Clar dominant as Tiger Cubs win again

Saturday, September 3, 2016

WEST TERRE HAUTE -- Greencastle opened up the Western Indiana Conference portion of its schedule with a 30-27 win Friday night in a back-and-forth bout that featured six lead changes and four rushing touchdowns from Devin Clar.

"We hung in there. [West Vigo's] Coach Cobb has a great group [and] they played hard but I'm glad we won that one," Greencastle coach Mike Meyer said of his team's narrow victory. "They played their tails off, we played our tails off, but we came out on top and that's all that freakin' matters."

The Vikings got off on the wrong foot following a three-and-out stop, as they decided against returning the punt and let it roll down to the five-yard line.

On the first play of the drive and the game, Clayton Noblitt took the hand-off and was spun around and downed in the end zone for a safety to put Greencastle up 2-0.

Their next possession also finished in one play when Noblitt fumbled after picking up 15 yards, giving the Tiger Cubs great field possession.

They took advantage of the ball starting on the West Vigo 30-yard line by giving it to running back Devin Clar three times, totaling 21 yards and a two-yard touchdown to move their lead to 8-0.

The Vikings got themselves back into the game on the ensuing kick-off.

Noblitt received the kick-off at the 25-yard line and sped past the oncoming Greencastle special team members and into the end zone to make it an 8-6 game.

A long Tiger Cub drive followed but was cut short when Jackie Scanland fumbled and the ball was scooped up by Viking defensive back Calob Keyes.

Jarrett McCalister, who has put up impressive numbers in back-to-back games to open the season, took the carry on the second play of the drive and ran 64 yards to the one-yard line.

The halfback would've had a 65-yard touchdown run, but was tripped up just before crossing the goal line as the first quarter expired.

Jake Lautenschlager punched it in on the quarterback keeper from the one on the first play of the second quarter to give the Vikings a 13-8 lead.

Greencastle responded later in the quarter thanks to Nick Costin's right arm.

The senior quarterback completed four of seven attempts to get the ball down to the five-yard line, where Clar ran it in for the touchdown after first going to the right-side of the field and then changing course and sprinting across the field and into the left-side of the end zone to give Greencastle a 15-13 lead at the half, making it the third consecutive game the Vikings trailed at the break.

It took until the 3:29 mark in the third quarter for anyone to score, but after starting on the Greencastle 44-yard line, three carries got the ball down to the 17-yard line when Lautenschlager scrambled around for a few seconds before connecting with McCalister in the back of the end zone, giving West Vigo a 20-15 lead.

The lead didn't last long. In fact, it changed three times in the next eight minutes of the game.

A Clar 66-yard run headlined a three-play, 75-yard drive that was capped off with a Clar one-yard touchdown to put Greencastle up 23-20 after a successful two-point conversion.

West Vigo responded with a drive that started near midfield and finished with a Noblitt six-yard touchdown run to give the Vikings a 27-23 lead in the tug-of-war game.

Just as they did all night, the Tiger Cubs put the ball in the hands of Clar who led them down the field and into the end zone to put the game in the hands of the Greencastle defense, leading 30-27 with just over seven minutes remaining in the game.

"Devin has [had] a heck of a year so far. We just got to keep [him] rolling," Meyer said of Clar, who finished the evening with 188 yards and four touchdowns.

The Vikings made it interesting, as they marched down the field and had the ball on the Greencastle 35-yard line with a fourth and three, but the exchange between Lautenschlager and running back Dickie King was bobbled, which resulted in a loss of yardage, giving the ball and the game to the Tiger Cubs.

"We were coming [at the play], they bobbled the ball and we took advantage of it. That's a big thing," Meyer said of the fourth-down stand. "That's kind of been our thing. The last three games we've been able to stand in there. It was a good measuring stick for us and I think we're going in the right direction."

Greencastle 8 7 8 7 -- 30

West Vigo 6 7 7 7 -- 27

GC -- Team Safety, 10:18 1Q

GC -- Clar 2 run (Webb kick no good), 5:21 1Q

WV -- Noblitt 75 kick return (pass failed), 5:07 1Q

WV -- Lautenschlager 1 run (Beaver kick), 11:56 2Q

GC -- Clar 5 run (Webb kick), 1:11 2Q

WV -- McCalister 17 pass from Lautenschlager (Beaver kick), 3:29 3Q

GC -- Clar 1 run (Matthews from Costin), 2:32 3Q

WV -- Noblitt 6 run (Beaver kick), 10:15 4Q

GC -- Clar 5 run (Webb kick), 7:24 4Q

GC WV

First downs 14 11

Rushes-yards 30-204 32-174

Passing 119 97

Comp-Att-Int 15-24-0 6-10-0

Return yards 103 147

Punts-avg. 4-33.3 3-26.6

Fumbles-lost 2-1 2-1

Penalties-yards 10-97 5-36

Individual statistics

Rushing -- Greencastle, Clar 21-188, N.Costin 3-0, Ummel 5-12, A.Costin 1-4. West Vigo, McCallister 13-115, Noblitt 9-58, King 6-19, Berkley 1-0, Lautenschlager 3-(-18).

Passing -- Greencastle, N.Costin 15-24-0 119. West Vigo, Lautenschlager 6-10-1 97.

Receiving -- Greencastle, Matthews 3-27, Scanland 4-37, A.Costin 4-30, Edwards 1-25, West Vigo, Kernstein 3-47, Noblitt 1-23, McCalister 2-17.

Next game -- Greencastle (3-0) will host South Putnam on Friday for homecoming, while West Vigo (2-1) hosts Northview.

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