Week 7 games

First off, it's county rivalry time as we hit the final third of the season. The cool part of it is, all three Hancock County HHC teams are winning and playing well right now. Mt. Vernon and New Palestine are both on five-game streaks, with 4-0 HHC records. Greenfield-Central has won three in a row, using a solid defense and some fourth-quarter heroics to improve to 4-2 and 3-2 in the HHC.

Our broadcast will be the county clash: Greenfield-Central at Mt. Vernon (LISTEN LIVE), starting at 7 p.m. Yours truly and Jim Ryan will be on hand to describe the action of this always-good rivalry. The last three games between these two teams have been decided by one score.

Roger Dodson's Cougars are running the option well and spreading the ball around. So are Doug Peacock's Marauders, with seemingly everybody contributing both in the running and passing games. Both teams have had really solid defenses so far. I *really* like the way the Marauders are playing. Austin Parker is throwing the ball very well, Jake Davis is catching everything, Zach McKinney has been piling up yards, the two halfbacks are averaging 11 ypc. And the Cougars ... they're just winning -- pulling one out against Rushville in the closing seconds last week, holding off Shelbyville two weeks ago. They're running the option very well, and Matt Dickerson & Derek Conley are two pretty solid football players on offense, while Jordan Conley and Joey Adams help lead a strong defense that is averaging two takeaways per game.

New Palestine @ Shelbyville -- The Dragons are just solid right now -- Austin Cahoy and Matt Siergiej are a really, really good 1-2 combination at running back -- Cahoy had 202 yards and four TDs in a half last week -- and their varsity defense has allowed two touchdowns in four weeks. Shelby has one of the HHC's top athletes in Patrick Ellis and is always dangerous, but it has given up a lot of yards on the ground (and a lot of points) to Mt. Vernon and Pendleton Heights in two of the last three games.

Delta @ Rushville -- Matchup of pretty good QBs in Delta's Ozzie Mann (the thrower) & Rushville's Spencer Comer (the runner). Delta's defense has come on quite a bit since its 24-14 loss to New Palestine, and has pulled out some close games in recent weeks -- stopping Greenfield-Central on the 25 yard line to preserve one win, and pulling one out late against Pendleton Heights last week. The Eagles winning and are 5-1 right now. Rushville has dropped some heartbreakers -- none moreso than last week at Greenfield-Central, where a would-be game-tying two-point conversion went awry -- but is a solid team despite the 2-4 record.

Gary Bowman @ Yorktown -- Bowman can score, but they also gave up 77 to Heritage Christian a few weeks ago. Yorktown backs Brendon Barnes & Derek Kundenreich may get a chance to pile up some yards and the Tigers have a decent shot to crack the win column.

Pendleton Heights @ Jay County -- Two-game skid aside, PH is a really solid offensive team and their record is more a function of how solid the HHC is than anything else. They're 3-3, but could easily be 5-1. RB Dezmon Nunn got hurt last week, but with him healthy, the Arabian offense is difficult to slow down. I *really* like the Mitch Patishall-to-Brad McNeil combination, and the Arabians' line is giving them lots of time. Offensively, this PH team reminds me quite a bit of their teams from earlier in the decade.