Parke Heritage ready for conference opener against South Vermillion

Pregame coverage on GIANT fm Sports WREB begins approximately 6:35 p.m. Friday on 104.9 FM and online through the giant.fm, Parke County Post website.

With a win under its belt, the Parke Heritage football team is ready to see what Friday night's Wabash River Conference opener has in store, according to head coach Dan Rector. 

Last week, the Wolves knocked off West Vigo, 26-20, improving to 1-1. 

"The kids really played hard. We shot ourselves in the foot a few times, but great resilience and the kids were really pumped up afterwards. Our kids overcame some adversity and a West Vigo team that played with a lot of emotion. It is always emotional when you play down there, and our kids handled it well," Rector told The Parke County Post. 

The Wolves took a 13-7 lead after one quarter and extended the lead to 20-7 at halftime. West Vigo scored 13 in the third to tie the game, but the Wolves picked up the win with a touchdown in the fourth.

Quarterback Sawyer Monik was 3-of-6 for 35 yards, while Mason Wilcox threw a pass for 65 yards. Leyton McMullen proved to be the go to receiver, hauling in two passes for 80 yards, while the legs of Blake Ledcke and Timothy Pressley proved to be too much for West Vigo. Ledcke finished with 22 touches for 104 yards and a score, while Pressley carried the football 10 times for 77 yards and two trips to the end zone. 

"Our offensive line was key. We had a really good push up front all night, and no sacks in the passing game. The number one factor was our offensive line play. Blake had over 100 yards rushing for the first time in his career. A lot of guys contributed on the offensive side," Rector said. 

Linebacker Tucker Conley led the defense with 13 total stops. 

"We kept our cool, our composure. Their team is emotional. Their fan base is emotional, and I thought we handled it really well. It was a very physical game, and I feel like for the most part, we got the better of that. Happy with how the non-conference portion went and we are excited to get into the conference portion now," Rector said. 

After losing to Crawfordsville in the season opener, Rector said he saw his team make big strides ahead of the West Vigo game.

"We talked about that as a team. I think particularly we saw that in the box on both sides of the ball. If you look at our West Vigo film, we were able to stand our ground. Our linebackers went hard and offensively, we had great blocks at the point of attack, and better execution," Rector admitted. 

Rector hopes to see the strides continue this Friday against South Vermillion, who lost 56-7 to Sullivan to drop to 1-1.

In the loss, quarterback Ben Shryock was 12-of-28 for 91 yards and a touchdown and picked up 15 yards on 10 touches. 

While the Wildcats have a new quarterback and new coach, Rector knows his team will be in a battle.

"They played West Vigo as well and got a nice one point come from behind win. We think that is apples to apples and a nice comparison. We both won in competitive games. We have a lot of respect for South Vermillion, and we know they will do a good job. Sullivan is very big, fast and strong and they are rolling. South Vermillion does a good job defensively and they mix it up. Offensively, they look a little different and they are running the football more. They can throw it and run a similar set to what we saw out of Crawfordsville. This is a rivalry game with a lot of history. It will be very competitive, and our kids are super excited for it. South Vermillion is always a big game for us. We will have our hands full," Rector said.

The veteran coach said it was "key" for his team to pick up a non-conference win, especially considering how last season finished. 

"When you play bigger, faster teams with more depth, if you handle that well and come out with at least one win, it gives you some confidence. I think any bad mojo we might have felt hanging around from last year is gone and we just go out and play football now. We should be confident, but there is no room for complacency. We have to keep getting better minute by minute, day by day, week by week. We have to take advantage of that momentum and build. We need to keep having faith that if you love the process, the process will love you back. We need to embrace the process," Rector said.