After a highly successful inaugural football season the Monon Athletic Conference is prepared to start again Friday.
In an attempt to ramp up discussion, interest and fun, the Montgomery County Sports & More Facebook page decided to have a media and coaches’ pre-season football poll. All eight of the league’s coaches were asked to rank the eight teams from top to bottom and to include who they thought might be some of the top players in the league. Media members who also cover these teams were asked to do the same.
In the coaches’ poll, Cascade received 47 of 48 votes (only six of the eight coaches voted) to take the top spot. That is expected as the team is coming off a 16-0 season in which it claimed the Class 3A state title. While the team has a new head coach and lost several key players, their cupboard is not bare, and the Cadets enter the season with the bullseye on their back.
Western Boone edged out Southmont (39 to 36) for the second spot. Western Boone is coming off a 6-5 season, while the Mounties went 11-2 last year and won their second sectional title in three years before losing to the eventual state champions Andrean in Class 2A.
Greencastle was the coaches’ pick for fourth place with 33 points.
Crawfordsville and North Montgomery tied for fifth place with 19 points, while North Putnam (17) and Frankfort (6) rounded out the coaches’ poll.
On the media side things were seen about the same for the top spot. The seven members of the media gave both Cascade and Western Boone 51 points, meaning they tied for the top spot.
However, the two pools look quite different from there. Greencastle took third place in the media poll with 38 points, followed by North Putnam with 29 points. The second half of the poll showed Southmont (27), North Montgomery (26), Crawfordsville (23) and Frankfort (6).
As far as the top players in the league one name stood out above the rest and that is Greencastle senior quarterback Cole Stephens. The senior All-State quarterback threw for 3,747 yards and 41 touchdowns last year and now has 9,234 yards in his career which ranks him 13th on the all-time list. He needs 2,962 yards to become the state’s all-time career leader.
Cascade’s Lucas Farmer was also high on both lists. The senior will be a key player for the Cadets and new coach Nick Brickens after rushing for 944 yards and 12 touchdowns and hauling in catches for 216 yards and an additional five scores last year. He had 78 tackles, 10 pass deflections and five interceptions on defense. Teammate TJ Turner will be a force as well. He will see time on offense, but defense is where he shined the brightest a year ago with 129 tackles, 30.5 tackles for loss, three fumble recoveries and two interceptions from his linebacker position.
Another key player to watch will be North Montgomery’s Dakota Glasson who is the league’s top returning rusher. The senior had 1,106 yards and 14 touchdowns and averaged 7.8 yards per carry. He also hauled in 31 passes for 373 yards and three more scores.
The MAC portion of the season will not start until Sept. 4 so until then, who do you think will win the league title? Will Cascade repeat? Will Western Boone overtake the Cadets for bragging rights or will someone else be the surprise winner? Stay tuned for the answer as this season looks like it could be as exciting as the first.
