2nd season begins on Friday
Oct. 18—The Cougars and Hatchets found themselves going against two of the state's best last weekend and both lost to end the regular season.
This week the season starts fresh with the first round of IHSAA Sectional action and both have winnable games. ND opens sectional play with 1-8 Tecumseh and Washington hosts 2-7 West Vigo.
West Vigo at Washington
Although both teams come in with equal 2-7 records, according to John Harrell's website, WHS is a little under a two-touchdown favorite.
The Vikings do have a pair of wins over Cloverdale and Brown County, but have been shutout in three of their last four games and in their losses have only scored 52 total points.
They are led by junior running back Jacob Dewey who is getting 77 yards a game while Ryan Cobb is getting 67 yards on the ground. Quarterback Chase Hedden is more of a running quarterback, having thrown for just over 50% going 16-29 for one touchdown. However, he has rushed for five touchdowns and is getting 31.3 yards a game rushing. Landon Fields has also played some QB this season, and former Hatchet Connor Woolley is one of the primary targets as a receiver.
The two schools have never met, but Vigo's opponents have a 42-39 record while WHS's have a 38-43 mark. Currently WHS is ranked 54th in 3A and the Vikings come in at 62nd.
WHS lost to Heritage Hills on Friday, 50-7, and have lost six of the last seven. After beating Pike Central, 41-13 in Week 6, WHS has been limited to just 19 points and given up 140. However, two of the three games were play against top five 3A opponents.
The defense is lead by Parker Murphy with 78 solo tackles and 136 total, which is close to the lead in the state, Colton Stowers was 13-25 for 95 yards through the air. Stowers rushed for 32 yards and Murphy rushed for 30 against Heritage Hills.
"I think this week will be Hatchets v. Hatchets again. Sometimes our toughest opponent is ourselves. We have to have players execute and finish. There have been games where we were favored to win and didn't finish, and games where we weren't favored and did finish. That's what it will come down to," said WHS coach Joe Morris.
"We didn't have the regular season we wanted to have. But we have a chance to have the post-season we want in it starts with West Vigo. We did have some really good things happen. Our JV went 5-4, we had some great crowds and we gave up the fewest points through nine games since I've been here.
"The good news is we are the healthiest we've been since week 1."
Kickoff will be at Hatchet Hollow at 7 p.m.
North Daviess at Tecumseh
The Cougars dropped their fourth straight game with a 50-14 defeat to Springs Valley. The Cougars started the year 4-1 and averaged nearly 40 points a game, however, the offense has dropped to less than eight PPG in the last four.
The Braves dropped their first eight games of the season before winning last week over Oblong-Palestine-Hutsonville (Ill.), 41-6 on Friday. Tecumseh is part of the tough PAC and has played some tough teams including Southridge and North Posey, and Springs Valley.
The two teams met up twice last year, with the Braves taking both, including a 49-20 win at sectional, before Tecumseh lost to Providence, a team the winner will most likely face in round two, as unbeaten Providence faces a good Eastern Greene team.
Last Friday, running back Coltyn McNabb led the Cougar offense with 72 yards, while QB Brock Knepp had just 12 yards passing on six completions. Drew Boyd led the receiving corps with 15 yards.
"Tecumseh is a younger team and they are rebuilding right now. Their quarterback is new, but he has been in the program for a couple of years. They still run the spread with two backs and they run stuff out of the pistol," said ND coach Trent Fine.
"We are still trying to find some answers with our offense from top to bottom, but we hope this weeks helps us get back on track."
Fine said that if they get through Tecumseh, they would play either Providence or Eastern Greene.
"I would rather play Eastern because we are familiar with them, but they are a real dark horse in that sectional. They put up 400 yards against a very good Paoli team. Providence (9-0) has beaten teams soundly, in fact 3A North Harrison forfeited in the second half last week," he added.
The game will kick off at 7:30 p.m. in Tecumseh, however in Week 2 of the playoffs, ND would host.
