Week 2 lookahead

Last week, we had an awesome game to broadcast on the TGD Game of the Week, as New Palestine beat Whiteland 22-16 in OT on a game with a ton of twists and turns. Re-live it by listening to the archived broadcast while you look ahead to Week 2, both on the Game of the Week and throughout the HHC (and the area). It's the start of conference play for most of the league, as all eight HHC teams will play conference rivals this weekend. Let's look ahead:

TGD Hancock County Game of the Week
Yorktown (1-0, 1-0 HHC) at Mt. Vernon (0-1, 0-0 HHC)
Airtime: 7 p.m.; Kickoff: 7:30 p.m.
Broadcast link: Audio Sports Online

The coaches
Yorktown: Mike Wilhelm (5th year, 25-19)
Mt. Vernon: Doug Peacock (16th year at MV, 96-70; 20th year overall, 116-90)

Last season: Yorktown won 32-0 en route to a sectional championship season.
The series: MV holds a 12-5 edge since the teams began playing in 1996. In the regular season, MV holds an 8-3 advantage. These teams have split the last 4 regular-season meetings. The games they have are often wild -- six of their regular-season meetings have been decided by less than a touchdown.

Scouting the Marauders: MV took one on the chin in a 34-7 loss last week at Kokomo, but that's been nothing new for the Wildkats under Brett Colby's reign. Kokomo is 17-1 against Indiana teams in the regular season during that span, and the one loss was to Carmel. The Marauders were also back to the Wing-T offense after a year of running a 4-wideout spread attack -- and they were facing a fellow Wing-T team in Kokomo. It took some time to get their motors running, but MV gained 120 yards in the second half of the contest, and halfback Zach McKinney just missed the century mark with a 98-yard day running the ball. He was MV's feature back MV's defense held Kokomo off the scoreboard in the second half -- the Kats' only points came off a KOR. There is a lot of experience back for the Marauders -- including McKinney, junior QB Austin Parker, wideout Jake Davis, linebacker Jason McCalley and more. And unlike last week, when they faced a senior-dominated Kokomo team, the Marauders will likely have the experience edge this time around.

Scouting the Tigers: The game we broadcast last week was a nail-biter that came down to a wild last play. So was the one the Tigers played in. They trailed Pendleton Heights 21-17 with enough time for one more play, as QB Kyle Weiss hit WR Brett Alllison end the end zone from 20 yards out with two seconds left to give Yorktown a last-second v ictory, and temporarily put the Tigers on top of the HHC standings. Last week's Yorktown-PH game was the last to be the season opener (and de facto conference opener). Next year, they'll move their game to Week 7. Yorktown had a banner 10-3 season last year and nearly knocked off eventual 3A champ Bellmont in the regional, but the Tigers are reloading. They graduated nearly all of their offensive skill players, but one that is back is fullback Derek Kundenreich, a 1,000-yard rusher from last season who ran for 105 yards and a TD Friday. With him back and a big line to run behind, Yorktown is much more ground-oriented this season. Kyle Weiss, a 6-4 senior, moves in at QB. He was the backup to Jacob Walker last season and completed 6-of-16 in his first start directing Yorktown's pro-style offense. Yorktown also has a huge line, including 6-7, 275-pound tackle Kevin Ellis and 6-2-2456-pound tackle Zach Morgan.

We're looking forward to a great matchup, and we're really looking forward to bringing it to you on the Gridiron Digest Hancock County Game of the Week, with yours truly and Jim Ryan on the call.

Other Hancock County/HHC games
Greenfield-Central (1-0, 0-0) at Pendleton Heights (0-1, 0-1), 7:30 p.m.: G-C was the beneficiary of a huge second half as they scored the game's final 23 points to beat New Castle 29-8. QB Carl Ellison had a good debut, throwing for 110 yards, while RB Brady Conger had a 100-yard day as well. Meanwhile, PH appeared to be on path for a victory until they were beaten in the last 2 seconds. Dezmon Nunn and Clint Nicholson scored TDs for the Arabians last week, while Ravaughn White had a 92-yard kickoff return for a score. White is a big-play performer who is a big threat for PH. This should, as it usually is, be a good game.
New Palestine (1-0, 0-0) at Delta (1-0, 0-0), 7:30 p.m.: The Dragons had an emotional victory last week over a good Whiteland team, and they begin their difficult two-step to open teh season with a trip to help christen Delta's new FieldTurf field. That should help highlight the Dragons' speed, which was shown last week when Pat Feeney had a TD catch of 63 yards and a 10-yard TD run in overtime. QB Cary Albrecht completed 5-of-6 passes and threw for two TDs, and the Dragons spread the ball around on the ground. Feeney also had an interception. Meanwhile, Delta has Indiana University recruit Logan Young at wideout to contend with, and the guy throwing the ball, QB Ozzie Mann, had a pretty good debut by completing 13-of-2o passes. Young caught two TD passes, while underneath threat Teddy Dawson had 99 yards receiving on four catches. This will be an early turning-point game in the HHC schedule.
Rushville (1-0, 0-0) at Shelbyville (1-0, 0-0), 7 p.m.: These two old rivals are at it again. While Shelbyville has had a great run of late, Rushville is also in the midst of an "up" cycle. Shelby has won 7 straight in the series, and had an impressive 35-14 win over Greensburg last week. Rushville had no trouble lighting up the scoreboard in a 46-24 win over rival Connersville. This might be the best matchup between these two programs in quite some time.
Eastern Hancock (0-1) at Scecina (0-1), 7 p.m.: These two Class A teams both struggled against solid, larger schools in their openers, as EH fell 42-14 to Triton Central and Scecina lost 42-0 to Brebeuf. The Crusaders have some youth, and they'll run the ball quite a bit. Meanwhile, EH will throw it all over, with QB Steven Stunda completing 12-of-22 last week for 151 yards, including 140 yards to receiver Jacob Grass. He also had two TD catches and an interception.

The games begin Friday night. Listen to Jim Ryan and myself on the Yorktown-Mt. Vernon game, and we'll keep you up to date on what else is going on in the area.