Cloverdale looks to move to 2-0 on young football season

With its first 1-0 start since 2014, Cloverdale head football coach Tyler Lotz admits his team is anything but satisfied heading into this Friday's Week Two clash against rival North Putnam.

The Clovers secured a 69-32 win over Greencastle last week, securing the Putnam County Bucket for the first time since 2018. 

Now, Cloverdale looks to move to 2-0 for the first time since 2010.

"It's awesome. We have been trending in this direction. When we knew Greencastle would probably have the bucket after baseball season as good as their baseball team was, it was like we are going to have an opportunity to do it, and our boys came out ready to play and we, obviously, attained that goal," Lotz told The Putnam County Post. 

The win marked the second consecutive time Cloverdale has defeated the Tiger Cubs, as the two teams did not play last season. 

According to Lotz, his staff and team treated it as just another game. 

"I'll be 100 percent honest with you, we treated it as another game, but we also still feel disrespected in the sense that, 'Oh, we are just Cloverdale.' "We felt a lot of the things being said—that we got lucky last time—and we wanted to change that perspective. We did pretty well,"  Lotz said. 

In the win, Trey Schabel accounted for 400 total yards for the Clovers, who also got solid play out of quarterback Marcus Boyd, while the defense managed to intercept Greencastle quarterback Cole Stephens twice. 

"He's an explosive player. He is a heck of a player, explosive and he tells me he doesn't like to be tackled, and I think that is why he kicks it into another gear when he has the football. He looked pretty good out there. We fed him the ball, and he did his thing," Lotz said. 

When it comes to the play of Cloverdale's defense, Lotz said it was a point of emphasis heading into the Greencastle game. 

"We knew with Coach Stephens, the offense was going to be explosive, and Cole (Stephens) is a great quarterback. We knew our work was cut out for us. We won the toss and deferred and thought let's put them out there and see what we can do. For Mason Mourning to have a pick on the first play, I think that really set the tone. To get two picks on Cole and put pressure on him, that really helped us out. I was really pleased with our defense. There was a moment where we started getting tired, Ashton Evans got hurt, they go upbeat and fast, and I was concerned. That is what I am most proud about -- our team rallied at that moment, fought back and put the foot on the gas and finished out the game," Lotz said. 

As for Boyd, Lotz was all smiles talking about his first year quarterback. 

"When we knew Landon was gone, we told him if you want the quarterback job, we are going to start doing some winter stuff and he never missed a morning. He is a great overall kid, and you are happy to see his hard work pay off. He did things that most kids in their first ever start can't do. He was very poised back there, and he adds the running ability to our team. He is one of the fastest kids on our team," Lotz said. 

While Cloverdale comes in soaring, North Putnam enters Friday's contest reeling from a 56-14 loss against South Putnam. In the game, the Cougars had 13 yards passing and Ashton Hamilton led the offense with six carries for 115 yards. 

"When teams play South Putnam, they don't always look the way they normally do. We know what we see on film, and we know what we saw in the jamboree. We feel like Scott has those boys hungry, and he has a younger team without Christian Kramer and all those names, and these kids are stepping in and are a hungry group. They are going to be ready to play. We had that conversation. Two years ago when we beat Greencastle, what happened? We lost to a West Vigo team that we should've beat by 50 points. It was because we couldn't put it in the rearview mirror and our message was not another word about Greencastle because it's over with. We have to move on to North Putnam, because that would be a big slap in the face to us if we got embarrassed. We have to focus on what is ahead of us," Lotz acknowledged. 

What will take for the Clovers to move to 2-0?

Several things, according to Lotz.

"I think it has to be the same as last week. We have to take care of the ball and get takeaways. We have to be able to tackle a lot better, limit explosives and be explosive. If we can do those three things, I like our chances," Lotz said. 

I expected us to be a physical team, but I didn't expect us to be that explosive. I was very pleased.