Parke Heritage looks to continue winning ways

With the non-conference portion of the season out of the way, the Parke Heritage football team looks to make some noise in the Wabash River Conference on Friday against South Vermillion. 

"I think we are where we thought we would be. Going into conference play, we expected the non-conference games to go better than they did last year. Last year, we were 1-1 as well, but we lost pretty bad to Crawfordsville and then we had a one score win over West Vigo. I think if you look at both of those two results, we pushed the score margin at least 30 points in our direction. That is what we were hoping for. You have to play one week at a time, so we are focused on South Vermillion but we are relatively healthy and the things we thought would be our traits as a team have been the positives we have been able to lean on," head coach Dan Rector told The Parke County Post. 

Rector said he has seen continued signs of a program building with his team early this year. 

"A lot of it has to do with culture and a lot of it has to do with the physical nature of our game. There is a lot you can do with X's and O's and trying to motivate kids, but they know when they go out there if they are winning or losing based on how it goes against the guy across from them. When you are on the losing end of the collision, that gets into your head and it can start to impact the way you practice and look forward to the next week. If you are on the winning side, you start to build some swagger and confidence, and I think that is where we are. We are not incredibly deep, but we are a pretty physical team. If we can stay healthy, that will allow us to continue to have that resilience we've shown the last two weeks. We are building confidence right now, and that is good. Last year was a real big stepping stone. Our kids expect any given week we can go toe to toe with anyone on our schedule," Rector said. 

In week two, the Wolves dismantled West Vigo, 42-7. 

The lone points for West Vigo came by way of a kickoff return. 

In the win, quarterback Sawyer Monik was 8-of-15 for 126 yards and three touchdowns, while Crafton Malicoat had 5 touches for 118 yards. Blake Ledcke added 64 yards, and Timothy Presley rushed for 62 yards and a touchdown. 

"The great thing about our schedule is Crawfordsville is a 3A school and West Vigo has always been a 3A and is a very big 2A school now. We play those two schools early in the year because we feel like that prepares us for South Vermillion and Seeger. Those are our first two conference games and they are the two Class 2A schools in our conference. We feel like we have to get ready for the physicality level and speed," Rector said. 

Rector said his team made some strides in week two against the Vikings. 

"I was really proud with how the kids played. I don't think since I have been here we had a game where we had over 500 yards of total offense, which is what we had. We also held West Vigo to less than a hundred yards of offense and zero offensive points. It was a really good performance on both sides of the ball. There is still a lot we need to fix, but it was a sign of improvement against a really well coached team," Rector said. 

Against South Vermillion (1-1), Rector notes his team will need no extra motivation as it's a rivalry game that needs no bulletin board material. 

"South Vermillion is a very well coached team. If you were going to sum them up with their capability and philosophy, it is about explosiveness. They are in a three man front on defense and not afraid to bring pressure and get after you. Their quarterback is a stud, who can do a lot of things. They will take their deep shots and they can run the ball a lot of different ways. We have to limit their ability to make momentum changing plays on both sides of the football. That is the key of the game. We have to make it a game about getting after it in the trenches and make a physical, grind it out game. They have a lot of young athletes who can create some big momentum shifting plays. It's a rivalry game for us and has been a rival for our community for a really long time. It is a game that means a lot to our kids and community and the kids are geared up," Rector said.