Tiger Cubs look to close out the regular season strong

Greencastle head football coach Dave Stephens knows what is ahead of his team. 

At 2-5 overall and 2-3 in the Monon Athletic Conference, the fourth year head coach is confident with games at Crawfordsville (2-5, 0-5) and home against Southmont looming to close out the regular season. 

"I'd like to see us build some momentum here. I feel like we have two winnable games. Crawfordsville has a big play receiver on the outside and they are a little more dynamic on offense than they have been the last couple years with the way their playcalling is. They want to run the football. Southmont is a game we feel like we were up 42-41 in the fourth quarter last year and went for it on fourth down and things kind of unraveled after that. We feel real excited about our chances. I think we match up really well with our style of play against those two teams. I am excited about our last two games, and, hopefully, we get a good sectional draw," Stephens told The Putnam County Post. 

Last week, the Tiger Cubs fell 73-13 at Cascade. 

Despite the loss, Stephens found positives. 

"Year to year, it is a night and day difference on the effort and things like that. We always talk about controlling the controllables and last year, I thought we weren't real happy or proud with the effort we put out on the field and at the end of this game, I felt like our effort was there but we couldn't execute at the level they are at. Our guys were attempting to do the right things, but Cascade is a state championship caliber team for a reason and they were able to execute their stuff better than we did. We controlled the things we could control, and I am happy for the kids in that situation. There's ways to gauge success other than the final boxscore," Stephens said. 

Stephens said his young kids did very well against the defending MAC champion and defending Class 3A state champion. 

"We moved the ball and got some scores on them. We put two scores on their first string defense, which is a defense that has been stingy all year. Our kids battled, and there are a lot of things to be positive about. We have two freshmen offensive linemen and to see our guys go out there and try to block guys like TJ Turner and Lucas Farmer, who are phenomenal football players, I was really happy with the effort our guys gave. That speed and tempo of their offense makes it really hard, but I am proud of the effort our guys gave," he said. 

He is looking for effort again this week when the Tiger Cubs head up 231 to Crawfordsville. 

"It is going to take toughness. We have to be tough for four quarters, take care of the ball and be disciplined. We have to execute and I believe you can stay simple and outexecute people. That is what we try to do. If our kids can keep doing that and give them opportunities to play with some advantages, I think there is a real opportunity for our football team to have success the next two weeks. I am excited about it and can feel the excitement," Stephens said. 

Stephens said closing the regular season out on a high note would be extremely beneficial heading into the postseason.

"That is kind of the position we were in a few years ago where we had some injuries, got some wins at the end of the season and we felt like we knew a little more about our team than others did. We were able to beat a seventh ranked North Putnam team in 2A like 49-20 or something like that. I can't say we are as talented as that group, but there are a lot of benchmarks you look at for growth, progress and things you want to see and things are trending in the right direction. I don't know when it will all click, but there are a lot of positive signs. Building that momentum will be nice," Stephens said.