Greencastle defense shreds Cloverdale

Greencastle's Chase Carrington turns up field after hauling in a pass from Jacob Miller and scores the fourth touchdown of the night for the Tiger Cubs in Friday's 43-2 win over Cloverdale.

Banner Graphic/TRENT SCOTT

Despite what was a dicey opening for both teams, Greencastle took advantage of several short fields to make it two wins in-a-row with a 43-2 victory over Cloverdale.

“We came out really sloppy and I was a little disappointed in the way we started out,” Greencastle interim coach Matt Helmer noted. “If we hit a couple of plays, maybe the first quarter the turns a little bit for us.

“We shored things up in the second quarter, got on track and kept things going.”

“We’ve just got to continue getting better,” Cloverdale head coach Tyler Lotz said. “We challenge the guys after last game and all of last week to be better men and to grow up and I think we did that this week.

“We didn’t get the balls out Monday; we worked on discipline and everything else, which carried over into tonight. We played a more disciplined game but turnovers killed us.

“We played sloppy football but got better at competing for four quarters,” Lotz added in regard to being more disciplined after committing 15 penalties against South Decatur.

Both sides came out of the gates stumbling as Greencastle went three-and-out while Cloverdale had a first down wiped out for a block in the back.

The Tiger Cubs drove but two sacks of Jacob Miller by Matt King and Tayt Jackson led to fourth-and-17 where a botched snap saw Miller dive on the ball to prevent a scoop and score.

The Clovers responded by fumbling on consecutive plays, losing the second to Wade Hamilton, and three plays later, Lamar Moore scored from 21 yards out to give Greencastle a 7-0 lead.

Cloverdale put the ball on the ground twice more with a Cameron Pingleton sack ending the drive with a punt.

Miller went to the air to add to the lead, hitting Owen Huff for a 42-yard score with Chase Carrington turning a missed hold into a conversion for a 15-0 advantage.

Jackson was intercepted after a pair of first downs by Alexzander Grove and Brendle Brennan capped a four-play drive with a score from 11 yards out to make it 22-0.

Another Clover turnover, a fumble recovered by Ethan Hamm, wasn’t converted but a final possession before halftime was as Miller hit Carrington for a 33-yard score and a 29-0 lead at halftime.

Peyton Welker entered the scoring column after Greencastle forced a punt to start the second half, breaking off runs of 16, 16 and a scoring run of 18 yards to set the running clock in motion.

Ryan Beauchamp would get the final Tiger Cub score of the night, running for 24 yards to set up a five-yard plunge and a 43-0 lead.

The Clover points came in the final minutes as a bad snap over Ian Williamson’s head was eventually covered by the punter, denying the host defense a shutout after only giving up 12 total yards of offense.

Greencastle will face a spike in difficult next week, traveling to Owen Valley, while Cloverdale travels to West Vigo.

“We’ve just got to get better,” Lotz said. “We know the schedule doesn’t get easier with West Vigo this week and Owen Valley the following week.

“It’s one of those things where we can’t necessarily keep looking at our opponents. We have to keep getting better ourselves.”

“Robbie (Gibson) does a good job down (at Owen Valley) and we’ll spend this week getting ready for them,” Helmer said. “We’ll go down there and give them all we’ve go.

“I expect us to execute and we’ll see what happens but we’re going up against a formidable opponent that’s very well-coached.”

Scoring

1st Quarter

G — Moore 21-yard run (Williamson kick) 3:12 7-0

2nd Quarter

G — O. Huff 42-yard pass from Miller (Carrington conversion) 10:02 15-0

G — Brennan 11-yard run (Williamson kick) 6:00 22-0

G — Carrington 33-yard pass from Miller (Williamson kick) 1:18 29-0

3rd Quarter

G — Welker 18-yard run (Williamson kick) 6:09 36-0

4th Quarter

G — Beauchamp 5-yard run (Williamson kick) 9:08 43-0

C — Safety 3:05 43-2

Statistics

Individual Statistics

Rushing

Cloverdale — 24-(-12) — Johnson 12-14; Jackson 12-(-26)

Greencastle — 34-186, 4 TD — Welker 10-85, TD; Moore 7-67, TD; Carrington 4-34; Beauchamp 3-30, TD; Blodgett 3-(-1); Brenan 2-20, TD; Miller 2-(-18); Team 2-(-45); O. Huff 1-14

Passing

Cloverdale — Jackson 4-11-24, INT

Greencastle — Miller 5-10-145, 2 TD

Receiving

Cloverdale — Johnson 2-10; Helton 1-12; Lee 1-2

Greencastle — Carrington 3-87. TD: O. Huff 1-42, TD; Beauchamp 1-16