FORTVILLE — After starting 3-0 for the first time in 30 years and ending a six-year losing streak to Hancock County and Hoosier Heritage Conference rival Mt. Vernon in 2023, Greenfield-Central’s football team made a statement Friday that last season was no fluke.
The Cougars, trailing by seven points at halftime, scored the next 28 to help secure another 3-0 start and victory over the Marauders with a 43-29 triumph at Mt. Vernon High School.
It gave sixth-year Greenfield-Central head coach Travis Nolting a chance to say one of his favorite phrases.
“This ain’t the same ol’ Greenfield,” Nolting said, shortly after praising his team for a strong performance.
The Cougars came in ranked No. 4 in Class 4A’s Indiana Football Coaches Association poll. They improved to 3-0 overall and 1-0 in the HHC.
“We came out a little flat, Mt. Vernon is a good team and they have some good players. [Senior running back Joliba] Brogan’s a stud,” Nolting said. “It was hard containing him in the first half. We went in at halftime and told them what we had to do to get it done. The kids rose up to the challenge and stepped up and did it.”
Down 22-15 at the break, Greenfield-Central needed only five plays to go 80 yards on its opening second-half drive. Cooper Hinton had a 38-yard run right before Payton Foley finished the series with a 27-yard rush. Andrew Trabel’s PAT tied the game.
The aggressive Cougars were unable to score after recovering an onside kick, but after a Marauder three-and-out, they blocked a punt to give themselves great field position.
From the Mt. Vernon 31, the G-C ground game took seven plays to give the Cougars the lead. Quarterback Dallas Freeman, who finished the night with three rushing touchdowns and one passing touchdown, scored on a 3-yard run. Holder Jake VanOsdol ran in the two-point conversion for a 30-22 G-C lead with 3:59 remaining in the third quarter.
After another MV series without a first down, the Cougars running attack went back to work, but the one pass play on the series kept the drive alive. A pass interference call on Mt. Vernon on a fourth-down play at the Marauder 13 gave G-C the ball at the MV 6. Two plays later, Freeman had his second 3-yard score of the night.
Mt. Vernon’s offense was unable to get anything going again and the Cougars made it 28 straight points when Hinton, on a fourth-and-three play from the MV 19, got more than just a first down. He scored to extend G-C’s lead to 43-22.
“I felt like we had an advantage with our option game and we went more to that in the second half,” Nolting said. “We had some big plays with the onside kick, the turnovers and they had to burn some timeouts [early in the second half] and we were able to eat the clock and do what we do.”
The Marauders cut it to 43-29 with 6:40 remaining on a Joliba Brogan 7-yard run and then recovered an onside kick, but a Mason Meyer pass was intercepted by Carson Anderson to end any hopes for the home team.
“I’m proud of our defense, they were great,” Nolting added. “Coach Josh Holden, our defensive coordinator, does a fantastic job and had a great gameplan tonight. We have to do better tackling, but I’m proud of our guys, our coaching staff, proud of the fans, we had a great turnout and our student section was awesome.”
In the first quarter, set up after a Zach Waterman interception and return to the Mt. Vernon 6, Freeman scored three plays later on a 4-yard run. Hinton scored on the 2-point conversion for an 8-0 Cougar lead.
A long Mt. Vernon series tied the game 8-8. Brogan had five carries for 24 yards on the drive, but it was DJ Johnson that finished it off with a 1-yard end around. Meyer ran in the 2-pointer to tie it.
On a rare G-C series where they threw the ball on four of five plays, the Cougars regained the lead on a Freeman to Foley 25-yarder. Freeman was 4-for-4 on the series for 57 yards, completing a pair of passes to Hinton and one to Boston Willard.
Mt. Vernon tied the game at 15-15 on its next possession. Brogan ran straight up the middle for an 18-yard score. Rylan Vinard added the PAT.
Right before the half, the Marauders took the lead. Meyer hit Ryker Baer for a 40-yard strike to put Mt. Vernon ahead with 37 seconds remaining until halftime.
Mt. Vernon coach Vince Lidy felt fortunate his club was ahead.
They had multiple high snaps in the shotgun set that went for big losses, a long field goal deflected after a false start penalty, an interception, and a number of other penalties.
“The first half, I thought we did ourselves no favors,” Lidy said. “We gave as many gifts away as possible. I was really pleased that we were up and we didn’t play very well. We thought if we shored some things up, get a stop coming out …. it just wasn’t a good second half.”
Before the Marauders had their first second-half first down, they were down 36-22.
“The second half we pretty much got our butts kicked,” Lidy said. “We didn’t do very well in all three phases … They made plays. They outplayed us.
“You go down the list, we lose the turnover battle, we get a punt blocked, we give up multiple two-point conversions from different sets … and they recovered an onside kick, you’re not going to win those games. We’ve got to fix those things. We’ll get back to work on Monday.”
Greenfield-Central rushed for 336 yards. Freeman had 20 carries for 104 to go with 6-for-10 passing for 65. Hinton had eight carries for 101 yards and Foley’s six carries went for 65 yards. Fullback Braylen Benavente had 17 attempts for 59 yards.
Both teams continue HHC play next Friday.
The Marauders (0-3, 0-1) play host to another county rival in Class 4A No. 1 New Palestine (2-0, 1-0) in the 65th meeting for the annual Battle of the Boundary Rail. Greenfield-Central (3-0, 1-0) welcomes another nearby rival, south Madison County’s Pendleton Heights (2-1, 1-0).
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Greenfield-Central 43, Mt. Vernon 29
Greenfield-Central (3-0, 1-0);8;7;15;13-;43
Mt. Vernon (0-3, 0-1);8;14;0;7;-;29
Scoring Summary
1st Quarter
G-C – Dallas Freeman 4 run (Cooper Hinton run), 6:12
MV – DJ Johnson 1 run (Mason Meyer run), 1:17
2nd Quarter
G-C – Payton Foley 25 pass from Freeman (Andrew Trabel kick), 8:28
MV – Joliba Brogan 18 run (Rylan Vinard kick), 6:10
MV – Ryker Baer 40 pass from Meyer (Vinard kick), :37.1
3rd Quarter
G-C – Foley 27 run (Trabel kick), 10:15
G-C Freeman 3 run (Jake VanOsdol run) 3:59
4th Quarter
G-C – Freeman 3 run (conversion failed), 11:04
G-C – Hinton 19 run (Trabel kick), 8:45
MV – Brogan 7 run (Vinard kick), 6:40
