Coming into Friday's homecoming contest against Owen Valley, Greencastle head football coach Dave Stephens was worried about emotions. 

And, why not?

The first year coach spent the last two seasons as the offensive coordinator at Owen Valley, has relationships with the remaining coaches and players and still thinks highly of the Patriots. 

His fears were quickly turned to reality, as emotions were high throughout the night and Greencastle was flagged early and often for personal fouls and unsportsmanlike conduct penalties in the first half, but when the dust settled it was Greencastle who walked off with a 35-15 victory that featured some chippiness while the two teams were shaking hands after the contest.  

The win is the sixth straight for Greencastle, who improved to 6-2 and will take on North Putnam in the regular season finale next week. 

The penalties showed up early for the Tiger Cubs, including two on Owen Valley's first possession of the game, which resulted in a turnover on downs. For the game, Greencastle  was called for 10 unsportsmanlike penalties.  

Despite the penalties, Greencastle was able to find its offensive rhythm as Lamar Moore, who was crowned Homecoming King at the half, found his footing and quarterback Cole Stephens connected on passes to Owen Huff and Brendle Brennan to set up an 8-yard touchdown run by Moore. The point after attempt failed, leaving the Tiger Cubs ahead 6-0 with just over five minutes left in the first quarter. 

Special teams would play a hand in setting up Greencastle's next touchdown as a punt by Owen Valley got caught up in the wind and was downed at the Patriots' 12-yard line. Two plays later, Stephenson hit Huff for a 9 yard touchdown pass and Anthony Adams ran in the two point conversion to put Greencastle ahead 14-0. 

The Greencastle lead would swell to 21-0 early in the second quarter as Moore took a handoff and hit paydirt from two yards out. 

Greencastle's offense would sputter a bit after that touchdown, as the Tiger Cubs would fumble twice on its next possession and would find themselves bogged down by penalty flags, forcing Greencastle to punt it away to Owen Valley.

The Patriots would crack the scoreboard as Calvin Dean connected with Elijah Anderson for a 25-yard pass and Anderson ran in the two-point conversion to trim the lead to 21-8. 

The Patriots would go for a squib kick on the ensuing kickoff and recover it and then would go on to benefit early in the drive by personal foul penalties by Greencastle. 

Owen Valley's drive would come to a screeching halt, however, as Kyvan Bandy fumbled the ball away inside the Greencastle 15-yard line and the Tiger Cubs were there to collect. 

After another Owen Valley fumble that was collected by the Tiger Cubs, Greencastle would tack on another touchdown, but not without a little controversy. 

On first and goal, Ian Williamson appeared to be stripped of the football just shy of the goal line and Owen Valley recovered the loose football. However, after a conversation by officials, it was determined the play was blown dead, giving the Tiger Cubs the ball back at the Owen Valley 2-yard line. 

A play later, Moore rumbled in for his third touchdown, giving Greencastle a 28-8 halftime advantage. 

After the lengthy homecoming festivities, Greencastle came out and established its will and took back momentum, Moore's legs set up passes by Stephenson to move the Tiger Cubs down inside the red zone in three plays. 

Moore would be rewarded for his efforts, taking a handoff nine yards for a score and the point-after-attempt would put Greencastle ahead 35-8 early in the third quarter. 

On its ensuing possession, Owen Valley would go to the ground with 9:56 remaining in the third quarter and would keep the ball completely away from the Tiger Cubs, taking over 13 minutes on the drive. 

On a fourth down play, Greencastle had an opportunity to get off the field as there was a bad snap, but Anderson was able to scoop it up and take it down to the Greencastle 2-yard line. 

Several plays later, Anderson would cross the goal line with 8:36 remaining in the quarter and the point after attempt would cut the deficit to 35-15. The touchdown capped a 19-play, 71-yard drive for the Patriots. 

Greencastle would look to control the clock on its next possession, but the Tiger Cubs would cough it up with five minutes remaining, and Owen Valley recovered the loose football at its own 6-yard line. 

The turnover wouldn't matter as Greencastle would force Owen Valley to punt and on its final drive, it looked as if the Tiger Cubs would tack on another as Huff found the end zone, only to have the play negated by a holding penalty. After the penalty, Greencastle would take a knee to end the contest. 

Moore finished with 102 yards and four touchdowns on the ground. Stephens was 14-of-19 for 152 yards through the air. 

As a team, Greencastle recovered two fumbles and turned it over twice.