Football Friday: Tiger Cubs, Eagles battle for the Bucket, WIC title; Clovers look to make it two-for-two; Cougars aim to quell Warriors

It’s hardly believable that one-third of the 2022 football season has already gone by but with week four comes the final intracounty game for South Putnam as the Eagles travel to Greencastle with the Putnam County Bucket on the line, as well as the inside lane to the WIC Small School Division title.

Cloverdale and North Putnam will step outside of conference competition this week in very different ways as the Clovers will tangle with former and soon to be returning WIC member Cascade while the Cougars are paid a visit by Covenant Christian, a school just two years removed from winning a Class A state title, beating South Putnam along the way to do so.

The Eagles and Tiger Cubs both come in to Friday’s contest with 2-1 records but have done so in two quite different ways as the former has used its air attack to give the running game space to operate while the latter has chewed up plenty of yards on the ground, rushing for over 200 yards in all three games to date, while the passing game perked up a bit against West Vigo, breaking the 100-yard mark for the first time.

While running for over 600 yards in its two wins over Cloverdale and North Putnam, South Putnam has done most of its early damage in the air, five of its first six scores in the county matchups coming off the arm of Wyatt Mullin, building up a comfortable lead before the ground game lands the knockout blows.

Greencastle’s secondary will be tested in a way it has not been through the first three games as all three of its opponents have been heavily run-based offenses.

The same could be said of the Tiger Cubs, however, as the home team Friday has only passed 27 times through three games as Jacob Miller has done 13-of-27 for 241 yards, leaning heavily on its bruising running game to open the season.

Lamar Moore has been the primary workhorse, carrying the ball 54 times through three games for 463 yards and six touchdowns. Chase Carrington has 22 carries for 91 yards and three scores as the secondary option while Miller has only run seven times for 26 yards but does have a pair of scores.

Greencastle’s offensive line has done plenty of work to make gaps for its running game and in the Eagles’ sole loss to Owen Valley, it was gashed for 381 yards behind an offensive line that was far bigger than South Putnam’s defensive line, an advantage the Tiger Cubs also hold going into the game.

A similar pass-versus-run game will play out at Cloverdale as Cascade, a team that first brought the spread system into the WCC nearly two decades ago, has turned to the Wing-T system in recent seasons, occasionally opting into an offset back look with a wing in motion.

Most of the Cadet carries have gone to Liam Farmer with the senior having amassed 61 carries for 436 yards and four touchdowns in three games. Damien Appleby has 19 carries for 63 yards.

Cascade is manned at the quarterback spot by freshman Brady Trebly, who is 13-of-22 passing on the season for 177 yards, two scores an interception. Farmer has been the biggest target in the passing game as well with four catches for 82 yards and a score.

Defensively, the Cadets use a 3-4 look with linebackers capping the end of the line to create different looks in front of a four-man secondary. Farmer leads the team with 22 tackles while Devon Weigle has three sacks.

Cloverdale has yet to break 100 yards rushing in a game but Tayt Jackson has thrown for just under 500 yards this season. Jaxton Helton had seven receptions for 214 yards against Brown County while Levi Hilton had nine receptions for 105 yards against Edinburgh to lead the receiving corps.

On the other side of the county, North Putnam will have its hands full with Covenant Christian, a squad that has stumbled out of the gate, falling hard in matchups against Speedway and Adams Central with a win over Traders Point Christian Academy, led by former Cougar head coach Sam Carnes, sandwiched in-between.

The Warriors have been reliant on the arm of Anthony Flatt, who is 48-of-83 for 562 yards, four touchdowns and three interceptions. Luke Munoz and Gavin Tindall have been the primary targets, the former reeling in 13 passes for 224 yards while the latter has 16 receptions for 163 yards and two scores.

Running out of the pistol formation, no running back has amassed 100 yards on the season, though Tindall had 63 yards against the Flying Jets in week three.

Defensively, Covenant Christian runs a 4-3 scheme with Carter Bell leading the team in tackles with 16.5 on the season. The Warriors have five tackles for loss and two sacks on the season along with four fumbles recovered and two interceptions.

North Putnam showed flashes of offensive power against South Putnam but three interceptions, bringing the season total up to seven for the season and 10 turnovers overall, heavily hampered the Cougars.

Keeping the turnovers to a minimum will be important as the offense has struggled to get the running game going, only passing the 100-yard mark once this season with that total coming in the final minutes of the game against the Eagles.

Christian Kramer has thrown for 685 yards on 47-of-77 passing and has had to shoulder much of the offensive load in his freshman season with Myles Bryan (14 catches, 361 yads, two TD) and Arrick Kramer (16 receptions, 134 yards, TD) his two primary targets. Noah Claycomb has 229 yards of rushing on 57 carries with four scores.

Claycomb leads the defense with 30 tackles while Lucas Murphy has 29 tackles but it is the fact that the team has nearly 200 total tackles through three games that shows concern as the Cougars can’t get teams off the field enough, keeping the offense in a constant state of catch-up mode.