Greenfield-Central’s Dallas Freeman threw three touchdown passes and ran for another in Friday’s win over New Castle. (The Daily Reporter File Photo)
NEW CASTLE — There was good and bad on offense, and good and bad on defense, but in the area that mattered — the scoreboard — Greenfield-Central came out on top.
To complete their winningest season since 1975, the Cougars (8-1, 6-1) traveled to New Castle and defeated the host Trojans (1-8, 0-7) 44-20.
“I’m happy we won, but I told the kids that it doesn’t feel like we won because of how sloppy it was,” Greenfield-Central head coach Travis Nolting said. “I got here five years ago and the program was probably at the lowest point it’s been at. The guys that have stayed with us on the staff have done a great job buying in and committing to the kids, the program, and the school. And the kids have done a great job trusting the process too, I just have to get them to understand that we have to play at a higher level because we know we’re better than how we played tonight.”
In a steady rain most of the night, Greenfield-Central turned the ball over six times and committed 11 penalties.
“I’ve told our guys for weeks now that we can’t have these types of situations happen. Good teams are going to capitalize, and we can’t put ourselves in a situation where we’re turning the ball over six times,” Nolting said. “We have to get all of that stuff cleaned up. That’s on us as a staff to fix, and we’ve got a week to do it.”
Freeman, who was responsible for three of the Cougars six turnovers, made up for it with big first-half plays and broke the school record for touchdown passes in a season. His three touchdowns on the night pushed him to 19 on the year, breaking the previous record of 18.
Following an interception on the Cougars opening drive, Freeman broke off a 33-yard touchdown run on the next G-C drive, and later in the half connected with his receivers on a pair of long touchdown passes.
Cooper Hinton ran in the second G-C score to push the lead to 12-0 before New Castle broke onto the scoreboard.
A 43-yard pass from New Castle quarterback Tyson Lewis to Cade Logston set up Darin Reynolds for the 3-yard touchdown run.
In a 12-7 game the Class 4A No. 6 ranked Cougars flexed their state ranking.
G-C pushed their lead to 28-7 with 16 points in just 13 seconds of game time.
Kirk Knecht hauled in a 20-yard touchdown pass from Freeman, and after the Trojans fumbled on their next offensive play, Freeman hit Lane Wadle on a 21-yard touchdown pass.
Late in the second quarter, Lewis hit Neil McMartin for a 31-yard touchdown, but Cooper Hinton’s second score of the game answered the Trojans score and gave the Cougars a 34-14 halftime lead.
On an onside kick attempt by the Trojans, Hinton scooped up the ball and went 60 yards for the score.
“Great player and a great kid. I can’t say enough good things about Cooper Hinton. He’s only a sophomore and he plays much older than that,” Nolting said. “He’s going to be a phenomenal player for us going forward and I wish I had 12 of him. A heads-up play by him on that onside kick to pick it up and take it back and score it.”
Despite the big halftime lead, three of the six Greenfield-Central turnovers came in the opening half and on the night, the Cougars turned the ball over three times in the red zone.
“We had six turnovers and still put up 44 points. If we don’t turn it over this game is over at halftime,” Nolting said. “We’ve just got to do a better job of playing up to our level all of the time.”
Three G-C second-half fumbles and two New Castle turnovers led to a low-scoring second half.
Knecht caught his second touchdown of the night midway through the third quarter, and a safety forced by the Cougars pushed the lead to 44-14 before New Castle scored on a late touchdown run by Lewis.
The Cougars defense forced four turnovers, five punts, a turnover on downs, and a safety.
Cash Looper had one interception, and Jacob Hinton had a pair of sacks and a fumble recovery.
On offense, Freeman threw for 154 yards and three touchdowns. He added 101 yards and a touchdown on the ground.
Knecht caught six passes for 60 yards and a score, and Cooper Hinton recorded 57 yards of total offense and was responsible for two G-C touchdowns.
The Cougars open up sectional play next Friday at 7 p.m. at home against Pendleton Heights.
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Greenfield-Central 44, New Castle 20
Greenfield-Central (8-1, 6-1);6;28;8;2; —;44
New Castle (1-8, 0-7);0;14;0;6; —;20
Scoring Summary
1st Quarter
G-C – Dallas Freeman 33 run (conversion failed), 7:45
2nd Quarter
G-C – Cooper Hinton 12 run (conversion failed), 11:32
NC – Darin Reynolds 3 run (Owen Barrett kick), 7:38
G-C – Kirk Knecht 20 pass from Freeman (Jacob Hinton run), 6:30
G-C – Lane Wadle 21 pass from Freeman (Freeman run), 6:17
NC – Neil McMartin 31 pass from Tyson Lewis (Barrett kick), :59
G-C – Cooper Hinton 60 kickoff return (conversion failed), :51
3rd Quarter
G-C – Knecht 4 pass from Freeman (Freeman run), 7:59
4th Quarter
G-C – Safety, 11:50
NC – Lewis 34 run (conversion failed), 3:18
