T-Birds, Miners ready for second season

The regular season is behind us and now the second season gets underway.

Football sectional play begins Friday.

Eastern Greene ended the regular season on a positive note, bouncing back with a huge 56-22 win over visiting Tecumseh Friday to snap a two-game losing skid.

The Thunderbirds enter tournament play with a 7-2 record - the best in the 13-year history of the program.

The T-Birds will also be riding the momentum of the regular season finale win.

A year ago Eastern Greene closed the regular season with a 28-14 loss to the Tecumseh Braves at Lynnville. The Thunderbirds lost the final two regular season games and were bounced by Tell City 47-32 in the sectional opener.

Thanks to Friday's win Joey Paridaen's T-Birds avoid a repeat of last year's season-ending scenario.

Quarterback Jeff Graham had another big offensive night.

Graham rushed for 142 yards and three touchdowns on runs of 14, 6 and 38 yards. He threw for 146 yards, including a 63-yard TD strike to Caleb Hamilton. Graham also hauled in a 13-yard scoring toss from Brayden Deckard.

Tecumseh had been slumping ahead of Friday's contest at Little Cincinnati, having lost four straight.

It wasn't quite the same Braves team that beat Eastern Greene last October. But it's not a bad Tecumseh team either.

The Braves returned most of their skill position players from the previous season, with one notable exception.

Running back Spencer Oxley graduated and Tecumseh surely missed him this year.

Oxley ran for 170 yards on Eastern Greene last year at Lynnville.

Eastern Greene moved to Class A from 2A this season after the IHSAA's most recent two-year reclassification cycle.

The Thunderbirds play in a Sectional 47 field that includes Edinburgh, North Decatur, Oldenburg Academy, South Decatur, Springs Valley and West Washington.

Paridaen said in July, "It's a winnable sectional.

"We're not as familiar with some of those teams, but we should be competitive. The ultimate goal of winning the state title starts with winning the sectional and that sectional is there for the taking."

Eastern Greene hosts South Decatur (5-4) in the opening round of the sectional Friday at 7 p.m.

If the Thunderbirds get past the Cougars, undefeated West Washington likely awaits in the next round.

Go T-Birds!

Miners 62, the "other" Thunderbirds 0.

Not much else to say about this one.

The best thing to come out of this game is there were no major injuries that I'm aware of. More on that later.

Interesting non-stat of the week: Miner quarterback Tyler Meurer didn't carry the ball a single time against North Central.

He didn't need to. Meurer returned the Thunderbirds' first punt 60 yards for a touchdown. He threw for three TDs in the first half - 7 and 68 yards to Jacob Clothier and a 5-yard bullet to Zach Phegley in the end zone.

Just for good measure he returned the second-half kickoff 81 yards for another score.

I can't believe the second half wasn't played with a running clock. That's a head-scratcher. I guess North Central coach Travis Nolting thought it would embarrass his players to do so.

Nolting gave the Miners some bulletin board material in August.

After the Thunderbirds' season-opening scrimmage with Sullivan, Nolting called the Golden Arrows "the best Sullivan team I've seen."

I seem to recall the Golden Arrows having good teams the last four years or so.

He went on to say, "Sullivan's the best team we'll see this season."

At least until Week 9, coach.

Before the game I asked Miner defensive coordinator Mark Gennicks if he'd heard Nolting's comments. "Oh yeah!" he said with relish. "I've got that in my back pocket."

Linton-Stockton opens sectional play against 1-8 Tell City, 7:30 p.m. Friday at Roy Williams Field.

Like Tecumseh, the Marksmen aren't quite the same team that ended Eastern Greene's season a year ago.

Tell City is minus ace running back Elliot Brown, who rushed for 213 yards in the sectional win over Eastern.

I'm glad this game's at Roy Williams Field. Tell City is over the hills and far away.

This year's Miner team has all the appearances of being the team that finally makes the trip to Lucas Oil Stadium for the State Finals.

Barring major injuries to key personnel.

The 2013 team also had the look of a state finalist - until the injuries hit.

The injury bug first hit in the top-ranked Miners 26-7 win at No. 10 Sheridan. The big win was a costly one. Starting quarterback Dane Rupska went down with an ankle injury and didn't play again the rest of the season.

Then came ankle injury - a devastating broken ankle suffered by star receiver Grant Stamm in a sectional game against Tecumseh. Stamm's injury occurred while he was on punt coverage in the fourth quarter.

Those injuries, plus a few others, derailed the Miners' 2013 postseason hopes. They lost 37-16 at eventual state champion Eastern Hancock in the semistate.

Best of luck to the Thunderbirds and the Miners this postseason.

Terry Schwinghammer is a sports writer for the Greene County Daily World. He can be reached by telephone at (812) 847-4487, ext. 27. He can also be reached via email at tschwing32@yahoo.com.