GREENFIELD — There was not much that was normal about Greenfield-Central’s home opener on Friday night.
The start time was pushed back from 7 to 8 p.m. due to the excessive heat and then just an hour after kickoff, in the midst of a first-quarter lighting delay, the game was called final.
If there was any normalcy, it was the outcome on the field.
Similarly to last season’s 59-0 win over Greensburg, the Cougars (2-0) were well on their way to another rout when the game was officially called with the score 35-0 near the end of the opening quarter.
“It was a multi-faceted decision with the weather and then a discrepancy of talent,” Greenfield-Central head coach Travis Nolting said. “As a coach, I’ve been on both sides of these games, so I understand completely both points of view.”
While the outcome was expected, the Cougars made it happen in as dominant of a way as they could have.
After a holding penalty against G-C on the opening kickoff forced the offense to start at the 9-yard line, it still took just one play for them to put points on the scoreboard.
Senior Payton Foley took the opening play from scrimmage 91 yards for the first of many Greenfield-Central scores.
After a quick three-and-out by Greensburg, the Cougars scored in one offensive play again.
Senior quarterback Dallas Freeman connected with Boston Willard on a 20-yard touchdown pass and kicker Andrew Trabel knocked in the extra point to make things 14-0 just over three minutes into the game.
The next two G-C scores came from junior Cooper Hinton.
Following Greensburg’s second punt of the night, Hinton took a handoff 13 yards for his first touchdown.
On the next Greensburg possession, senior Kody Smith sacked quarterback Bryson Abplanalp on second down, and on the next play recovered a fumble.
This time, for the G-C score, Hinton brought in a 13-yard pass from Freeman.
The scoring was capped off by a Carson Anderson scoop-and-score on the next Pirates possession.
On a backward pass that missed the receiver, Anderson picked it up and walked into the endzone for the fifth Greenfield-Central score of the quarter.
In four defensive possessions, the Cougars forced two punts, forced two turnovers, had five sacks, scored one touchdown and limited the Greensburg offense to 15 yards.
Kody Smith, Zach Blevens, Trenton Smith and Frank Titus each had sacks.
Offensively, Freeman completed four of his six pass attempts for 57 yards and two touchdowns and ran for 17 yards, Foley had one carry for 91 yards and a score, Hinton ran for 17 yards, caught one pass for 13 yards and scored twice, Willard caught two passes for 38 yards and a touchdown, Braylen Benavente ran twice for two yards and Landen Ford caught one pass for six yards.
“Our big focus this week was taking the next step as a program. What I told our guys and what our message is all the time, is that we have to play like a championship team and execute like a championship team no matter who we’re lined up against,” Nolting said. “That’s the next thing that we have to do as a program, and I thought we did a very good job of that.”
Greenfield-Central opens Hoosier Heritage Conference play next Friday on the road at Mt. Vernon beginning at 7 p.m.
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Greenfield-Central 35, Greensburg 0
Greensburg (0-2);0; — ;0
Greenfield-Central (2-0);35; —;35
Scoring Summary
1st Quarter
G-C – Payton Foley 91 run (Andrew Trabel kick), 11:38
G-C – Boston Willard 20 pass from Dallas Freeman (Trabel kick), 9:57
G-C – Cooper Hinton 13 run (Trabel kick), 5:33
G-C – Hinton 13 pass from Freeman (Trabel kick), 3:58
G-C – Carson Anderson fumble recovery (Trabel kick), 3:42
