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BENNETT'S MINUTES: Monon Bell incident shows rivalry strength
I was unable to attend last year’s Monon Bell college football game between DePauw and Wabash, which the Tigers won for the first time since 2008, but I will be at the next battle on Nov. 11 at Blackstock Stadium.
I haven’t been able to incorporate as many DePauw games into my schedule as I had hoped, but look to remedy that situation moving forward.
As a result, I don’t have a great deal of background from which to appreciate the tenacity of the Monon Bell rivalry — which Wabash leads 41-38-6 since the bell was introduced in 1932.
I did attend Saturday’s DePauw-Wittenberg game, hoping to see a competitive battle between the two top-ranked North Coast Athletic Conference teams this season.
What happened was an impressive performance by Wittenberg, using superior speed and strength to force several turnovers and cruise to a surprising 52-6 victory.
The Tigers were predicted to be atop the NCAC in the pre-season poll, and the voters clearly knew what they were doing. Wittenberg looks primed to record its 16th NCAC title this year unless somebody steps up to beat the Tigers — something no one has done yet this year.
Ironically, bitter rival Wabash could do DePauw a huge favor on Saturday by knocking off Wittenberg. Then, if DePauw could take care of business over the next two weeks and beat a pair of lower-division NCAC teams, then win its season finale over Wabash, DePauw could still at least tie for the league lead.
I could tell on Saturday from the crowd reaction of the DePauw fans that the tension is already building. Wabash trailed early in its game against Oberlin on Saturday, and despite DePauw trailing in its game the cheers went up each time the announced updated the score.
Once Wabash eventually went ahead, the reaction turned from cheers to groans.
The release of information on Monday relating to the attempted recent theft of the Monon Bell from DePauw’s campus just added more fuel to the fire and more layers to the legendary rivalry.
We were not able to discover this information in time for Tuesday’s print edition of the Banner Graphic, but one of the four students implicated in the incident was a current Wabash player — actually the team’s starting kicker.
Tickets for the game went on sale Monday, and even though additional seating is brought in to raise the capacity to 10,000, I am told that getting a ticket is a good idea if you plan on going to the game — last year’s 37-34 thriller at Crawfordsville was a sellout.
To order tickets, go to https://depauw2017mononbell game.brownpapertickets.com/
For those unable to attend in person, the game will be shown for the first time on will be televised by FOX Sports Indiana and FOX Sports Midwest, and will also be streamed nationally on FOX Sports GO.
“I began talking with FOX Sports Midwest early in the summer and am thrilled we’re able to announce this today,” said Ken Owen, special adviser to the president at DePauw. “The network does a sensational job covering the NBA, MLB, NHL and collegiate sports, and the team is very familiar with the Monon Bell rivalry and has an affinity for its history. This great game is in very good hands.”
County, WIC do well
Friday night’s opening round of the Indiana high school football sectionals was a good one overall for both Putnam County schools and the Western Indiana Conference.
Putnam County champion North Putnam had a similarly difficult task to that of DePauw’s in battling No. 3 Tipton, an outstanding squad that is one of the best I’ve seen in a long time.
Not being at full strength didn’t make things any easier for the Cougars, but they never stopped battling even though the outcome was no longer in doubt.
So for me, personally, the football weekend supported my assertion of last week about the rarity of close, down-to-the-wire football games. For games I attended, it was Visitors 2, Home 0 by a margin of 101-13.
The other county teams were able to pull out victories, however, and made for a good night locally overall.
Greencastle was expected to beat Brown County, and did, and now gets a chance for revenge against Sullivan — which won their regular-season game by a 41-10 margin.
The Tiger Cubs have assured themselves of their second straight winning season by taking care of business against six teams which won only 17 games between them.
They get their chance for a signature win over a 9-1 Sullivan team. After talking to “sack masters” Jacob Meyer, Gavin Bollman and Cade Winslow on Tuesday for a story later this week, the Cubs feel confident they can get the job done.
Looming in the finals would likely be another chance for revenge against undefeated and No. 3-ranked Danville, which ended Greencastle’s magical season a year ago.
Cloverdale evened its record at 5-5 with a win over Speedway, a team that was only 3-6 but which had played several central Indiana powerhouses (such as Ritter, Beech Grove, Monrovia, Indianapolis Lutheran and Triton Central).
This week, the Clovers will meet a Park Tudor team that stands 3-7 and had to forfeit a game to Speedway on Sept. 29 due to only having 14 healthy players.
The Panthers have only 26 players when at full strength, coach Orlando Lowry told the Indianapolis Star, and were expected to have everyone back for the remainder of their season.
Park Tudor lost 44-6 to Monrovia and 47-13 to Indianapolis Ritter to close out the regular season, and beat a winless Indianapolis Washington team 52-0 in Friday’s sectional opener.
Should the Clovers win and advance to the sectional finals for the first time in a while (at least 1994, according to John Harrell’s website), their reward would likely be a home game with Tipton.
One battle at a time, though.
South Putnam had perhaps the most impressive win, snapping an eight-game losing streak with a 40-15 victory over a 7-2 Covenant Christian that had not played nearly the same quality schedule as the Eagles.
The Eagles also travel to Indianapolis on Friday to meet the Howe Hornets, whose only win so far this season came in the sectional opener over the Indiana School for the Deaf.
Coach Nathan Aker deserves a lot of credit for keeping the morale of his team alive. Throwing in the towel would have been easy for his guys, but they did nothing of the sort.
Should they win on Friday, they would be looking at playing the winner of Indianapolis Arlington (7-2) and Indianapolis Tindley (7-3).
Again, first things first.
Disregarding the pair of sectional games between two WIC squads, conference teams went 4-4 in the other games.
Owen Valley defeated Evansville Harrison 14-10 and Indian Creek beat Indianapolis Manual 44-8, in addition to the Cloverdale and South Putnam wins.
All in all, a pretty good night for local football. Here’s to a few more yet to come.