FOOTBALL FRIDAY: North Putnam to provide Cloverdale measuring stick of growth; Greencastle tangles with Indian Creek; South Putnam looks to chain wins together against Edgewood

Watching North Putnam and Cloverdale have the most success among the Putnam County football teams has been a surprise for the 2024 season.

One question has lingered throughout: Just how good are the 3-1 Clovers?

The answer to that could reveal itself as the midway point of the season arrives when they travel to the 4-0 Cougars with a chance to wrench away control of the WIC Small School Division.

Elsewhere, the second of the five-game home stand for Greencastle sees the arrival of Indian Creek, a fellow 1-3 team that has been in the thick of some difficult games itself.

South Putnam, after its win over the Tiger Cubs, will host Edgewood for homecoming this week with both teams sitting at 2-2.

Cloverdale, through four games, has as many wins as it had in the last four seasons and is two points away from being 4-0 itself.

The Clover offense has struck a fine balance between run and pass with Landon Duncan throwing for 734 yards through four games with 16 touchdowns to just a single interception.

Tayt Jackson has been the main beneficiary, collecting just under 400 yards receiving and six touchdown receptions while adding 260 rushing yards.

Levi Johnson is also close to 400 yards rushing on the season while Duncan sits at 100 yards for the year.

Defensively, Cloverdale has allowed 40 points in four weeks, all but six of it to Riverton Parke in the opening week.

In their 71-0 win over Southside Homeschool last week, the Clovers led 49-0 after a quarter of play and were allowed to utilize a running clock from the second quarter on, the third-straight week the team had gotten a running clock going.

North Putnam was made to work against Crawfordsville but eventually got to the running clock after three late scores in a 57-21 win, Wes Murphy scoring two of his four touchdowns in that span.

While Christian Kramer still had 15 carries for 110 yards, Murphy had an efficient 133 yards on 18 carries, bringing the latter over 300 yards of the season while the former broke the 600-yard mark.

Cramer was also efficient through the air, completing 13-of-17 passes for 202 yards with Murphy, Griffen Starr, Kaden Helderman and Chase Barber all getting multiple receptions for 36 yards or more.

Murphy leads the North Putnam defense with four tackles for loss to go along with 36 tackles, second only to Caiden Hankins (40), while Owen Thurman and Kyler Hankins sit on 29 tackles each.

One trend the Cougars will look to not continue has been their play inside the final minute of the first half.

In three of its four games, North Putnam has allowed a touchdown to the opposition inside the final 30 seconds until halftime. The one game it did not do so, against South Putnam, the Cougars had a field goal blocked at the end of the half.

Greencastle sits at a crossroads of sorts following a loss in which it found success running the ball against South Putnam but also allowed the last 34 points of the game.

Brayden Monrow ran for 126 yards, putting the senior at 200 yards for the year, and Cayden Blodgett added another 90 on the ground with the Tiger Cubs running for 191 yards, a total hurt by several sacks of Cole Stephens.

Stephens was pressured frequently by the Eagles and was only 8-of-15 for 36 yards and an interception.

Greencastle’s run defense made South Putnam earn its yards but the secondary lost track of Bransyn Ensor too often as the sophomore caught four balls for 182 yards and two scores.

Indian Creek, meanwhile, has had a rough go of it early on as well with its only win coming over Owen Valley.

Against Lapel, the Braves were burned by the arm of Devin Craig, who was 21-of-26 for 384 yards and five touchdowns.

In its other two losses, Indian Creek was beaten by tough running games as Cascade got 232 yards on the ground while Greenwood rolled up 302 yards, 241 coming from Gunner Ruppert.

Braves starting quarterback Evan Clark is a freshman who has taken some lumps while still throwing for 582 yards and seven touchdowns to go along with 6 interceptions.

Clark has two favorite targets in Bobby Emberton (15 receptions, 230 yards, two touchdowns) and Jaxon Ramey (16 receptions, 186 yards, three touchdowns).

Malachai Mink has shouldered the running load, rushing 96 times for 588 yards and five scores, gaining at least 100 yards in all four games this season out of the team’s spread offense.

Defensively, Indian Creek is willing to stack the line with a five-man front a frequent sight with two linebackers behind.

Carson Volz (40 tackles) and Levi Pappas (38 tackles) lead the defense, though the Braves have not been able to force turnovers this year with a single interception to their credit.

South Putnam required two wishbone rushing touchdowns from Greencastle before finally showing some of fearsome looks fans expected heading into the season with Wyatt Mullin getting Ensor going in the passing game while the run game was, if not explosive, far more consistent.

Mullin has 507 yards on the season on 40-of-92 passing with six touchdowns and no interceptions. Ty Benton cracked the 400-yard mark for the season in the win, having rushed 71 times for 417 yards and two scores.

Defensively, the Eagles struggled to bring Monroe or Blodgett to the ground but made the necessary adjustments at halftime to limit the Tiger Cub run game.

Edgewood comes in off the back of a 40-9 win over Owen Valley, one in which the Mustangs had two early turnovers and trailed 7-0 before settling down and taking it to the Patriots.

Quarterback Michael Law did most of the heavy lifting, rushing for 147 yards on 18 carries and two scores while completing 5-of-10 passes for 83 yards and a score out of the spread offense.

Defensively, Edgewood runs a 4-2 look with middle linebackers Gunnar Perry and Dylan Wickens having recorded 60 tackles each. Nehemiah Strunk has four turnovers for the Mustangs, collecting t