Southmont football has been here before. In fact they’ve been in this exact spot the last two seasons. The 5-5 Mounties out-lasted a second half rally to take down Sullivan 32-21 in the Class 2 A Sectional 37 opener. South will now be back at home when they welcome the Cascade Cadets who took down South Vermillion 41-20 a week ago. The Cadets come into the game with a 6-4 record. The past two seasons the Mounties have been one game away from playing for a sectional title, but have fallen short. Two years ago they fell 27-0 to Lafayette Central Catholic and last season almost pulled off a stunning come from behind win over Linton Stockton.
Southmont coach Desson Hannum knows that it’ll be another test for his team but the Mounties are ready to do battle.
“You’re going to have to play your best football in order to come out on top,” Hannum said. “As the games keep going, the competition only get tougher. Cascade is a good football team. You can tell they’ve improved throughout the year and to take down South Vermillion last week is not easy. They also had a close loss to a very good South Putnam team. If we don’t play out best, then we’re not going to get another week.”
The Cadets and Mounties are very similar teams in the fact that they both are extremely run heavy offenses. Cascade as a team has rushed for 3,016 yards on the season, good for 301.6 a game. The Mounties have rushed for 2,271 yards on the year and 227.1 a game.
Cascade has only thrown 61 passes this season as Sophomore Brady Trebley is 36-61 for 520 yards with 10 touchdowns and not a single interceptions. Fellow sophomore Toby Savini is their workhorse on the ground. He’s carried the ball 111 times for 1,056 yards and 12 TD’s. Senior Damien Appleby has 89 attempts for 608 yards, sophomore Dayton Mink 100 carries for 543 yards, and senior Caiden Clements 73 carries for 446 yards.
“They’re a Wing-T style of team so there are some similarities with some of the things we run,” Hannum said of the Cadets. “They’ve ran the ball 60+ times the last couple of weeks and they are perfectly ok with doing that. For our defense it’s going to be a challenge to get off the field. We’re going to have to force them into punting situations and them to do things they’re not comfortable doing.”
Southmont senior QB Nolan Boyer has been a steady presence in leading the Mountie offense this year. On the season Boyer is 75-152 (49%) for 1,182 with 11 TD’s and 12 interceptions. Boyer has been dynamic with his legs as well with 580 yards on 70 attempts and five more scores. The Mounties have their own workhorse in senior fullback Wyatt Woodall who has saved his best season for last. Woodall has 976 yards on 153 carries and 17 TD’s. Woodall also ranks tied for 14th in the state with 128 tackles on the season. Kyler McCandless has been a big play receiver for the Mounties with 537 yards on just 27 catches and six TD’s. McCandless also returned a punt for a TD last week.
Hannum noted the keys in order for his team to come out on top and ultimately have Southmont play for a sectional title.
“The margin for error is very slim,” he said. “We have to do everything in our power to make sure we’re playing at our best. The game is going to come down to who blocks and tackles better. Those are simple things but are so vital to the outcome of the game.”
The winner between the Mounties and Cadets will play the winner of Greencastle and Linton Stockton next week for a sectional title.
You can catch a live broadcast of the game on 106.3 WCDQ beginning at 6:30 as Codey Emerson and Deontae Peete will have the call.
