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Miners, Bulldogs, T-Birds all play at home
Linton-Stockton and Union (Dugger) will both be looking to remain undefeated while Eastern Greene is still looking to break into the win column as the high school football season reaches week three.
The trio of area teams will all have home game Friday as the Miners entertain Wood Memorial at 7:30 p.m., the Thunderbirds will host North Daviess at 7 p.m. and Union (Dugger) will face visiting Indiana School for the Deaf at 7:30 p.m. The first two games are starting at different times that previously announced.
Wood Memorial (1-1, 0-0) at Linton-Stockton (2-0, 1-0) -- In the previous 10 meetings, the Miners, currently No. 4 in the latest Class A poll, have prevailed in nine. Linton-Stockton defeated the Trojans twice last year, including a 30-0 victory in a Class A Sectional 40 match-up. The Miners won 48-0 during the regular-season meeting at Oakland City.
This will be the first Southwest Seven Conference game for the Trojans while the Miners will look to remain on the top of the league standings. The Miners have won 18 straight conference games, never losing since the SSC began in 2005.
Wood Memorial opened the season with a 14-6 victory over Princeton before falling to Class A No. 9 Tecumseh 44-8 last week. Coach Linc Oxley is in his fourth season at Wood Memorial, having compiled a 6-26 record.
In the loss to Tecumseh, quarterback Sean Reiner completed 7 of 27 passes for 128 yards and one touchdown. Keagen Ankles had 22 yards rushing on 10 carries for the Trojans.
"This will be another big conference game," said Linton-Stockton coach Steve Weber. "We have showed improvement over each of the first two weeks and we want to continue to get better this week against Wood Memorial."
The Miners are averaging 41 points per game while allowing opponents 12. They have beaten Eastern Greene 34-16 and Sullivan 48-8 a week ago, with both wins coming on the road.
Those defensive numbers are even more impressive than they appear. The first-string defense has allowed one touchdown in six quarters -- a perfectly executed flea-flicker by Eastern Greene. They forced four turnovers against Sullivan.
"Every week you put in scheme against your opponent," said defensive coordinator Mike Hayden. "The kids have done a very good job of carrying out the game plan."
With the line performing well, the offense continues to show the ability to strike from a lot of different areas on the field. Running back Mickey Tosti had two TD runs against Sullivan while quarterback Keith Cunningham had a touchdown pass to Evan Magni and a 63-yard touchdown scamper.
Cunningham has thrown for a TD and over 100 yards in both wins.
Magni, who had a 55-yard punt return for a score against Sullivan, now has six TDs on the season -- three rushing, two receiving and the return.
"We have quite a few weapons," said Weber. "This offense gives us a chance to use all of them.
"It makes it difficult for defenses to key on shutting down one guy because we have different guys that can make big plays."
Notes: The Miners have beaten the Trojans seven straight times, including two sectional wins the past two seasons.
Wood Memorial defeated Linton-Stockton 20-0 at Roy Williams Field back in 2002.
Linton-Stockton has won 15 consecutive regular-season games. Their last defeat was a 15-14 loss at home to West Vigo Sept. 8, 2006.
Indiana Deaf (1-1) at Union (Dugger) (2-0) -- The Union (Dugger) Bulldogs will look to match their season win total from all of last season, Friday night when they host the Indiana Deaf. Todd Gambill's squad enters the game with blowout wins over North Central and Riverton Parke to begin the season.
The Bulldogs enter the contest averaging 41.5 points per game which is the sixth highest average in Class A, while their average margin of victory of 31 points also ranks sixth in Class A.
Gambill is hoping for a better showing from his team this season, as the Deaf Hoosiers defeated the Bulldogs last season for the first time under the guidance of Gambill.
"We didn't play very well at their place last season," Gambill said. "Plus they had a pretty good team. We are hoping for a better defensive effort this year from our guys as they were able to do whatever they wanted against us last year."
Gambill was referring to the Deaf Hoosiers 50-28 trouncing of the Bulldogs.
The veteran coach mentioned that a key to the game will be to contain the Deaf Hoosiers senior quarterback.
"We have to be able to slow down their quarterback this year," Gambill said. "He is a very versatile player and he has good receivers with good speed to use at his disposal."
The Bulldogs also possess a dynamic quarterback in the form of B.J. Howard. The senior has passed for four touchdowns on the season through the first two games and has also rushed for five more scores . Howard leads the team in rushing with 212 yards with a long of 60 yards.
Most of the damage on the ground from Howard came the Bulldogs 48-8 win in week 1 over North Central. Howard depended on his arm more in week 2 against the Panthers of Riverton Parke when he tossed all four of his touchdowns in the 35-13 win. Gambill said he will be looking for more of a balance against Indiana Deaf.
