Tiger Cubs rout Brown County, move to semis

Saturday, October 21, 2017

Indiana high school football sectionals began around the state Friday, and Greencastle made sure it wouldn‘t be its last game of the year as the Tiger Cubs rolled over the Brown County Eagles, 34-7.

It was the defense that controlled the game for the homestanding Tiger Cubs as they forced an astounding loss of 68 yards when the Eagles tried to run the football. They also sacked Eagle quarterback Noah Carter 12 times.

“That front seven with Gavin (Bollman), Cade (Winslow) and Jacob (Meyer), they play hard,” Tiger Cub coach Mike Meyer said. “They’re very hard to block. They come down and we’ve got the timing down. We’re picking it up and they’re having a hard time picking it up. We’ve been doing that all year and it’s paid off.”

Carter made the defense work hard early on, showing he had a big arm as he connected with Griffen Kelly for 37 yards late in the first quarter.

But after that, the GHS defense never allowed him to have more than a split second to throw. That was the only score and only lead Brown County had all night.

Greencastle answered right back. It took 13 plays and five first downs, all of which were the first for the Tiger Cubs on the night, before Damon Moody scored the first of his three touchdowns on a seven-yard carry to tie the game.

After a Brown County three-and-out, the Tiger Cubs scored on their second play. This time, junior quarterback Alex Costin hit Gavin Bollman on a 54-yard reception.

Carter struggled to handle bad snaps and with 3:48 remaining in the half, senior Brayden Bollman recovered one of those misguided snaps. Like the previous possession, it only took two plays before Moody had a 43-yard burst. Evan Crowe’s kick was wide to make the score 20-7.

On the ensuing Eagle possession, Tristan Richards was picked off by Andrew Fajt who returned the ball to the Tiger Cub 42-yard line.

It was all Moody again. He scored his third touchdown of the night on the first play, this time from 58 yards out.

“Honestly, they (the turnovers) were kind of helpful,” Meyer said. “They got us back into a groove. Those things happen. That’s the little extra energy. There weren’t a whole lot of people here tonight (it’s fall break). It wasn’t very electric. The kids overcame and I was very happy about that.”

The Tiger Cubs found significant success rushing the ball. Moody ran for 203 yards, and as a team, Greencastle had 311 rushing yards.

Costin threw the ball for 91 yards.

“We started slow,” Meyer said. “Once we started hitting holes and going where we were supposed to be going, it turned out to be a pretty good night.”

Greencastle scored one more time in the third quarter. The drive took Brown County, which finished the season at 4-6, out of the game as it took 7:48 off the clock before Gavin Bollman ran it in from seven yards out.

In all, the Tiger Cub defense only gave up two first downs on the evening. Their front guys on the defensive side of the ball allowed no cushion and were always in Carter’s face.

Greencastle (6-4) will look to get revenge as it hosts Sullivan (9-1) next Friday night after the Golden Arrows blanked West Vigo 34-0.

Brown County 7 0 0 0 — 7

Greencastle 0 27 7 0 —34

BC G

First downs 2 14

Turnovers 2 2

Punts 7-209 4-72

Penalties 6-55 5-45

Individual statistics

Rushing — Brown County (22-(-68)): Sheppard 1-7, Burns 5-2, Funkhouser 1-1, Richards 1-(-7), Carter 14-(-71).

Greencastle (46-311 4TD): Moody 20-203 3TD, Buttery 7-45, Bollman 7-27 TD, Costin 7-22, Carrington 1-8, Petit 2-4, Campbell 1-3, Thomas 1-(-3).

Passing — Brown County: Carter 8-16 85 TD, Richards 0-1 INT, Greiner 0-1. Greencastle: Costin 5-12 91 TD.

Receiving — Brown County: Kelly 2-40 TD, Richards 3-38, Keefauver 1-7, Burns 1-1, Malan 1-(-1). Greencastle: Bollman 2-67 TD, Sanders 2-22, Campbell 1-2.

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