Football Friday: Clovers, Cougars meet looking for first WIC win; Eagles host Mustangs, Tiger Cubs travel to Golden Arrows in non-conference match-ups

The midway point of the 2022 regular season arrives Friday with the first intracounty game not featuring South Putnam taking place at North Putnam, the Cougars hosting Cloverdale still searching for a first win on the season.

Greencastle is the only team to leave the confines of Putnam County, travelling to fellow WIC member Sullivan, while the Eagles host Edgewood, who comes in on a three-game losing streak.

Of the county series, the meetings between North Putnam and Cloverdale have been among the most lopsided with the Cougars having won 20 of the last 21 meetings dating back to 2004, the year the current senior classes were born.

The one Clover win came Oct. 13, 2017, a 23-19 victory in the regular season that came in the old WIC Crossover game, making up for a 27-9 loss earlier in the season on Sept. 15.

In a bit of a surprise, Cloverdale has the only win between the two teams this season, despite a pair of 70-plus point losses.

North Putnam’s offense has been able to put up points this season but has struggled to keep opponents out of the end zone as well, giving up 50 points on average through four games, just under Cloverdale’s 53 points allowed.

Both teams allowed 70-plus points last week, the key difference being the Cougars scored five times in the 73-34 loss to Covenant Christian while the Clovers were blanked in a 74-0 loss to Cascade.

While the defenses had difficult outings in week four, North Putnam’s Noah Claycomb rushed 50 times for 284 yards and four touchdowns against the Warriors and will likely see plenty more carries against a Cloverdale defense that gave up 375 yards to Cadet back Liam Farmer and 544 total rushing yards a week ago.

South Putnam’s homecoming outing against Edgewood will be another chance for the Eagle running game to churn up yards as the Mustangs have lost three-straight since an opening week win over Mitchell.

The Mustangs were gouged for 409 yards by Monrovia in week two before another 254 yards were gained by Peotone (Ill.). Owen Valley only churned out 158 yards on the ground but did so on just 17 carries, gaining another 157 in the air on seven completions from Patriot quarterback Brody Lester.

Five turnovers did not help Edgewood’s cause against Owen Valley, as has a spate of injuries that a physical Eagle side will not help address.

Luke Switzer had his best game of the season against Greencastle in week four, rolling up 181 yards on 24 carries with three scores, and will likely see another healthy round of action against the Mustangs this week.

Greencastle, meanwhile, will look to keep Sullivan’s two-game slide going another week while looking to bounce back after South Putnam tossed its weight around in the second half last week.

The Tiger Cubs will likely be monitoring the health of junior back Lamar Moore, who came off the field hobbled on a few occasions against the Eagles and had just 10 yards rushing on 12 carries last week.

Easing those concerns is the return of Peyton Welker, who missed the first three weeks of the season and came back with 81 yards on 10 carries, giving the Tiger Cubs a very different dimension when it comes to running backs.

Sullivan comes in on a two-game losing streak but the losses come against 3A No. 10 Owen Valley and 2A No. 1 Linton.

In both games, the Golden Arrows were hit hard in the running game as both the Knights and Miners had two 100-yard rushers each, each team gaining over 300 yards on the ground.

Sullivan was able to air it out a bit against Linton as Rowdy Adams threw for 221 yards and two scores, 123 yards going to Luke Adams, while also gaining 80 yards on the ground.

The former Adams has not always featured in the starting lineup, however, with Jon Willey seeing time at quarterback in competitive situations, though the junior has not fared as well as the senior when involved in the passing game.