"They (Indiana Deaf) will have to prepare for both the ground game and passing game from us," Gambill said of the Bulldogs game plan. "It's going to come down to execution, we can not be a one dimensional team and expect to win."
Frank Boyd is second on the team in rushing for the Bulldogs with 142 yards on the ground with one score. Brandon Stugera and Jesse and Adam Lipscomb have all three contributed to the Bulldogs ground attack. The trio have combined for 201 yards and two scores with Stugera gaining 71 yards.
Blane Boyd is responsible for half of Howard's 12 completions on the season, and also has a team-high of 107 yards receiving with one score.
Gambill also mentioned that his defense is a big reason why the offense is among the state leaders early on in the season.
"The defense has played great in the first two games," Gambill said. "They have created turnovers and have given the offense short fields to work with. It's a relief knowing that the offense does not have to score every time we have the ball. It makes the playing calling a lot easier and it really becomes a game of field position."
Although the Bulldogs have pretty much scored at will in the first two games, Gambill said a low scoring game Friday night would benefit his team more.
"They will definitely be a test for us," Gambill said of the Deaf Hoosiers. "We don't want to get in a shoot out with them, the lower the score the more of an advantage we feel like we have."
The Bulldogs also have the luxury of playing in front of their home crowd, in which they are 4-1 over the last two years.
"Hopefully we can keep things rolling and keep the momentum on our said," Gambill said. "We are hoping for another big crowd to help play to our advantage."
North Daviess (1-1, 1-0) at Eastern Greene (0-2, 0-2) --The Eastern Greene Thunderbirds will look for their first win on their new home field when they play host to North Daviess Friday night in a Southwestern Seven Conference clash.
The season has not been an easy road to pave thus far for the T-Birds as they have played two of the top teams in the conference the first two weeks and North Daviess figures to be a force to reckon with within the conference as well.
"We knew that the start of the season was not going to be an easy chore for us," first year Eastern Greene coach Luke Dean said of his teams rigorous schedule. "These first three games are against some of the top teams in conference as well as Dugger, in no particular order."
The Thunderbirds dropped their home opener against defending conference champions Linton-Stockton 34-16 before falling on the road last week at North Knox.
The Cougars suffered a tough 12-7 loss to Tecumseh before thumping North Central 52-0 last week.
"North Daviess is a tough team, we are definitely going to have our hands full once again," Dean said. "They are solid and will do some of the similar things that North Knox did last week."
Dean mentioned that he feels the kids put the rout from North Knox last week behind them and have had some solid practices since then.
"The kids have rebounded well," Dean said. "We told them on the bus ride home that they had the rest of that night to think about the game then it was time to move forward in practice and they have responded."
The T-Birds will get a boost this week with Jonathon Davis returning to the field. Dean said Davis will help the Thunderbirds run the two back set in the backfield on offense and will also help the linebacking corps on the other side of the ball.
Although the defense gave up over 500 yards to the Warriors on the ground last week, Dean feels his team shot themselves in the foot more times than not.
"A lot of our problems last week came from our own mistakes," Dean said of the big scores the Warriors amassed on the ground. "We didn't do what we needed to do. We know what they were going to run and just didn't execute."
Through the first two games the passing game of the T-Birds have been nearly non-existent. Dean said they have worked on that asset a little more this week.
"We are trying to pick and choose who we want to try and pass against," Dean said. "A lot of it depends on what type of defense packages the team runs and what type of offense they run."
Dean did not state whether or not he felt the Cougars was one of the teams he felt his squad could air the ball out against.
The Cougars defeated the T-Birds last season by a count of 14-0.
Dean feels his team has forgot about the first two games of the season and is ready for North Daviess Friday night.
"We have put the last two Friday nights in the past. There is nothing that we can do except prepare for out next game."
