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Week 7 gives ND, WHS a chance to rebound

todd lancaster, washington times-herald, ind.
·4 min read

Sep. 29—Both Washington and North Daviess hope to recover from losses on Friday night. The Cougars played the always tough Linton Miners and lost 42-0, while WHS fell to Princeton, 40-24, on homecoming. This week WHS host Heritage Hills, while ND travels to North Decatur in Week 7.

WHS v. Heritage Hill

The Patriots come into the game with a 4-2 record, but that might be a little deceiving as the two losses came to unbeaten 3A No. 6 Mount Vernon and 5-1 3A No. 3 Gibson Southern.

The Pats are led by coach Todd Wilkerson, who has won more than 70 games in his 10 seasons there. In 2020, HH went 4-6 and had its first losing season since 2013, but defeated WHS, 38-8. Before that, they had not played WHS since sectional in 2005.

Heritage Hills uses a balanced running attack with Skylar Staples rushing for 293 yards, Evan Bowling running for 269, Shane Staples getting 221 and QB Camden Shipp rushing for 199. He has also thrown a pair of TDs and completed 8-22 passes.

"Heritage Hills is a complete football team. They are basic and have great fundamentals. They come right at you with a fullback. Where that fullback is, is where the ball is going, either blocking or with the ball," said WHS coach Joe Morris. "They are not afraid of being aggressive."

WHS lost to Princeton in front of a big crowd last Friday, but did have a bright spot on offense, as quarterback Conner Woolley threw for 321 yards and four touchdowns on 16-25 passing, while Nate Aldrich caught three of those scoring tosses, part of a four-catch, 150-yard receiving performance. Woolley connected for scoring strikes of 20, 43, and 67 yards with Aldrich, after hitting Logan Hill for a 31-yard touchdown pass in the first half. Unfortunately, WHS ended the night with minus yardage while running the ball.

"It wasn't just Connor and Aldrich either, Logan Hill had his first touchdown, and I thought Rylan (Memering) and Ollie Kroeger played really well.

"It really was a game of two halves. We know we have things to clean up on special teams and avoid big plays. They picked up 20 points on big plays. If you stop those then the game is more like 24-20," added Morris.

The Hatchets will end the year with Boonville and Mount Vernon, before sectional begins. Kickoff will be at 7:30 p.m. at Hatchet Hollow.

ND at North Decatur

The Cougars fell to rival Linton last week, but certainly have a chance to rebound against 1-4 North Decatur. The Chargers picked up a win over Rushville 28-7 for their first win of the year. They were 10-3 last year before losing to West Washington at regional. They also defeated ND 42-0 as part of a streak where they didn't give up a point for seven-straight games.

Coach Steve Stirn has be at North Decatur now for seven years, and has a 47-28 record, along with a very successful run at Hamilton Heights, and three years at Paoli. In 19 years, he has won five sectionals and one regional.

Charger QB Carson Parmer has thrown for 520 yards, going 77-149. Reid Messer is their leading rusher with 345 yards and three touchdowns, and is their leading receiver. Josh Evans is the team's leading tackler.

"Linton is certainly a good team and I expect they will be doing a lot over the next weeks. They are a solid football team," said Cougar head coach Trent Fine. "North Decatur is better than its record, but it gives us a chance to rebound. They played four good teams and they beat the one that they were supposed to. They have a really good quarterback and they are a potential regional opponent, so its good to get a look at them."

The Cougars have continued to see the development of Brock Knepp at quarterback, along with a healthy Austin Webster and Zo Jeffers. The defense has been stellar all year, with the loss to Linton being the only one-sided tilt the defense has suffered.

Unfortunately, Knepp will be unavailable on Friday. He took a big hit on Friday against Linton and will sit this week.

"It was an unnecessary hit and a flag should have been thrown. We will see Hunter Fine at QB this week," said Fine.

ND has a 2 1/2 hour bus trip to Greensburg on Friday, but Fine doesn't think that will be a factor.

"We are going to leave a little early and we are going to try to make the trip fun. We will stop about halfway through and break it up with some food. The kids will sleep on the way home," said Fine.

Kickoff will be at 7:30 p.m. in Greensburg.