Each local football team will be looking for the win column for the first time in at least two weeks when they suit up on Friday night.
For North Montgomery, Montgomery County’s only winning football team, the Chargers are hoping to remain undefeated at home and improve to 6-2 on the season when they take on 3-4 Frankfort.
The Hot Dogs are coming off back-to-back losses to Western Boone and Danville, while North Montgomery lost to Tri-West last week.
“We had too many missed opportunities in the game, on both sides of the ball,” North Montgomery coach Josh Thompson said about last week’s loss. “Defensively we missed too many tackles and did not get stops when we needed them. Offensively, we did not pick up first downs to keep control of the football.”
Frankfort junior Riley Goodnight leads the conference in rushing with 891 yards and 12 touchdowns, but North Montgomery’s Zak Searle isn’t far behind with 794 yards and nine scores through seven games.
Thompson knows slowing down a Frankfort offense that has averaged over 42 points per game in its three wins will be the key to a homecoming win on Friday.
“We need to make sure that the first person to the ball carrier secures the tackle and that the rest of the team pursues to the ball.”
Tri-West (5-2, 4-1) at Cville (0-7, 0-5)
Week by week improvement has been the key for Crawfordsville football in 2020 and second-year coach Kurt Schlicher feels like the Athenians showed that last week despite a 39-6 loss to Lebanon.
“We have worked hard on becoming a more fundamentally sound team in terms of blocking and tackling,” he said.
The task doesn’t get much easier though as the Athenians welcome a Tri-West team that has won two-straight on Friday night.
“Tri-West has an outstanding group of skilled players both on offense and defense,” Schlicher said. “They are one of the best teams in 3A football in Indiana.”
Garrett Cora leads the Bruins backfield with 757 rushing yards and 11 touchdowns, while quarterback Kai Ross has passed for 1,331 yards and 16 touchdowns to lead the Sagamore Conference. Crawfordsville’s Kaiden Underwood is second with 929 yards and eight scores.
Crawfordsville is looking for its first win over Tri-West since 2008.
Lebanon (1-3, 1-1) at Southmont (2-4, 1-4)
Lebanon won its first game of the season last week against Crawfordsville, while Southmont enters Friday night matchup looking to stop a two-game skid.
“Defensively I thought our effort was good on Friday,” Southmont coach Desson Hannum said of the 47-7 loss at Western Boone. “We have to continue to be more consistent on the offensive side of the ball. We need to be able to get first downs and establish drives.”
Led by Carson Chadd’s 351 total rushing yards, the Mounties are only averaging just over 200 yards of offense per game, and 15 points a contest.
Southmont hopes to be able to contain Lebanon tailback Trevor Winkles and veteran quarterback Garrett Harker.
“I think the first key is our ability to line up correctly,” Hannum said. “From there we need to be able to adjust, and then finally tackle.”
Southmont is looking for a second straight home win over Lebanon.
Game Capsules
Fountain Central (0-5) at North Vermillion (1-6)
GAME TIME: 7 pm ET, Gibson Field.
COACHES: Ryan Hall, 6-19 in 3rd year at Fountain Central, 41-49 in 9th year overall. Brian Crabtree, 89-21 in 9th year at North Vermillion, 124-60 in 16th year overall.
SAGARIN RATINGS: North Vermillion, 15.91, 275th overall, 42nd in 1A. Fountain Central, 7.05, 297th overall, 50th in 1A.
LAST OUTING: Fountain Central lost to South Vermillion, 47-0. North Vermillion lost to Parke Heritage, 63-28.
VS. COMMON FOES: Fountain Central 0-3; North Vermillion 0-3.
OPPONENTS’ RECORDS: Fountain Central 23-9. North Vermillion 26-19.
SERIES LAST 35 YEARS: Fountain Central, 25-17
LAST MEETING: North Vermillion, 56-0, Oct. 11, 2019.
jh PREDICTION: North Vermillion, 31-24.
Frankfort (3-4) at North Montgomery (5-2)
GAME TIME: 7 pm ET, North Montgomery.
COACHES: James Byers, 3-24 in 3rd year at Frankfort, 6-41 in 5th year overall. Josh Thompson, 37-35 in 7th year at North Montgomery.
SAGARIN RATINGS: North Montgomery, 49.05, 147th overall, 26th in 3A. Frankfort, 37.42, 190th overall, 43rd in 4A.
LAST OUTING: Frankfort lost to Danville, 45-12. North Montgomery lost to Tri-West, 35-6.
VS. COMMON FOES: Frankfort 1-2; North Montgomery 1-2.
OPPONENTS’ RECORDS: Frankfort 23-20. North Montgomery 20-28.
SERIES LAST 35 YEARS: North Montgomery, 22-13
LAST MEETING: North Montgomery, 41-0, Oct. 11, 2019.
jh PREDICTION: North Montgomery, 31-24.
Lebanon (1-3) at Southmont (3-4)
GAME TIME: 7 pm ET, Southmont.