Area Football
Individual Statistics
(Unofficial)
Games Through Aug. 29
Rushing
Player, Team Att. Yds Avg. TD
| B.J. Howard, U | 27 | 212 | 7.9 | 5 |
Miguel Olvera, E 34 210 6.2 1
Keith Cunningham, L, 15 182 12.1 1
Mickey Tosti, L, 24 166 6.9 3
Frank Boyd, U 22 142 6.5 1
Gunnar Porter, E 31 113 3.6 0
Evan Magni, L 7 93 13.3 3
Brandon Stegura, U 15 71 4.7 1
Tanner Bailey, E 11 65 5.9 0
Adam Lipscomb, U 12 64 5.3 0
Anthony Morin, L 10 48 4.8 1
Trent Collins, U 6 38 6.3 1
Miles Hutchison, E 3 23 7.6 1
Ty Scott, L 5 21 4.2 1
Fred Brust, U 1 8 8.0 0
George Secrest, U 1 3 3.0 0
Kent Helton, L, 2 3 1.5 0
Keaton Langley, U, 1 0 0.0 0
Nick Sparks, L 1 0 0.0 0
Ryan Campbell, E 2 -2 -1.0 0
Zach Ingram, E 1 -13 -13.0 0
Passing
Player, Team Comp Att Yds TD Int
| Howard, U | 12 23 182 4 2 |
Cunningham, L 12 26 229 2 2
Porter, E 8 17 92 0 2
Ingram, E 1 1 44 1 0
Hutchison, E 1 1 12 0 0
Receiving
Player, Team No. Yds Avg. TD
Blane Boyd, U 6 107 17.8 1
Bailey, E 6 101 16.8 2
Jordan Tharp, L 6 85 12.5 0
Magni, L 4 112 28.0 2
Levi Baysinger, L, 3 36 12.0 0
Olvera, E 2 17 8.5 0
Logan Chesterfield, U 1 33 33.0 1
Wesley Marshall, U 1 26 26.0 0
Ingram, E 1 23 23.0 0
Jay Brinegar, E 1 12 12.0 0
F. Boyd, U 1 5 5.0 1
Stegura, U 1 5 5.0 1
Scoring
Player, Team TD EP 2P S T
Magni, L 6 0 1 0 38
Howard, U 5 0 0 0 30
Tosti, L 3 0 0 0 18
Chesterfield, U 1 8 0 0 14
Bailey, E 2 0 0 12
F. Boyd, U 2 0 0 0 12
Stegura, U 2 0 0 0 12
Olvera, E 1 1 0 0 8
Hutchison, E 1 1 0 0 8
Scott, L 1 0 1 0 8
Cunningham, L 1 0 0 0 6
Morin, L 1 0 0 0 6
| B. Boyd, U | 1 0 0 0 6 |
Collins, U 1 0 0 0 6
Tharp, L 0 0 3 0 6
Porter, E 0 0 1 1 2
Fred Brust, U 0 1 0 0 1
Linton-Stockton football series
vs. Wood Memorial
Linton-Stockton leads series 9-1
HOME TEAM IN CAPS
1998 -- *LINTON-STOCKTON 34, Wood Memorial 14
2001 -- Linton-Stockton 13, WOOD MEMORIAL 0
2002 -- Wood Memorial 20, LINTON-STOCKTON 0
2003 -- Linton-Stockton 68, WOOD MEMORIAL 0
2004 -- LINTON-STOCKTON 27, Wood Memorial 0
2005 -- Linton-Stockton 61, WOOD MEMORIAL 7
2006 -- LINTON-STOCKTON 56, Wood Memorial 7
2006 -- *Linton-Stockton 40, WOOD MEMORIAL 6
2007 -- Linton-Stockton 48, WOOD MEMORIAL 0
2007 -- *LINTON-STOCKTON 30, Wood Memorial 0
* Sectional
Eastern Greene football series
vs. North Daviess
North Daviess leads series 2-1
HOME TEAM IN CAPS
2005 -- Eastern Greene 19, NORTH DAVIESS 6
2006 -- NORTH DAVIESS 16, Eastern Greene 8
2007 -- NORTH DAVIESS 14, Eastern Greene 0
Union (Dugger) football series
vs. Indiana Deaf
Union (Dugger) leads series 13-3
HOME TEAM IN CAPS
1963 -- INDIANA DEAF 13, Union (Dugger) 0
1964 -- Indiana Deaf 15, UNION (DUGGER) 0
1986 -- Union (Dugger) 27, INDIANA DEAF 12
1987 -- UNION (DUGGER) 43, Indiana Deaf 20
1995 -- Union (Dugger) 35, INDIANA DEAF 0
1996 -- UNION (DUGGER) 44, Indiana Deaf 0
1997 -- Union (Dugger) 46, INDIANA DEAF 20
1998 -- UNION (DUGGER) 28, Indiana Deaf 20
1999 -- Union (Dugger) 35, INDIANA DEAF 14
2000 -- UNION (DUGGER) 12, Indiana Deaf 6
2001 -- Union (Dugger) 41, INDIANA DEAF 8
2002 -- UNION (DUGGER) 46, Indiana Deaf 40
2004 -- UNION (DUGGER) 28, Indiana Deaf 22
2005 -- Union (Dugger) 39, INDIANA DEAF 20
2006 -- UNION (DUGGER) 20, Indiana Deaf 8
2007 -- INDIANA DEAF 50, Union (Dugger) 28