Football Friday: Tiger Cubs tackle another stiff challenge in Knights; Eagles, Patriots offer stern early test; Clovers, Cougars get home games against Lancers, Mounties

The week two heatwave will put conditioning levels to the test Friday as schools have done what they could to make the week tolerable ahead of the first of three weeks without a Putnam County matchup.

Cloverdale and North Putnam have their home openers this week with the Clovers hosting Edinburgh and the Cougars taking on Southmont while South Putnam hosts Owen Valley in a game that will test both teams early in the season.

Greencastle is the only road team this week, taking on another tough challenge as the Tiger Cubs travel to Northview.

As a result of the residual heat, game times have been moved back to accommodate athletes and spectators.

South Putnam will face Owen Valley at 7:30 p.m. while kickoffs at North Putnam and Cloverdale with be at 8 p.m.

As of press time Thursday, the game between Greencastle and Northview is still listed to begin at 7 p.m.

The Knights routed Terre Haute North 48-16 off the back of running back Tyler Lee (12 carries, 188 yards, five TD) and quarterback Kyle Cottee (17 carries, 111 yards, two TD), who only attempted six total passes. Caelen Bell hauled in both completions on the night for 29 yards.

Despite running from the spread, Northview did most of its work between the tackle boxes and the Tiger Cub defense will have to be able to stop the run better than a week ago against Danville as the Warriors eventually racked up 275 yards on the ground.

Lee and Cottee were also leading tacklers for Northview, which was led by Mason Sutherland and Jace Deakins with eight tackles each in the 4-3 setup the Knights used against the spread of Terre Haute North.

Against Brown County, Owen Valley had the time and space to choose what it wanted to and ripped apart the Eagles to the tune of nearly 400 yards of offense.

A different set of Eagles will be waiting in week two after South Putnam rolled over Cloverdale, leaving the two teams to face a much sterner test Friday.

Junior Elijah Anderson only completed 4-of-12 passes against Brown County but three went for scores with three difference receivers catching them in Rhett Manuel, Derrek Atkinson and Brayden Phillippe.

Kyvan Bandy did most of the leg work with 16 carries and 181 yards on the ground, making three trips to the endzone along the way.

As is often the case, South Putnam will have to contend with the size of Owen Valley along both sides of the ball, meaning the battle on the front lines will shape much of the contest, especially on a night that will still be quite warm and muggy.

Cloverdale will see Edinburgh for the third time this week with the Lancers having struggled to get their offense going in a 12-7 loss to Indianapolis Tindley.

Junior quarterback Caleb Murphy was under pressure frequently, being dropped for 29 yards in losses while only going 2-of-5 for 18 yards in the passing game.

Three different Lancer runners combined to help offset Murphy out of the team’s modified spread and wing offensive system with Gabe Bennett just shy of 100 yards, Connor Ramey picking up 53 yards on 20 carries and Jackson Hartwell scoring the lone Edinburgh touchdown.

Hartwell also led the team in tackles with nine against Tindley out of a 3-3-5 stack defense, including a sack and another tackle for loss.

For North Putnam against Southmont, finding Wyatt Woodall and tackling Wyatt Woodall will be imperative all night long.

The Mountie senior started off the year with four touchdowns from his 14 carries, finishing just shy of 200 yards at 196 against Fountain Central.

Quarterback Nolan Boyer was a tidy 9-of-13 for 130 yards through the air to compliment the 386 yards of rushing Southmont pounded out on the night out of the double wing offense.

Woodall also led the Mounties in tackling against the Mustangs with seven.