HHC Week 8

It's the penultimate week in the HHC. Here's the look at the games.
4A #7 New Palestine (6-1/5-0) at Greenfield-Central (5-2/4-2).
CLICK HERE FOR LIVE BROADCAST beginning at 6:30 p.m.

HUGE game in the conference. NP won this one 56-0 last year but it's a much different Cougar team the Dragons will be playing. The Helmet and the HHC title are on the line, as the Dragons will be trying to defend the former and seize at least a piece of the latter, which would be their first since 2006. NP has a bruising running game with Austin Cahoy putting together back-to-back 200-yard games, and Matt Siergiej running well, too. G-C is coming off a big win over Mt. Vernon and has had several fourth-quarter victories this year. Matt Dickerson is one of the league's dynamic offensive players, and the Cougars have a defense that flies all over the field. The defenses will be huge -- G-C didn't allow Mt. Vernon much last week, while NP hasn't allowed anybody much -- of the four TDs they've given up since Week 3, two of them were scored against the JV. This reminds me of the 2002 game between these teams, where a Josiah Sears-led G-C was trying to clinch a league title against a talented NP team that was catching its stride. The favorite won, but it went right down to the wire.

Mt. Vernon (5-2/4-1) at 4A #10 Delta (6-1/4-1)
Big bounce-back game for MV, while it's a chance for an improving Delta team to flex its muscles. Delta kind of faded from the limelight after the loss to New Palestine and the near-defeat to Greenfield-Central the next week, but the Eagles have quietly just ripped off five wins in a row. MV has a very strong, diverse offense that didn't look like itself last week, but both of these teams have a lot of weapons and two of the best passing QBs in the league in Austin Parker and Ozzie Mann. I wish we had a Day at the Dome again this year, I'd love to see both of these games live.

Pendleton Heights (4-3/3-3) at Rushville (2-5/0-5)
PH has been snakebit a little bit -- of the three conference losses, the Arabians outgained Mt. Vernon in one and lost the other to Delta in the closing seconds. The Arabians have a nice triple-threat with Patishall, Nunn and McNeil, and they were solid last week against Jay County. Rushville likes to run the ball, and Spencer Comer can do quite a bit.

Shelbyville (2-5/1-4) at Yorktown (1-6/0-5)
A battle between two teams that have had a lot of recent success, but have struggled this year. Pat Parks has done just about everything to get the ball in Patrick Ellis' hands -- including tossing in a little bit of a single-wing look a couple of weeks ago. Yorktown finally broke off a win last week against non-conference Gary Bowman, but this will be a nice end-of-season pick-me-up for one of these two teams.

In the county: 2A #6 Shenandoah (7-0) at Eastern Hancock (0-7)
Shenandoah is unbeaten for a reason -- it's the state's leading scoring team and returns its entire starting backfield, which has all been putting up huge numbers. QB Zack Cole, FB Jared Bromagem and halfbacks Zach York and Dylan Hamm are all threats to score from virtually anywhere on the field running the Raiders' option offense. EH is looking for a breakout game, and upsets can happen when these two traditional rivals meet.