It's almost kickoff

We're just a few hours from seeing the lights turned on across the state, but this week, there will be one big event at a local game that should garner a lot of attention -- Greenfield-Central is renaming the field at Cougar Stadium for longtime coach Clayton Myers.

Thirty-six years ago, on a cold November night, that field saw one of the highlights of G-C's athletic history -- Myers' Cougars defeating Blackford 21-12 to win the first-ever IHSAA Class 2A football title.

It was 1973. Nobody really knew what playoff football would be like -- after all, for all of its history, IHSAA teams played their 10 regular-season games and then let the pollsters determine a champion, much like the collegians do now. There were fake punts, teams going for it on fourth down, and all sorts of interesting things going on. Nobody wanted to flinch. The Cougars got a couple of big plays and managed to walk away with the big trophy.

Myers was the coach at Greenfield High School before the school merged with Hancock Central in 1969, and then had to shepherd the program through the always-difficult part of merging players what had been two rival programs and two rival communities into one. The 1973-74 senior class was the second to go all the way through the newly-consolidated school, and left quite a stamp. Two years later, G-C would return to the title game, but would fall to Mishawaka Marian.

Myers has left a large legacy. Many of his former players had sons play for the Cougars. A handful went into coaching -- including state champion coach Sherwood Haydock of Harding. Myers was very well-respected by his players and peers at G-C and is receiving an honor this weekend that is very, very due him.

The spoils are still there -- a framed team photo and a golden football on a base sitting in a small trophy case near G-C's gymnasium, a worn football with the 21-12 score etched into the side, remembering a night when the stadium was ringed with bleachers, the local TV stations descended on Greenfield, and the Cougars delivered the first IHSAA championship of any kind to Hancock County. We've seen success since elsewhere in the county -- Eastern Hancock won the Class A title in 1985, New Palestine was the 3A runner-up five years later -- and in other sports, where all four county schools have won at least one IHSAA title in their histories.

But the field where it all happened will help us remember those teams -- Clayton Myers Field.

The Cougars' game against HHC leader Delta begins at 7:30 p.m.

You can also enjoy the CCSN GID Game of the Week: Pendleton Heights at New Palestine, also at 7:30 p.m. Friday. Pregame coverage at 7 here.