Football Friday: Eagles look to lock up WIC title; Tiger Cubs, Clovers battle in fifth county meeting of 2022; Cougars tussle with Vikings

While last week heralded the arrival of fall, this week begins the final third of the 2022 football season, a week in which all four schools will remain inside the confines of Putnam County before next week’s four-way road trip.

The fifth intracounty match-up of the year will see Greencastle host Cloverdale while South Putnam looks to make it three in a row when it comes to WIC Small School Division titles, hosting Brown County, with North Putnam hosting West Vigo in what is the most balanced contest going.

It’s been over a decade since the Clovers last found success against the Tiger Cubs, winning Oct. 1, 2010, by a 14-6 score, only to fall in the sectional opener that year 27-24, the start of a 12-straight run of victories in the series for Greencastle.

There was no new news regarding the status of Mike Meyer at the most recent Greencastle School Board meeting; as such, Matt Helmer remains as interim head coach and will look to move to 2-0 with the Tiger Cubs.

A commanding win over Brown County helped ease the distractions the previous day had provided and came thanks to 207 yards on the ground through a variety of backs, as well as five Eagle turnovers that left the hosts with multiple short fields with which to score.

Cloverdale, meanwhile, was as much of an enemy to itself as was South Decatur, giving away 144 free yards to the Cougars, who rushed for 384 yards in the contest.

The Clover offense has found more balance with Levi Johnson becoming more prominent in the running game but Cloverdale has lacked the discipline in recent weeks to be close in contests, particularly in its run defense, which was able to coral South Decatur’s Corbin Johnson at times but also allowed the Cougar sophomore to get to the edge too frequently, a trait the Tiger Cubs will be looking to exploit.

South Putnam’s win over West Vigo wasn’t the cleanest but Eagle playmakers made things happen before conditions deteriorated due to incoming rain.

The Vikings were able to string together several long drives and, while they did not capitalize enough on them, showed the Eagle defense still needed some fine-tuning against teams unafraid to run right at it, even if Aiden Beadles was everywhere, recording 28 tackles in the win.

The other set of Eagles on the field have struggled mightily all season, allowing 51.8 ppg while scoring less than 10 points per outing; the closest game for Brown County remains the 29-27 loss to Cloverdale on Sept. 2 and its only other outing above 10 points was a 41-12 loss to West Vigo.

Friday will be a chance for multiple players to get involved on both sides of the ball before the level of competition ramps up significantly with a trip to 2A No. 8 Heritage Christian followed by the home finale against 2A No. 1 Linton.

In what is the most intriguing match-up of the week, North Putnam will face West Vigo in what could be a volatile outing.

Both teams have been working through coaching changes in 2022 and both have struggled at times with one side of the ball.

West Vigo’s defense has been the stronger of the two sides for the Vikings, allowing 30.3 ppg, and in its two wins, the offense has scored 41 and 42 points. In its losses, however, West Vigo has only averaged a score per game.

North Putnam, meanwhile, has been able to churn out 26.8 ppg but has also allowed nearly 42 points each outing, only keeping teams under 40 points in a 36-7 loss to North Montgomery and the 58-7 win over Cloverdale.

The Vikings’ Wing-T attack has netted nearly 1,100 yards on the ground this season, only failing to reach the 100-yard mark against Northview, while the passing game has only eclipsed 100 yards once in the win over Brown County.

The Cougar passing offense has been fairly consistent, only dipping below 200 yards once in the loss to Covenant Christian; the same game was the first time North Putnam cracked the 300-yard mark in the running game as Noah Claycomb, after a few lighter weeks to start the season, rushed for 200-plus yards in back-to-back games and for over 100 yards the past three weeks.