COACHES: Jeff Smock, 18-17 in 4th year at Lebanon. Desson Hannum, 62-83 in 14th year at Southmont.
SAGARIN RATINGS: Lebanon, 50.02, 140th overall, 34th in 4A. Southmont, 27.91, 230th overall, 40th in 2A.
LAST OUTING: Lebanon defeated Crawfordsville, 39-6. Southmont lost to Western Boone, 47-7.
VS. COMMON FOES: Lebanon 1-0; Southmont 1-0.
OPPONENTS’ RECORDS: Lebanon 14-14. Southmont 18-22.
SERIES LAST 35 YEARS: Lebanon, 25-10
LAST MEETING: Lebanon, 30-6, Oct. 11, 2019.
jh PREDICTION: Lebanon, 35-21.
Tri-West (5-2) at Crawfordsville (0-7)
GAME TIME: 7 pm ET, Athenian Field.
COACHES: Jason Ward, 12-5 in 2nd year at Tri-West. Kurt Schlicher, 1-16 in 2nd year at Crawfordsville.
SAGARIN RATINGS: Tri-West, 71.98, 52nd overall, 8th in 3A. Crawfordsville, 18.03, 270th overall, 59th in 3A.
LAST OUTING: Tri-West defeated North Montgomery, 35-6. Crawfordsville lost to Lebanon, 39-6.
VS. COMMON FOES: Tri-West 3-1; Crawfordsville 0-4.
OPPONENTS’ RECORDS: Tri-West 26-18. Crawfordsville 25-18.
SERIES LAST 35 YEARS: Tri-West, 18-3
LAST MEETING: Tri-West, 40-0, Oct. 11, 2019.
jh PREDICTION: Tri-West, 45-14.
Sagamore Conference Stat Leaders
PASSING PERCENTAGE
Name C A %
Kale Payne (DV) 62 83 75
Kai Ross (TW) 117 172 68
Elliott Young (WB) 55 97 58
S. Michael (FF) 72 134 54
Donavan Haworth (NM) 55 104 53
K. Underwood (CHS) 92 184 50
Garrett Harker (LB) 24 49 49
PASSING YARDS
Name G Yds P/G
Kai Ross (TW) 7 1331 190
K. Underwood (CHS) 7 929 132
Elliott Young (WB) 7 839 119
Donavan Haworth (NM) 7 780 111
S. Michael (FF) 7 753 108
Kale Payne (DV) 5 743 149
Garrett Harker (LB) 3 281 94
PASSING TOUCHDOWNS
Name G TD
Kai Ross (TW) 7 16
Donavan Haworth (NM) 7 13
Kale Payne (DV) 5 12
Elliott Young (WB) 7 11
K. Underwood (CHS) 7 8
S. Michael (FF) 7 7
RUSHING YARDS
Name Att. Yds
R. Goodnight (FF) 142 891
Zak Searle (NM) 148 794
Garrett Cora (TW) 109 757
Robby Taylor (WB) 134 748
M. McGovern (DV) 57 476
S. Michael (FF) 70 426
Carson Chadd (SM) 36 351
Trevor Winkles (LB) 48 310
Luke Marsh (WB) 39 289
RECEIVING
Name C Y
C. Garrity (WB) 23 488
Logan Kelly (NM) 24 421
Jade Ayers (FF) 31 384
J. Mohr (TW) 22 372
Andrew Martin (CHS) 28 252
Garrett Cora (TW) 25 319
Bryce Hendershot (TW) 36 300
Luke Wooten (DV) 21 222
Total Touchdowns
Name Ru. Rec. T
R. Goodnight (FF) 12 2 14
Garrett Cora (TW) 11 4 15
Zak Searle (NM) 9 1 10
Robby Taylor (WB) 7 0 7
Connor Garrity (WB) 0 6 6
Logan Kelly (NM) 0 6 6
Luke Marsh (WB) 4 1 5
Carson Chadd (SM) 5 0 5
M. McGovern (DV) 5 0 5
Skyler Marlowe (TW) 0 5 5
J. Mohr (TW) 0 5 5
DEFENSE TACKLES
Name Solo As.Total
G. Chavez (FF) 60 53 113
V. Carreras (FF) 33 58 91
Luke Marsh (WB) 60 30 90
R. Mitchell (FF) 54 26 80
Trevor Weakley (WB) 37 36 73
Cannon Brunes (WB) 28 38 66
Ethan Depinet (TW) 37 22 59
Brenton Wood (FF) 20 35 55
L. Todd (FF) 16 36 52
Ethan Patton (CHS) 24 27 51
Peyton Busenbark (CHS) 24 26 50
Bryce Mcdonald (FF) 23 25 48
Ramsey Mitchell (FF) 33 14 47
Austin Bowman (WB) 28 18 46
Corbin Catt (TW) 30 16 46
Stats compiled by those submitted by the coaching staffs.