Football Friday: Tiger Cubs, Cougars meet with WIC title on the line; Eagles face run-heavy Cadets; Clovers travel to face smarting Patriots

In the blink of an eye, the 2023 football regular season finale has arrived.

With it comes a final Putnam County Bucket matchup between holders Greencastle and North Putnam that is compounded by the fact the two teams will face each other the following week in the opening round of sectional play, a key test for South Putnam against a physical Cascade side and a trip for Cloverdale to Owen Valley.

For the first time since week two, rain is a potential factor Friday night, an unwelcome addition to the schedule, even if temperatures will be back to pleasant once again, leading to the Greencastle-North Putnam game to be moved up half an hour to a 6:30 p.m. kickoff.

In another time and place, an unwritten understanding might have been in place at Greencastle Friday night between the Tiger Cubs and Cougars with both teams looking to win but also gear up for the more important sectional matchup the following week.

With the WIC Small School Division title and the Bucket both on the line, however, both teams will not be allowed the luxury of holding back as a Greencastle win would see the purple and gray win the title outright and a North Putnam win see the conference split between the two schools and South Putnam.

The Tiger Cubs launched a broadside at Owen Valley last week, jumping out 21-0 and 28-8 at halftime with a balanced attack between Lamar Moore’s 97 yards on the ground and Cole Stephens’s 140 yards through the air, though penalties presented a problem throughout the night.

Stephens, among the state leaders in passing, sits at 2,225 yards, 31 touchdowns and seven interceptions on the season while Moore has been building up a head of steam on the ground of late, sitting at 736 yards on the season with 14 touchdowns.

Three receivers sit at more than 400 yards on the year with Owen Huff catching his 10th touchdown on the season last week, having hauled in 727 yards from Stephens, while Brendle Brennan joined Ian Williamson in the 400-yard receiving range.

Moore leads the team on defense with 72 tackles while Cameron Pingleton (61 tackles) and Cooper Robinson became the ninth and 10th Tiger Cubs to recover fumbles this season.

North Putnam, meanwhile, made it a county sweep of Brown County last week as Christian Kramer threw for 206 yards and three scores while adding 101 yards on then ground and two more scores as part of a 57-8 win over the Eagles.

The Cougars have found offensive balance in the second half of the season as the team threw for 232 yards and ran for 228 yards against the Eagles.

Kramer continues to be the hub of the offense, throwing for 1,593 yards, 14 touchdowns and four interceptions while rushing for 810 yards and 14 scores, both totals more than the rest of the running back committee combined.

Wes Murphy has 295 yards while Braden Glaze added two scores to his 248-yard total and Caiden Hankins moved to within a couple of yards of 200 for the season.

Murphy (447 yards) and Brogan Woodall, with 556 yards, lead the receiving corps while Paxton O’Brien is 15 yards shy of 300 for the season.

Hankins continues to lead the defense with 77 tackles while Jayden Laffin (55 tackles) and Murphy (52 tackles) help balance the defense across all three levels.

Following a convincing win over Heritage Christian last week, South Putnam will face a run-heavy Cascade team that comes in off a tough loss to a very solid Monrovia team in which the Bulldogs ran for 573 yards yet only won by a 42-35 score.

The host Eagles came out hot against the visiting Eagles last week, leading 20-7 after a quarter and 26-7 at halftime, though a fumble and a turnover on downs in the second quarter prevented what might otherwise have been a rout in the making.

Following a few light weeks, Kolby Harcourt got a substantial workload, carrying the ball 30 times for 131 yards and two scores against Heritage Christian while Wyatt Mullin added 124 yards on 16 carries, adding 178 yards through the air, 74 going to a returning Wyatt Switzer.

Mullin is the third quarterback in the county to throw for more than 1,500 yards this season, tossing 1,666 yards through eight games, with 19 touchdowns and three interceptions, adding another 534 yards on the ground to compliment Harcourt’s 695 yards and 14 scores.

Switzer remains the No. 2 receiver on the season with 387 yards despite missing three games while Bransyn Hanley moved over 500 yards on the season after last week, sitting at 542 yards on the year. Zach Dorsett caught the lone touchdown pass last week and has 343 yards receiving.

Aiden Beadles (125 tackles, 29 TFL, eight sacks) was among four South Putnam defenders to record 10-plus tackles against Heritage Christian, recording 18, along with Keenan Mowery-Shields (15), Dorsett (14) and Kyle Glasson (11).

Cascade still manages 193 yards on the ground against Monrovia a week ago, Damien Appleby leading the team with 86 yards on 11 carries, and kept things close as Toby Savini returned both a kickoff and a fumble for scores.

Savini leads the team in rushing with 782 yards and 12 scores while Appleby is a yards shy of 500 for the season. Dayon Mink (430) and Caiden Clements (321) have helped push the Cadets to 2,384 yards for the season on the ground.

Brady Trebley added a touchdown pass last week, throwing for 442 yards on the season on 28-of-49 passing. Trent Austin (104 yards) became just the second receiver to break 100 yards on the season for Cascade, joining Savini (105 yards) on the list.

Lucas Farmer leads the defense from the secondary with 66 tackles while three others in Brayden Cartmel, Savini and Jacob Potts have 50-plus tackles this season.

Among non-county matchups, Cloverdale and Owen Valley have been regular opponents, having maintained a spot on one another’s schedule even after the Patriots left for the WIC in 1999, having only not played one another in 2021 thanks to a COVID vacancy.

Both teams come in off smarting losses as the Clovers had chances to hang with West Vigo while Owen Valley was on the wrong end of a 20-point loss at Greencastle.

The Patriots went to a more run-heavy than usual look, running a spread look with constant direct-snaps to quarterback Elijah Anderson and running back Kyvan Bandy, the pair combining for 42 carries and 191 yards against the Tiger Cubs; the rest of the offense accounted for 15 plays and 31 yards.

What will be challenging for Cloverdale is handling the direct running Owen Valley employed successfully at times against Greencastle, which featured a much larger front seven than the Clovers are able to employ.

West Vigo was able to run 50 times for 166 yards against Cloverdale a week ago, gaining 14 first downs and wearing down the Clovers by the end of the night, a track the Patriots will look to do as well.

Cloverdale used Tayt Jackson as more of a running option last week and the junior collected 151 yards on eight carries, as well as a 56-yard pass from quarterback Artrevion Henderson for a score.

Levi Johnson still handled the bulk of the hard yards with 17 carries as both Johnson and Jackson have more than 300 yards rushing on the season. Jackson also moved to the second leading receiver on the team with 128 yards, trailing Ben Campbell on 162 yards.

Johnson and Carson Caulkins continue to lead the defensive effort with Caulkins up to 63 tackles and Johnson on 55 tackles.