Greencastle rolls past Brown County

Tiger Cubs (5-6) advance to the Class 2A Sectional 39 final against Linton-Stockton (9-2).

Less than two minutes. 

That's how long it took for Greencastle to establish itself and remove any question about who was the dominant team against Brown County Friday night. 

In less than two minutes in the first quarter, Greencastle found itself ahead 15-0 and on their way to a 50-24 semi-final victory. As a result, the Tiger Cubs (5-6) advance to the Class 2A Sectional 39 final against Linton-Stockton (9-2), who defeated South Vermillion. 

"It's special. I am a Greencastle alumn. When I was in high school, we expected our teams to be competitive in conference and postseason. To get this thing back to where we believe every year we can be a contender. The only championship we had to play for this year was in the postseason. It's exciting to host and have that championship trophy on the line, but we have to focus on our process and not the outcome. Outcomes can be a distraction, but if you focus on the process, sooner or later, that process will love you back," Greencastle coach Dave Stephens said after the game. 

After forcing a three and out to start the game, Greencastle watched its offense score in two plays, as Caiden Hites scored from nine yards out and a successful two point conversion, put the Tiger Cubs ahead 8-0. A blocked punt moments later would give Greencastle tremendous field position and one play was all it took as quarterback Cole Stephens drilled Anthony Adams for a four yard touchdown pass to stretch the lead to 15-0. 

Despite the lead, Brown County would not go away silently, as Tommy Buccos scored from a yard out on its next possession, trimming the deficit to 15-6. That would be as close as the Eagles would get, as Greencastle would go ahead 22-6 on its next possession with Adams reeling in another touchdown pass. 

A fumble recovery by the Tiger Cubs gave Greencastle great field position and Trevin Long made the Eagles pay, taking the ball in from 35 yards out to push Greencastle ahead 29-6 at the end of the first quarter. 

"We can score in bunches and we can score quick. We want to use our spread but we are an up tempo spread team especially against teams that want to load the box. Brown County had difficult time getting aligned at times and we took advantage. Thought our line was outstanding and blocking. Really excited about what we could do tonight on offense," Stephens said of Greencastle's quick strike attack early on. 

Brown County would open the scoring in the second quarter with another one yard touchdown from Buccos from a yard out, cutting the deficit to 29-12. 

Greencastle would tack on two more touchdowns immediately, including Ashton Dayhuff falling on a loose football in the end zone, to go ahead 36-12. 

The Tiger Cubs weren't done, as Long scooped up a loose football and went in for another touchdown, pushing the lead to 43-12 to put the game completely out of reach. 

"We are excited and blessed to keep our season going another week and to host a sectional championship. We believe we are a good football team. We played an up schedule in the schedule and competed with Castle, Lutheran and Mooresville. We had an up schedule this season and had some injuries, but I always believed we had a good football team," Stephens said.