Football Friday: Tiger Cubs, Cougars battle in final county game of ‘22; Eagles start No. 1 chase against Miners; Clovers close against Patriots

Amazing as it is to think, the final the week of the 2022 football regular season has arrived and with it comes a heavyweight clash of ranked foes as well as the final intracounty game of the season.

Greencastle and North Putnam will square off on the northern side of the county while in the middle, 2A No. 1 Linton visits A No. 6 South Putnam and to the south, Cloverdale welcomes in 3A No. 7 Owen Valley.

In what is likely the most finely-poised of the six county games, the Tiger Cubs and Cougars will come in looking at the chance to springboard into sectional play with a win, though the possibility exists the two teams could meet a second time in two weeks’ time should both win their sectional openers.

Though both come in with very different results from the previous week, Greencastle having lost at Owen Valley while North Putnam defeated Brown County, both teams have had better second halves of the season.

The Cougars were able to give Noah Claycomb a bit of a rest, only needing 16 carries for 142 yards as Cristian Kramer threw for 332 yards against the Eagles.

The Tiger Cubs, despite not having a great game on offense against the Patriots, were still able to run for four yards per carry, though the pass offense was ineffective with the only completion was for negative seven yards, numbers that will need to improve in order to compete with a balanced North Putnam offense.

Most eyes will be further south as South Putnam and Linton tangle in what will be the first of two-straight meetings with No. 1-ranked teams.

The Eagles come in off an outing in which the team ran for 367 yards against then-No. 8 Heritage Christian, forgoing the arm of Wyatt Mullin in favor of the legs of Luke Switzer, Peyton Crickmore, Kaleb Owens and Mullin, who combined for 385 yards on the ground.

Balance will be tantamount as the Miners have rushed for over 2,400 yards as a team with quarterback Hunter Gennicks accounting for 987 yards on the ground and an additional 1,078 yards through the air, combining for 31 touchdowns as a result.

Hunter Johns (68 carries, 579 yards) and Jesse Voigtschild (38 carries, 311 yards) add different dimensions to Gennicks on the ground while Braden Walters (20 catches, 382 yards), Logan Webb (18 catches, 195 yards) and Paul Oliver (17 catches, 282 yards) have been the favorite targets of Gennicks in the passing game.

Gennicks is also the second-leading tackler for Linton with 50 total tackles, trailing only Russell Goodman on 52 tackles. Oliver leads the team with four sacks and 12 tackles for loss while Wrigley Franklin has a pair of sacks and 11.5 tackles for loss among his 46 tackles on the season.

Cloverdale will get a bye for the first round of the IHSAA Football State Playoffs but will have to contend with Owen Valley this week.

The Clovers were able to hang around with West Vigo thanks in part to the Vikings giving up five turnovers, though the same team also rushed for 315 yards.

The Patriots remain an exceedingly balanced team with Brody Lester throwing for 1,640 yards on the season while the team has rushed for 1,740 yards, Lester accounting for 502 yards.

Christian McDonald will be angling to cross the 1,000-yard mark on the season, sitting on 857 yards, while also looking at breaking 500 yards receiving, as will Chris Zellstra, both under 50 yards from hitting the mark.

Upon completing this week’s games, three of the four county teams will turn to sectional perpetrations with Greencastle traveling to Cascade and North Putnam hosting Sullivan in Class 2A Sectional No, 37 while South Putnam will travel to face A No. 1 Indianapolis Lutheran next week. Cloverdale will face the winner of the Eagles and Saints on the road the following week.