Greencastle ready to take on South Putnam in Sectional semifinal

Through his four seasons at the helm as football coach at Greencastle High School, Dave Stephens has had a knack for getting his team past the first round of the Class 2A sectional tournament. 

Last week was no different, as the Tiger Cubs went on the road and defeated South Vermillion, 35-28. With the win, Greencastle improved to 5-5 and will gear up to play county rival South Putnam on Friday. The Eagles defeated Cascade in the opening round and beat Greencastle 60-0, in Week Two this season. 

"It is a testament to our boys. We have a lot of resilient kids and resiliency is one of those life skills we talk about all the time. Not just with football, but we talk about how resiliency is one of those things you will need as a man. I think in life you need resiliency. Our kids had a rough go at it, but we have matured in the process. They could have packed their bags, and they could have turned on each other, but credit to them. We have a bunch of resilient kids, who are fighters. If you can show resiliency when things are physically tough and people are saying negative things to and about you, and you can rise above it, win four of your last five and believe in the message when the message isn't always paying off for you, you will be fine," Stephens told The Putnam County Post. 

The Tiger Cubs have won four of their last five games and have gotten themselves back to ..500—two things that Stephens says show just how mentally tough his team has been. 

"All the credit in the world goes to those guys. I am so proud of those guys for sticking around. Not only have we won four of our last five, three of those games are one possession games and you have to fight all the way to the end. None of those things were given, and we had to fight for every little bit. It says a lot about those kids. You have favorite teams, and it's easy to like talented teams, but you always talk about teams that maximize potential. I feel like this team has been able to maximize its potential. They are unselfish and everybody does what they need to do to give us the best chance to have a positive outcome. I couldn't be more proud or happier to coach a group of kids in my career than these kids," Stephens admitted. 

Against South Vermillion, Greencastle raced out to a quick 7-0 lead on the arm of quarterback Cole Stephens, and the veteran coach said striking first was huge for his team. 

"For all the things you can say about us, I feel like we've always had a potent offense. It surprises me when teams want to give us the ball first. Every time we have been given the ball first, we have scored when it has been the other coach's choice. I am a defer guy. It was big for us to go out and set the tone. I told our guys they wanted the ball to open the second half, and our kids went out and clicked. We had a quick march down the field and scored. It was another game where we didn't have any turnovers. When your kids play clean football and give good effort, it doesn't get much better than that as a coach," Stephens said. 

This Friday, the Tiger Cubs will look to get off to a fast start against South Putnam, and Stephens knows what his Tiger Cubs are up against. 

"They do what they do. You can't help but turn on the film and not be impressed with all their players. They are instinctive, they fly around the ball, they play hard and they play disciplined. What do you do against their offense? The way they have set up their offense is so complementary. Ty Benton is a phenomenal player. I watched him break three tackles and just run against Cascade. My favorite player is Blake Witt. He is so instinctive and just makes plays for them. It's not too often you turn on film of an opposing team and become a fan of a player, but Blake Witt is special. It doesn't get better than this. We know what they bring. We aren't ready for our season to be done yet and we are ready to write our storybook ending and will go until the ink runs out," Stephens said. 

He said in order to get the victory, Greencastle must do several things.

"We have to stay process oriented and be the toughest team on the field. We have to be disciplined and focus on the process, not the outcome. The average play is six seconds, and we have to give them fits for six seconds. If we win enough plays, stay disciplined and tough, we will give ourselves a great chance to get the outcome we want," Stephens said.