GREENFIELD — It was death by a thousand paper cuts for the Greenfield-Central Cougars on Friday night. Eagles sophomore quarterback Zach Garner and sophomore running back Charlie Spegal combined for 360 yards rushing to down the Cougars 41-14.
The Eagles received the opening kickoff and used their opening drive to preview what the rest of the game would be like. With a steady diet of handoffs to Spegal and keepers by Garner, the Eagles marched down the field and capped off the drive with a 5-yard run by Spegal for the opening touchdown. Spegal would finish with 88 yards rushing.
The Eagles lead would move to 14-0 on a touchdown run by Garner, but the Cougars used the ensuing kickoff to show a bit of spark. Junior Jaden Brown took the Eagles kickoff all the way back to the Delta 36-yard line, and on the very next play Andrew Leslie found Orlando Mojica streaking down the middle of the field wide open for a touchdown.
On the ensuing play following the Cougars kickoff, Spegal had his only hiccup of the night by fumbling the ball, and Brown completed his 17 seconds of glory by recovering the fumble. The Cougars were unable to capitalize on the turnover however.
The Cougars went into halftime trailing 21-7. On their opening drive of the second half they reached the Eagles’ 11-yard line but were unable to score. The Eagles took a 28-7 lead into the fourth quarter and were able to lean on their feature back to batter the Cougars and run out the clock.
Spegal would finish the game with 272 yards and three touchdowns on 31 carries.
The Cougars were able to get another touchdown back with a 23-yard pass from Leslie to junior receiver Jason Gray. It was not enough however, and the loss moves the Cougars record to 3-5 overall and 2-4 in the Hoosier Heritage Conference.
The Cougars will complete their regular season schedule next week when they travel to face the resurgent New Castle Trojans. Kickoff is at 7:30 p.m.
