FOOTBALL PREVIEWS: 2023 Greencastle Tiger Cubs

The 2022 season was a rollercoaster year for a Greencastle squad that was trying to find what worked and what didn’t as it went along.

A coaching change in the middle of the season only added to the up-and-down season, one that ended with an overtime loss to North Putnam and a loss to Cascade as part of a new Class 2A sectional.

Optimism runs high for the Tiger Cubs this season, however, with new coach Dave Stephens taking over after spending the past two season as an assistant to now-Avon head coach Rob Gibson while the pair were at Owen Valley.

Stephens said things were moving along on schedule through the summer and through the early practices ahead of the 2023 season.

“We’re about where we thought we’d be at this time of year,” Stephens said. “We’ve been at scrimmages all summer long and got some tackling in at our official scrimmage, which more closely represents Friday night than what we’ve done in the summer.

“With that comes some new things to look at. We’re about where we planned to be but we have some things to clean up, though those are all things that are coachable, so we’re happy with where we’re at in our development.”

The revamped offense will look similar at first but with Cole Stephens running the offense as quarterback, the threat from the passing game will increase significantly despite just being a freshman.

“I’m really happy with where Cole is at as a football player,” Stephens said about the freshman quarterback. “How he sees the game is more akin to a junior or senior; the game isn’t fast for him like it is for a freshman.

“He does a great job as he knows the offense and has run some variant of it since third grade. He helps our older guys pick up on things, gets guys aligned and helps with some of the protection calls, gets our wide receiver splits correct and does a lot of small things to help the offense.

“When defenses come after him, he keeps his eyes downfield and doesn’t seem phased by the pass rush,” Stephens added. “You don’t know how kids respond to that until you play high school football but we’re happy with his play, accuracy, decision making and leadership.”

The running game has been the staple of the Greencastle offense in recent season and while the passing attack will be more prominent, Stephens said Lamar Moore and Andrew Adams would be key cogs to make things work.

“We’ll be splitting the running back duties as Lamar will get the majority of the carries but Anthony Adams is going to help out,” Stephens said. “Anthony has a ton of natural ability: soft hands, shifty and explosive when running.

“He has to learn some things in his football technique, like finishing runs and schemes, but he has come on strong. He’s someone we recruited out of the hallways. After watching him play basketball, we said we needed to get him out, he was willing to give it a try and he’s been a great find for us.

“With his help, Lamar will get some rest in games and not have to play 120 snaps a night,” Stephens added.

The receiving corps will be much more active this year with Owen Huff returning as the leading receiver from 2022 while Ian Williamson will branch out from handling kicking duties.

“Other than the quarterback being in the gun, this a completely different offense than the kids have run before,” Stephens pointed out. “We call different runs and passes and we like the receiver group we have, which starts with Owen.

“He’s a nightmare matchup for other teams while Brendle (Brennan) has great speed and soft hands and Ian, even if he is 6’4”, is still bigger and stronger than you give him credit for. He can box out guys and uses his body.

“Braden Monroe is a tight end and while he didn’t get a lot of productive plays against Southmont, he has plenty in the summer,” Stephens added. “Cody Evans will come in on rotation and is a little behind the others but, by week three or four, he’s ready to play and get some major reps for us.”

The offensive line will be a strong point for Greencastle with Jackson Buis anchoring the unit at center while Jacob Simmerman returns, joined by Ashton Dayhuff, Kaiden Tomasino, Zion Slater and Landon McCormack up front.

“I’m really happy with the linemen and we’ve been working hard to develop depth at the position,” Stephens said. “We’re six-strong up front and working to develop a seventh and eighth guy as, inevitably, guys get banged up when they make collisions every play.

“Jackson is a team captain and leader, has all the intangibles, is fully committed and can be one of the best linemen in the state. We’re thankful to have him.

“Jacob is at left tackle, is a long 6’3” and moves very well as he plays both football and basketball; his footwork is helped by playing multiple sports,” Stephens added. “Ashton is another multi-sport guy and moves great for a center his size.

“Zion and Landon are battling for the right guard spot while Kaden is at right tackle. I love Kaden’s grit and toughness. He’s the kind of guy that, by the end of a game, other teams are tired of him blocking them all night long.”

Several of those players will join Moore, Cameron Pingleton, Brayden Monroe and Kody Roberts on the defensive line with Stephens not looking to overuse any single player on both sides of the ball.

