At times the play matched the weather and was downright ugly, but through the rains and wind, the Greencastle Tiger Cubs had enough in the tank to hold off county and Western Indiana Conference rival North Putnam, 17-9.
It's the Tiger Cubs first conference football championship since 2012.
With the win, Greencastle keeps control of the Putnam County Bucket into basketball season and won the Western Indiana Conference Green Division title outright. Furthermore, the Tiger Cubs improved to 7-2, while North Putnam fell to 3-6.
It also sets up a rematch next week at North Putnam in the Class 2A Sectional 37.
The win didn't come without late heroics from the Tiger Cubs in the second half. Battling the rain and North Putnam's defense, Greencastle quarterback Cole Stephens connected with Brayden Monroe, who got behind the defender and then outran the North Putnam defense on fourth and 14 for a 24-yard touchdown. The point after attempt was good, pushing the lead to 14-9 for the Tiger Cubs with 2:42 left in the third quarter.
The Greencastle defense would twice come up with big plays following the touchdown. The first would come thanks to an interception by Garrett Cooper and then a fumble recovery minutes later by Brayden Monroe.
Greencastle would cash in with the opportunity from Monroe, as Ian Williamson's leg connected on a 29-yard field goal to push the lead to 17-9 with 7:42 remaining in the game.
Greencastle would look to ice the clock with multiple handoffs to Lamar Moore, but the Tiger Cubs would have to punt it away. Williamson struggled to corral the snap, but managed to get a punt off that would be first touched by North Putnam and Greencastle managed to secure the football, giving the ball back to the Tiger Cubs with just under two minutes to go.
This time, Greencastle would be successful in running out the clock to secure the victory, prompting the fans to hit the field to celebrate the victory.
Early on, the Tiger Cubs had to deal with not only heavy rain and winds, but a North Putnam offense that came out and established itself very early. The Cougars took the opening kickoff and marched down the field on the legs of Braden Glaze and the arm of quarterback Christian Kramer. On fourth and two following a timeout, Kramer hit Paxton O'Brien for a 23-yard strike that moved North Putnam inside the Greencastle 10-yard line. The drive would stall out, however, as Kramer was stopped inside the 1-yard line on fourth and goal.
Moments later, North Putnam would get the ball back after a Greencastle punt and it would crack the scoreboard with a 24-yard field goal, putting the Cougars up 3-0.
The teams would trade punts to open the second quarter before Greencastle would find its offensive rhythm on the arm of Stephens, who hit Owen Huff on several pass plays to move the Tiger Cubs. On fourth-and-1, the Tiger Cubs benefitted from an offsides penalty against North Putnam and Greencastle cashed in on the new set of downs as Lamar Moore found a seam and scampered in from 12 yards out. The point after attempt was successful, giving Greencastle a 7-3 advantage it would take into the locker rooms.
North Putnam came out of the locker room looking to make a play on defense and the Cougars did just that, as Brogan Woodall intercepted Stephens, returning the ball down inside the Greencastle 15-yard line.
It would take a handful of run passes by Kramer before he finally crossed the goal line, giving North Putnam a 9-7 lead after the point-after-attempt failed with just over nine minutes left in the third quarter.
The North Putnam defense would answer the bell on Greencastle's second possession of the quarter. Facing a crucial fourth and eight, Stephens connected with a receiver, but a huge hit by Woodall jarred the ball loose, forcing the Tiger Cubs to turn it over on downs; however, North Putnam's offense was unable to do anything with the ball.
For the game, Greencastle rushed for 199 yards, with 161 coming from Moore on 36 touches.
Stephens was 7-of-15 for 97 yards and two interceptions through the air.
North Putnam rushed for 117 yards, with Kramer accounting for 94 yards on 23 carries. In the passing department, Kramer was 4-of-16 for 76 yards and two interceptions.
