A week ago, the Cloverdale Clovers came into its contest with Greencastle with a good game plan, and executed it perfectly in the initial stages. 

However, when the dust settled, Greencastle left with a 68-7 win over the Clovers, who dropped to 2-5 heading into this week's clash with West Vigo.

"We started the game off in a good way. The gameplan was to pressure the quarterback and press receivers outside. That's a really good offense," Cloverdale football coach Tyler Lotz said. 

Lotz said his message to his team was a simple one -- the best defense is a good offense and the Clovers looked to establish its offense in the contest. 

"We are not hitting on all cylinders on offense. Tayt (Jackson) is throwing well at practice, but our receivers have to catch the ball," said Lotz, who played both Jackson and Tre Henderson at quarterback last week. 

Despite the loss, Lotz notes he has seen improvement from his team  since the beginning of the season, but also admits there is still plenty of room to go. 

"We are getting better. It's the little things we have to take advantage of. When other teams mess up, we can't kill ourselves. We have to be locked in and do our job. The guys are getting better," Lotz said.

Cloverdale has already eclipsed its win total from last year and currently have the most wins since 2018. 

"Changing a culture is going to take time. I am excited to see what the future brings," Lotz said.

What the future brings is an immediate clash with the West Vigo Vikings, who enter Friday's contest with a 1-6 record and lost to North Putnam 48-0 last week. The last two weeks, West Vigo has been shut out, as they also lost to South Putnam, 63-0. The lone win came against Brown County (41-21), who Cloverdale also beat earlier this season. 

According to Lotz, the Clovers have a tall task ahead of them, acknowledging West Bigo is a "big team, size wise."

"It is a winnable game, but we can't underestimate any opponent. I'm sure they are thinking the same thing we are, that's a winnable game," Lotz said. 

North Putnam looks for win streak 

Also looking for another win this week is the North Putnam Cougars, who got win number two of the season last week under head coach Scott Moore. 

North Putnam knocked off West Vigo, 48-0. 

"It was a good win for us.  We came out sharp scoring on our first 4 drives of the game and our defense held West Vigo in check. They tried to slow the game down with running the ball and taking up the clock, but we were able to get stops and get ourselves the ball back.  In the second half, we came out and did what we had to do to put the game away.  It was one of the longer trips of the year for us but we were able to stay focused and I am proud of how we played," Moore told The Putnam County Post.  

Leading the way for the Cougars was Wes Murphy, who had over 200 total yards. Caiden Hankins led the defense and made some big tackles, according to Moore. 

This week, the Cougars look continue their winning ways against Brown County. 

"Brown County has a quarterback who can spin it and a couple of receivers that are quick and run good routes, we will have to get our mindset back to playing a spread offense as we have played different style teams the last couple of weeks," Moore said.

According to Moore, North Putnam will have to make sure its clicking on   both sides of the ball.

"We will have to make sure our pass defense is up for the task and get them in 3rd and long situations and then capitalize to get the ball back.  Offensively, we have to continue to execute at a high level and play fast.  We cannot afford mental mistakes or lapses in our effort.  We are excited for this game and it is the most important of the season as it is the next one.  We have had a great week of practice and hope to put ourselves in a position to win a football game on Friday," Moore said.