 on the ground,

The Cougars have three additional ball carriers that have gotten to the 100-yard mark in Caiden Hankins (113), Braden Glaze (101) and Wes Murphy (100) after last week though Kramer has eight rushing scores to the rest of the team’s five touchdowns.

Murphy had a big receiving day against Cloverdale to move to 251 yards on the season while Brogan Woodall continues to lead the team with 374 receiving yards.

Hankins leads the team in tackles with 47 while Jayden Laffin has made himself hard to move off the line, making 32 stops up front, a trait that will have to continue this week against the run-heavy Cadets.

Cascade has five ball carriers over 100 yards this season, led by Toby Savini on 464 yards while Damien Appleby has 339 yards on the ground. Both have seven touchdowns on the season; Dayton Mink has added an additional five scores while adding 297 yards to the cause.

Brady Trebley continues to be efficient from the quarterback spot with 254 yards on 14-of-26 passing for five scores and no interceptions. JT Roshong has two of the receptions for a team-high 50 yards receiving.

Tackling is balanced among several players with Jacob Potts leading four players above 20 tackles with 26 while Jackson Cornelius has 4.5 tackles for loss.

After a get-right game against Edgewood, South Putnam hosts West Vigo after the Vikings picked up their first win of the season last week against Brown County.

Wyatt Mullin moved past the 1,000-yard passing mark last week, sitting at 1,012 yards with 12 touchdowns and two interceptions. Mullin also has 389 yards and six scores on the ground.

Kolby Harcourt leads the Eagles with 437 yards and seven scores on the ground.

Four receivers have more than 200 yards in the air with Wyatt Switzer leading the team on 299 yards, though Bransyn Hanley is close with 280 yards and four scores, followed by Drew Hill (242 yards) and Zach Dorsett (219 yards, three scores).

Aiden Beadles has more than double the tackles of the next highest defender, Keenan Mowery-Shields, with 78 for the year, including 17 for loss and 3.5 sacks.

West Vigo will keep things on the ground with Jacob Dewey leading the rushing attack with 459 yards and three scores. Ryan Cobb has 339 yards and three scores while Connor Wallace has 223 yards and quarterback Chase Hedden has added 187 yards and five scores.

Hedden has only thrown for 168 yards this year with Dewey also the team’s leading receiver with 97 yards.