If there’s going to be a rematch between Franklin and Whiteland on the gridiron this fall, it won’t be happening until November.
The two county rivals drew separate paths to the Class 5A sectional final on Sunday evening; the eighth-ranked Grizzly Cubs (6-2) will hit the road for a semifinal game at Terre Haute South on Oct. 28, while No. 3 Whiteland (7-1) hosts Terre Haute North that night. The winners will meet in the title game a week later.
“It really didn’t matter who we play or where we play or anything like that,” Whiteland coach Darrin Fisher said. “We just have to be playing our best in October. That’s what our entire philosophy as a program is based on. You’ve got to earn the right to play in November by playing great football in October.”
In Class 6A, two-time defending state champion Center Grove begins its quest for a three-peat with a semifinal game at Franklin Central. Get past that, and the Trojans would see either Columbus North or Jeffersonville in the Nov. 4 championship game.
Greenwood received a tough draw in coach Mike Campbell’s final tournament; the Woodmen (1-7) will host Class 4A No. 8 Martinsville, a team that it lost to in a 28-14 battle on Sept. 2. If Greenwood can pull the upset, it would play a semifinal game against either Bedford North Lawrence or Shelbyville. Fourth-ranked East Central looms as a potential opponent in the final.
Roncalli will travel to Shortridge for its opening-round game; should the second-ranked Royals (7-1) move on, they’d play either Indianapolis Washington or Crispus Attucks in the semifinal. The top half of the draw features No. 9 Brebeuf and No. 10 Mooresville.
Indian Creek’s Class 3A journey in Casey Gillin’s first season at the helm begins with a trip to 2-6 Franklin County. Should they advance, the Braves (6-2) would get either Batesville — a team Indian Creek beat 37-25 in its season opener — or Centerville. Ninth-ranked Lawrenceburg and South Dearborn, the two teams in the bracket ahead of the Braves in the Sagarin ratings, sit on the other side of the draw and face one another in the first round.
In Class A, Edinburgh got about as friendly a draw as it could have asked for. The Lancers, 4-3 going into their regular-season finale at Park Tudor, open sectional play with a home game against 1-6 Knightstown; the winner advances into a semifinal against winless Cambridge City Lincoln. The two top-rated teams in the group, No. 4 North Decatur and No. 8 Tri, play each other in an opening-round game on the other side of the bracket.
Lancers coach Tyler DeSpain is pre-emptively warning his squad not to go in overconfident.
“We received the best possible draw we could get,” he said, “but we still have to come out and play the way we know how to.”
Victories in the first two rounds would guarantee Edinburgh its first winning season since 1993.
