Second Season: Greenwood eager to rebound from first loss

The zero immediately right of the hyphen, the one weathering eight weeks of taking everyone’s best shot, is gone.

No need worrying about Greenwood. The state’s fifth-ranked Class 4A and previously unbeaten squad is dreaming even larger dreams now that the postseason begins tonight.

Trying to shake off last week’s 56-35 loss at Class 5A Whiteland, which cost them a perfect regular season, the Mid-State Conference champion Woodmen (8-1) travel to Owen Valley (5-4) for a first-round sectional game.

“The players are ready to go. We’re not going to feel sorry for ourselves,” Greenwood coach Mike Campbell said. “We did some things in that game we hadn’t done with untimely turnovers and some missed assignments. The law of averages is going to catch up with you when you played as well as we had all season. And Whiteland played fantastic. They deserved the victory, that’s for sure.

“But now we’re in our second season. We’re treating every game like it’s a championship game.”

This might not be the best news Owen Valley has heard this season. Still smarting over last week’s 36-0 loss at Class 3A No. 4 Greencastle, the Patriots program has won one sectional (1992) in its history and been a sectional one-and-done nine of the past 10 seasons.

Eleventh-year Owen Valley coach Duane Potts insists it all starts up front. Not with linemen, but rather belief.

“Our kids have to visualize success and believe they can win,” said Potts, who has a 51-59 record at the school. “If the team buys in, it really doesn’t matter if anybody else does.

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