Cloverdale looks to repeat 2025 success

The 2025 football season was a magical one for the Cloverdale Clovers under head coach Tyler Lotz.

The Clovers finished 7-5, posting the most wins since the 1996 season, and advanced to the sectional final, losing 14-7 to Sheridan.

Despite graduating a host of talent, Lotz is confident Cloverdale can repeat the feat in 2026.

In order to get that accomplished, he has pushed his team in the weight room during the offseason, both in and out of the weightlifting class.  

"I have 95 percent of my roster in my weights class. I want kids lifting in class and getting bigger, stronger and faster during the day, and after school, go help our school compete in another sport. For the couple kids that are not in my class, they're expected to stay after school and lift. Every season is new and presents new challenges to overcome," Lotz said. 

For Cloverdale, one of the biggest holes to fill will be that of quarterback Landon Duncan, who started for two years. 

"This past season, we had a few seniors that helped us out that will be a challenge to replace, but I think our kids work hard to try and get in a position to step in and take over. Replacing our quarterback of the last two seasons will be the toughest position to replace, but we are excited about the couple guys who have been working at doing just that," Lotz said. 

While there are some spots to fill, the veteran coach is excited about what he sees with the future. 

"We have multiple guys we’re excited to see have breakout years. This year's senior class is big, and the junior class has a handful of really talented kids. Our sophomore class is big in terms of numbers. We will also have around 10 freshmen coming up that we’re looking forward to developing," Lotz said. 

Lotz will use the summer months to get his team ready for fall camp in August and acknowledges the goals for the summer are simple ones. 

"The summer goals are to have great attendance and get better with every opportunity we have. Stacking good days on one another will be key to our success next season," he said. 

This year's schedule features the return of Putnam County rival Greencastle to the schedule, as the Clovers take on the Tiger Cubs in the season opener. In addition, Cloverdale will take on another Putnam County rival in North Putnam in week two before taking on Owen Valley in the final non-conference tune-up before jumping into the thick of things in their new conference, the Southwest Conference. 

In the Southwest Conference, the Clovers will compete with the likes of North Central (Farmersburg), North Daviess, Eastern Greene, and North Knox. 

The Clovers round out the regular season with dates against West Vigo and county foe South Putnam. 

"We’re extremely excited about our schedule for this fall. We will now be in our new conference playing all of those schools and we look forward to competing for a conference title. But as far as our schedule goes, we can’t look into conference play just yet, as we play Greencastle Week 1. It is the first time playing Greencastle since our win at their place in 2024. I know that game is one we both want," Lotz said.