NEW CASTLE — The sequel will have a lot to live up to.
At New Castle High School Friday, Greenfield-Central and the host Trojans gave the Neal Field crowd a lot to look forward to in next week’s rematch.
Same place, same time on Friday, Oct. 22, the two Hoosier Heritage Conference foes will face off in a quarterfinal round game of Class 4A Sectional 21.
“It was both, stressful and fun,” Greenfield-Central quarterback Rashawn Street said of Friday’s first meeting. “You get nervous, but you’re still having fun.”
On Friday in both clubs regular-season finale, the Cougars came out on top, 27-26.
“I think the best kind of games are the close ones,” Greenfield-Central sophomore Kirk Knecht, who made some of the game’s biggest plays, said. “… I’m glad we got to hold out and get the (W).
“We get to fix our mistakes that we did today and hopefully come out next week even better.”
It was Greenfield-Central’s fifth win in the last six games and guarantees the Cougars a plus-.500 season at 6-3. They finish third in the HHC with a 4-2 record. It was the Trojans fourth straight loss. They wrap up regular-season play 2-7 overall and 1-5 in the HHC.
It’s the Cougars first winning season since going 6-5 in 2016. A repeat performance next week would equal the season win total of the 2010 squad that went 7-5.
“This is a huge win for the school,” Greenfield-Central coach Travis Nolting said. “It’s the first winning season since 2016, and I think we’ve only had four or five since the 90s. Awesome job by the defense tonight. They stepped up big.”
Fittingly, the game-winning score came on a big play, the game had plenty of them.
Knecht, on the second play of the fourth quarter, picked off a fourth-down, fake-punt Eli Cooper pass and returned it 60 yards for a touchdown. Logan Masters point-after was the go-ahead and final point of the game.
“I was reading the play and I saw (New Castle receiver Quintin Boatright) do an out (route),” Knecht said. “I decided to go in front of it and I caught it on the run and I got to score. My first interception.”
Knecht, with the Trojans in Cougar territory in the game’s final seconds, picked off Cooper for a second time.
On third-and-19 from the Cougar 34 with 3.5 seconds to go, Cooper threw a Hail Mary into the left corner of the end zone and Knecht, in traffic, came away with his second interception of the night.
“He’s a special player and special athlete,” Nolting said of Knecht. “He’s a state-caliber track runner. He plays baseball. He plays basketball. He’s a four-sport athlete, not many of those athletes exist any more and he sure is a special one.”
New Castle had taken the lead with 7:04 left in the third quarter. It was Cooper’s fourth touchdown pass of the night and second to senior receiver Kyle Gabbard. The Trojans made the two-point conversion on a run by Jon Eberhart, giving the home team a 26-20 lead.
After a first-half full of offensive highlights, the second-half was time for the defense to shine.
Knecht wasn’t the only Cougar with two interceptions. Owen Anderson had one in each half. His second came with the Trojans deep in their own territory, though the Cougars were unable to convert the good field position into points.
Junior linebacker Brad Allen had a pair of sacks and, along with defensive end Sam Hall, put a lot of pressure on the New Castle quarterback.
Cooper, who was returning after missing a large portion of the season due to injury, still had big throwing numbers, but most came during the game’s first two quarters. He finished 18 of 33 with four interceptions, four touchdowns and 293 yards. In the second half, he was 9 of 17 with three picks and just 82 yards.
“New Castle is a much better team than its record indicates,” Nolting said. “(Cooper) is a heck of a player that has been out (most) of the season.
“We saw him play live against Pendleton Heights (early when we had our Saturday game). He looked really good and they haven’t had him and it showed. He’s good. He moved well and was hitting open guys.”
New Castle’s defense had some big plays, too, including recovering of a fumble by Street at the NC 8.
The first half was a big-play barrage with New Castle’s wide-open passing attack trading punches with the Greenfield-Central run-oriented Wishbone offense.
The Trojans struck first.
A squib/onside opening kickoff was recovered by the hosts. Two plays later Cooper hit Boatright on a 31-yard touchdown pass. G-C blocked the PAT.
After the ensuing kickoff, the Cougars needed just one play to tie and a PAT to take the lead. Junior running back Brayden Herrell went 63 yards for a touchdown. Masters put G-C up with the point-after just 29 seconds into the ballgame.
Both teams scored one more time in the first quarter.
After Greenfield-Central failed on a fourth-down try, the Trojans took over on their own 45. Cooper went 3-for-3 on the drive and finished it off with a 17-yard touchdown pass to Gabbard. The two-point conversion failed, but the Trojans had regained the advantage, 12-7.
Right before the team’s changed ends, the Cougars took the lead. A 13-play, 73-yard drive took 6:46 off the clock and ended on a successful fourth-down conversion.
On fourth-and-7 from the New Castle 24, Street hooked up with Anderson on a rare Cougar pass play, giving the visitors six more points. Masters added the point-after for a 14-12 Greenfield-Central lead with 34 seconds left in the first quarter.
Street went from arm to feet for the next Cougar score. After breaking a couple tackles, the quarterback reversed field and went 67 yards to the end zone. G-C failed on the two-point try but lead 20-12 with 4:34 remaining in the first half. The series was set up when Anderson intercepted Cooper in the end zone.
“It was a broken play. (The defense) turned me that way. I saw green grass and I had to take it,” Street said.
Late in the half, Cooper threw his third touchdown pass to his third different receiver. Gavin Fraizer was on the receiving end of a 39-yarder for the final score of an entertaining 24 minutes. The score cut G-C’s lead to 20-18.
The Trojans slowed down Cougar fullback Andrew Zellers, who came into the game leading the HHC in rushing yards per game (137.3). Though Zellers was stymied, Street and Herrell each rushed for over 100 yards.
Unofficially, Herrell had 18 carries for 124 yards. Street finished 127 on 17 attempts. Zellers had 19 carries for 62 yards.
In the air, Street was 4 of 8 for 64 yards.
The teams will try it again next week.
“I told the kids all week, New Castle is a good team and have had some guys out,” Nolting said. “You can’t look at anybody’s win-loss record and say we beat these guys and vice versa because any given Friday night anything can happen and it did tonight.”
This time the season will be on the line. The winner of next week’s matchup makes the sectional semis and will play the winner of the Pendleton Heights-Mt. Vernon contest.
Greenfield-Central 27, New Castle 26
GREENFIELD-CENTRAL (6-3, 4-2 HHC);14;6;0;7;—;27
NEW CASTLE (2-7, 1-5 HHC);12;6;8;0;—;26
Scoring Summary
NC—Quintin Boatright 31 pass from Eli Cooper (kick blocked),11:43
GC—Brayden Herrell 63 run (Logan Masters kick), 11:31
NC—Kyle Gabbard 27 pass from Cooper (pass failed), 7:20
GC—Owen Anderson 24 pass from Rashawn Street (Masters kick), :34.6
GC—Street 67 run (run failed), 4:34
NC—Gavin Fraizer 39 pass from Cooper (pass failed), 7:20
NC—Gabbard 7 pass from Cooper (Jon Eberhart run), 7:04
GC—Kirk Knecht 60 interception return (Masters kick), 11:36