“Our philosophy is that we want one-and-a-half-way players, not two-way players,” Stephens noted. “The scrimmage format and the number of reps made it a little more exaggerated than it would be but we will rotate eight or nine guys along the defensive front to keep them playing. I saw first-hand how that did us a lot of favors at Owen Valley as our opponents often had all five of their linemen play in those three defensive line spots, which gave us a competitive advantage.

“Jackson, Lamar and Cameron will lead things with Cameron being a one-way player who will stay out there a lot. Brayden, Jacob, Ashton, Zion, Landon and Kody will also see plenty of time out there in the rotation.

Jake Miller, who started at quarterback last year, starts in the linebacker rotation with freshman Parker Welker in the middle while Chris Olsen and Alex Grove battle for the third linebacker position.

“We used a 4-2-5 formation though it looked like a 4-4 against Southmont with our defensive ends standing up a lot,” Stephens said. “Jake will be our strong side linebacker; he’s a 6’3” athlete who can run but doesn’t just have to play in the box and we like his physical intangibles.

“Parker has every physical tool you could want in a high school player. He’s got soft hands but is fast, strong and explosive. Once we get him through his reads and progressions in the right way, along with our schemes, he is going to be a force to be reckoned with.

“Chris Olsen and Alex Grove are both ultracompetitive guys who are playing for our Will spot and we won’t know who the starter will be until before we play Danville,” Stephens added.

A senior-heavy secondary will feature Huff and Garrett Cooper deep in the secondary with Connor Mager and Cooper Robinson at corner positions.

“We’ve got a solid secondary with Owen Huff as a boundary safety, Garrett as a field side safety, Connor as a boundary corner and Cooper as our field side corner,” Stephens said. “We’ll rotate in Caden, who has done some good stuff for us, and Owen Sorrells might find himself in there at times as well.”

Williamson, while getting involved in the offense more, will still be a staple of special teams with Stephens excited by what he offers in both kicking and punting roles.

“Ian is still the guy,” Stephens said. “He’s kicked multiple 50-yard field goals in practice and is a serious weapon for us. He’s also hit about 80 percent of his kickoffs for touchbacks, so as long as the weather is fair to him, he’s a heck of a weapon.

“We like our slot guys like Owen Huff and Brendle in the return game. We like special teams and really believe in the three phases, committing more time to special teams than the rest of the conference, something I attribute to Rob (Gibson), who was a special teams coordinator in college.

“We dedicate time to special teams every day and we’re happy with where we’re at,” Stephens added.

Greencastle begins the season at home with Danville and though the Warriors struggled a bit in 2022, Stephens said the Sagamore Conference stalwarts would be back to normal this season.

“It’s fools’ gold to think Danville is down,” Stephens said. “Physically and talent-wise, they are a top-five school in Class 3A.

“They only have one player on defense under 6’ and we have our work cut out for us in the first game. Northview has good kids and is well coached, so we have a rough start out of the gates but it is what it is.

“That said, we’re thankful to have Danville and Northview on the schedule as we want to be a team that eventually is in the same breath as them,” Stephens added. “We don’t want to be a team that has 40 points hung on them by those teams; we want to get to where we compete with them.”

As the season progresses, Stephens said there were several tough matchups still in wait and while the energy within the program was good, determining the success of the team came down less to wins and losses but by how much the team pushed itself to improve over the course of the year.

“South Putnam, in the small school side, has been the dominant program as they’ve done a great job in the weight room and have great numbers for a school that size,” Stephens said. “You can’t characterize it in any other way than dominance but it’s a rivalry game and it means something with a place in the standings on the line.

“It’s our last go around with Sullivan as we get Indian Creek in next year. We’ve seen them in the summer and they’re a solid program. On the backend, Owen Valley will be an emotional game for me and Cole with our ties to the people still there and we respect what North Putnam and their coaches have done as far as the schematics and the way they’ve coached those kids up.

“We have a lot of tough games and we don’t know what the wins and losses will look like at the end but this team will be battle-tested come sectional time,” Stephens added. “By the time we get to sectionals, people across the state will know what this Tiger Cub team is about because of the schedule we face.

“If we stay healthy and take care of our business, which is to continue to grow and compete every day and stay hungry in our desire to get better every day, we have the potential to compete in the conference and sectional. It’s up to us in the end. We have a couple of months to get there and if we continue to grow at the same rate we have, I like our chances.”