With regular season finales slated for both the South Putnam and Cloverdale football teams, the Eagles and Clovers are looking to end the regular season with momentum heading into next week's sectional tournament.
South Putnam will put its 7-1 record on the mark when it travels to Cascade, while Cloverdale will look to improve on its 2-6 record with a road date at Owen Valley.
For the Eagles, Chuck Sorrell's team has won four straight after losing to Greencastle and have gotten it done on both offense and defense this season.
In last week's 36-19 win over Heritage Christian, the Eagles got touchdowns from Kolby Harcourt, Wyatt Mullin, Zach Dorsett and a pick six by Logan Sillery, as well as a field goal from Wyatt Sweitzer.
"We came out and established the run game early. We knew their goal was to stop our counter game. We started with our defense forcing a three and out and then we put together a 71 yard drive to start. Our offensive line hammered down. In the first half, we dominated them and were up 26-7 at the half and felt good," Sorrell said.
Sorrell said his team needed a tough contest against a solid Heritage Christian team, noting it had been three weeks since the starters played in the second half. In addition, he said his team passed the physical test, which was something he and the coaching staff drove home.
"We talked all week about being able to dominate the trenches. They play some really good teams, but we felt we could be their most physical test. We were able to get that three and out and let our defense take over. Our offensive line helped us get seven rushes for 71 yards on that first drive to score. Wyatt Mullin and Kolby both had over 100 yards on the ground," Sorrell said.
With another week of a balanced offense, the Eagles rushed for over 200 yards and threw for over 200 again last week.
"We are growing up as we play. We start a lot of juniors and freshmen and each week they get reps, they get better. I think we can run on anybody and make throws when we need to," Sorrell said.
While the Eagles have the lone blemish on their record, Sorrell said there is still a lot to prove and a lot to play for.
"Obviously, we wanted to win county and win conference, but we let that get away from us. To have four shutouts and be playing our best football in week eight and week nine is a true testament to our players and coaching staff," Sorrell said.
Sorrell said his team will be ready for Cascade and its Wing-T offense Friday night. Cascade fell last week against Monrovia, 42-35.
"We've been lucky that we had two teams to prepare for this. We scrimmage Monrovia to get us ready for West Vigo and Cascade. It will come down to assignment football. Cascade got two score off turnovers last week. We have been good against the run this season. Responsibility will be the key word of the week," Sorrell said.
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Cloverdale looks to bounce back
Fresh off a disappointing 43-18 loss against West Vigo last week, the Cloverdale Clovers look to bounce back this week, as they will put their 2-6 record on the line against Owen Valley, who lost 35-15 to Greencastle last week.
The Patriots also enter at 2-6 on the season.
Against West Vigo, Cloverdale committed 11 penalties that all came at the worst time.
In addition, an inability to get a stop on a crucial fourth and long in the third quarter proved to be the difference.
On fourth and long, West Vigo's Landon Fields connected with Karson Stark, who caught it in stride for a 50 yard bomb that set up running back Ryan Cobb's touchdown to stretch the lead to 27-12 and secure momentum for the Vikings.
In the loss, Cloverdale got a touchdown run from Levi Johnson and a 56-yard touchdown pass from Tre Henderson to Tayt Jackson.
