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2014 Greencastle Football Preview
The last two seasons for the Tiger Cubs' football team have had major expectations and for the most part Greencastle has played well and lived up to the expectations.
Last year Greencastle took its 8-1 regular season record into the sectionals and stood tall against the high flying Bruins of Tri-West.
The Tiger Cubs lost in a shootout and they look forward to more success this season. Of course adding to that challenge is the change at the head coaching position.
Josh Buis resigned after going 26-6 in his three seasons at head coach and he was replaced by Ryan Spoonmore from Center Grove.
Spoonmore was a coach during Center Grove's 2008 run to the State Championship and many Greencastle fans hope he can bring that experience and knowledge to program that has already shown great potential in Putnam County.
Spoonmore believes his team well-equipped for the challenges ahead and he knows how he wants to communicate those goals to his Tiger Cub players.
"We're still feeling each other out," Spoonmoore said after the Purple and Gray scrimmage. "Like any other relationship it takes time to build. Myself being in the building should help with that because they'll get to see me around."
Spoonmoore is a social studies teacher at Greencastle High School but when it comes to football he is a fundamentalist on the field and wants to see his players mastering the basics in order to get wins.
"Blocking and tackling," he said. "That's first. If you can't block and you can't tackle then you aren't going to win ball games."
Those sentiments were echoed after the Greencastle scrimmage with Southmont last Friday.
"We've got to be better fundamentally sound in every aspect of the game."
A big concern for Greencastle football fans this season is the loss of certain seniors from last season's 8-1 team, including Seth Brown, Alec Pettit, Grant Mundy and the two-time Defensive Player of the Year Dustin Williams.
Brown averaged receiving yards per game. He had 1,020 total receiving yards, 65 catches on the season and 14 receiving TDs.
Pettit gained 1,069 yards on the ground with 22 rushing touchdowns. He averaged 106.9 yards a game on 173 carries. Mundy averaged eight tackles per game with 40 solo tackles on the year.
They were a big part of the team's successes both on offense and defense and the seniors left a big hole to fill literally and figuratively. Spoonmoore said that the answer is to grow the players on the team now into winners on the field.
"Just keep building," Spoonmoore said, "We've just got to keep building. We've got to become a team. We're not there yet. We've got to become one. One heart beat. We've got to love each other and we got to keep working and getting better. We've showed signs of improvement this week. I think school starting helped. It helped us get focused. We've got that summer out of the way and school tends to bring a little focus for you."
Spoonmoore commented on exactly what he's seeing on both the practice field and in the scrimmages that leads him to believe his team is going in the right direction early in the season.
"I like that they seem to be getting the concepts more and more," Spoonmoore said. "Our upside is the mentality of the team. "
Last season defenses really had to compensate for large chunks of receiving yardage that Brown would gain per catch.
With 15.7 yards per catch, teams began rolling the coverages toward his side. This would leave Nathan Tesmer with one-on-one single coverage with a No. 2 cornerback leading, to catches and scores.
This year the 6-foot-4 senior will likely get a ton of attention from defensive secondaries.
Another thing defenses will likely be wary of is the quarterback play of Nick Costin.
Costin will be following a good year by Tyler Scott who threw for 2,236 yards and 22 touchdown passes. He had 178 completions on the season to just 11 interceptions.
Costin will have to continue the good play and connect with Tesmer as well as other receivers on the team to keep the Tiger Cubs at the high level of offensive play that fans are used to seeing.
Though he hasn't had much varsity expererience and most fans of the Purple and Gray haven't seen him play, Spoonmore is very high on his attitude as a leader on the team.
"Very valuable," Spoonmoore said of Costin. "Especially down the road. He's got a long way to go. I'm proud of him. He's allowed me to coach him. I love him. I want to keep getting him better because he's got a great attitude."
At 6-foot-one, Costin will have the reins and a clear view of the opposing defenses and has already shown off an accurate arm in the scrimmage against Southmont. He's also shown some chemistry between himself and Tesmer, so fans can look forward to seeing the tandem collaborate for completions all season.
On the defensive side of the ball, where many Greencastle starters from last year are off to college, the Tiger Cubs will be looking to stifle offenses as they make their ploy to be the best in the conference.
Returning for Greencastle is linebacker Zach Secrest, who apart from contributing on special teams, made 100 total tackles last year, including 36 solo tackles. On a team that lost so much talent to graduation, the six-foot senior will likely be a leader in the middle of the defense for the Tiger Cubs. Greencastle went 4-1 last season in the WCC, its only regular season loss coming to the West Central Conference champion South Putnam Eagles.
Though the team has lost some great talent, what hasn't been diminished is the team's desire to get better, play well and win the conference.
Like last season, expectations are high and Spoonmoore, though it's his first year coaching, has been instilling a culture of trust and hard work on the Tiger Cub football field.
The season starts Friday against Speedway and the Greencastle Tiger Cubs are likely going to be itching to show off what their new talent can do.