GREENFIELD — The expectations of a tough task ahead, playing Class 5A No. 10 Whiteland, came to fruition for the Greenfield-Central Cougars on Friday.
With a 49-8 loss to the Warriors at Clayton Myers Field at Hancock Health Stadium, the Cougars dropped to 0-2 on the season.
“They’re well-coached and a program that has been doing it for years,” Greenfield-Central coach Travis Nolting said. “They’re established, got a great coaching staff. Their kids have been in a strength program for years. They’ve built it up and continue to build it up.
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Click here to purchase photos from this gallery“We’re in the beginning stages of doing that.”
Add to it that the early phases of his program faces the tops teams in the state.
Many of Greenfield-Central’s opponents are state-ranked. Plus, the first two games have been against Class 5A programs.
The young Cougars are getting a good feel of where they want to be in the future.
“The bottom line, our kids play a tough schedule,” Nolting added. “We have the second toughest schedule in the (Hoosier Heritage Conference), according to the Sagarin ratings.
“That’s good and bad for the kids, but they get to see what a successful program looks like and how far we need to continue to go as a program to get better.”
After moving the ball well with their unique Wishbone formation offense in the opener against Plainfield, the yards came a lot tougher for the Class 4A Cougars against the state-ranked 5A foe.
The Cougars had just two first-half first downs. Both came after Whiteland penalties.
“Against a scheme like that, you have to hit and run through stuff, not run to it,” Whiteland coach Darrin Fisher said of preparing for the Cougars offense. “Our guys took that to heart.”
Unofficially, the Cougars had just four first-half rushing yards.
Whiteland set the tone in the first half offensively, too, scoring touchdowns on all five of its possessions.
Greenfield-Central’s lone score came on its final possession of the game.
The Cougars went 76 yards on eight plays, The final play was an impressive 37-yard touchdown run by quarterback Lance McKee. Fullback Bradon Nelson added a two-point conversion.
Four different players carried the ball on the drive, including a pair of freshmen, Brayden Harrell — who scored a touchdown last week against Plainfield — and Andrew Zellers.
“At the end of the game, we were playing kids our own age out there,” Nolting said, noting both the youth of his team and the fact that Whiteland had put in younger players, also. “I have one player on our team that is 18 (years old).
“If I looked over there (at my team) and asked how many guys are 16 (years old) or younger, you would see 90 percent of the team with their hands up. We’ve got a lot of youth and there are going to be some bumps along the road. The thing that we continue to push to the kids and will continue to push to the kids is we’re going to get better and better every day.”
Nelson led the Greenfield-Central running game with 14 carries for 54 yards. McKee had 10 rushes for 32.
Last week, the Cougars had to deal with the physical running of Plainfield running back Ricky Alsum, who scored three touchdowns.
Against Whiteland, it was speedster Desmen Singleton, who rushed for two first half touchdowns, including a 71-yard run. Singleton had six carries for 148 yards, all in the first half.
Prior to kickoff, Greenfield-Central had a moment of silence in remembrance of Whiteland’s Ryan Latham, a 15-year old sophomore lineman. He passed away unexpectedly in his sleep hours after the Warriors’ first varsity football game.
“This week was really hard,” Fisher said. “There is no instructional manual on how you grieve. Every day was different than I expected. It was an incredibly emotional week.
“For (the players) to put everything else in the locker room and come out and concentrate on football, it says a lot about these guys and their character.”
Greenfield-Central begins HHC play next week at home against Mt. Vernon. Whiteland plays host to defending Class 5A state runner-up Decatur Central.
