Greencastle looks to continue improving as regular season winds down

As his football team enters the final third of the regular season, Greencastle head football coach Dave Stephens knows this is where his team has historically found success prior to the playoffs.

The veteran coach hopes such is the case again, as his team enters Week Seven fresh off a 40-20 win over North Montgomery to improve to 2-4 overall, 2-2 in the Monon Athletic Conference. The win snapped a two game losing skid. 

"It was a great win, a team win. We had contributions all over the field. Our defense really played well. We got some guys back healthy, including T,J. Jordan, who had seven tackles for a loss. Our guys did a great job pursuing the ball. On offense, our line did a great job blocking. We had close to 600 yards on offense and we spread the wealth out. We had a 20 point win over a real tough team," Stephens told The Putnam County Post. 

Quarterback Cole Stephens totaled 538 yards, passing for 456 yards and three touchdowns while rushing for 82 yards and a touchdown; he also recorded an interception on defense. 

"All the credit goes to the guys up front for putting North Montgomery in situations where they had to pass and for shutting down their counter play and speed option play," Stephens said of Cole's interception. 

Stephens singled out the play of his defensive unit, noting that at times, they have received some unfair criticism. 

"It is one of those things that our defense has been fairly or unfairly scrutinized. We have many young players, we've given up many points, and we have many first-year varsity players that had to grow. We had to grow as a team and learn everything that comes with varsity football. They are spry, have a lot of energy and want to learn what will help them be better. We are really excited about the direction our team has and those kids have," Stephens acknowledged. 

Stephens said the schedule also has helped Greencastle in the past and this season is no different. 

"We schedule up. We had two state champions from last year on our schedule in South Putnam and Cascade. Last year, we played a state champion and four sectional champions. When you play that sort of schedule, you know it will help you and you are not fearful when you get to the postseason. We are ready and battle tested, and I feel like that is a big part of it," he said. 

The Tiger Cubs will certainly be battle tested when the regular season ends. 

And, that is something that excites Stephens. 

"We feel like we are we going to keep building our team skill wise heading into the playoffs. We are a program that has won at least one game every year in the playoffs and have played for a sectional championship. We like our process, we like what we are doing and by the time week 10 rolls around, we feel like we will be playing our best football," Stephens said.

Next up for Greencastle is a road trip to Cascade, who will enter with a 5-1 overall, 4-0 MAC record. The Cadets are on a four game win streak, have posted three straight shutouts and are allowing just over 9 points per game while scoring close to 43 points a contest. 

A season ago, Cascade defeated Greencastle, 98-13, something Stephens has not forgotten. 

"I am a big believer in you can't fix what you don't acknowledge. You have to acknowledge the things that went wrong, not only the loss but the way the loss went down last year. I had to take ownership of it, the players had to take ownership of it, and now that it is done, now we acknowledge what went wrong and how can we fix that to the best of our ability? It's not a revenge game. It's not "Remember the Alamo." We know we have a tall task in front of us, and last year, we didn't give the kind of fight we should of, so this year, let's give the kind of effort and fight all the way through and see where we are at," Stephens said. 

Stephens knows his team will face an offense that is putting up points and a defense that has made life tough for opposing offenses.

"They run that offense and they are dynamic.  They run that offense, and it is dynamic. They are very simple in what they do, but they do it really well. You have to out execute them. You have to down block and knock him off course. Everybody has to do their job in conjunction and we have to do it over and over. Their tempo is insane. It forces you to be simple, and we will be more simple, but also try to be more sound. If our guys play hard and worry about what they can control for four quarters, we will walk out of there happy," Stephens said.