All season long the Seniors of Center Grove had been searching for something to hang their hat on.
"Last year they were part of a great season," said Head Coach Eric Moore. "You know they were part of a state championship season, but it's always the seniors' team. So they've not felt like that was something that they had earned. So I challenged them all summer to earn something that they could hang your hat on."
With a 48-7 victory last Friday night over Bloomington North, the Trojans had finally earned an accomplishment that their senior class would be proud of.
"It's great to be sectional champs," said Senior defensive lineman Joel Cox. "Coach (Eric Moore) has always said that you need to get something to hang your hat on as a Senior. We've got a sectional championship now, and now it's time to go on to the regional."
Check Out The Football Friday Night Game Plan For Friday's Regional Championships
On Friday night the Trojans (9-3) will attempt to climb the next rung in the ladder to Center Grove football immortality when they host Floyd Central (9-3) in the Indy Sports Nation Feature Game Of The Week.
Center Grove enters the contest with an offense that sputtered to end the regular season, having scored only combined points in the season's two final games, to a team that has averaged over 39 points per game in the playoffs. Senior Quarterback Kyle Barth, who is in his first year under center for the Trojans, believes the team's inexperience early on had been causing the offensive unit to struggle.
"We're young, and a lot of us haven't had experience," said Barth. "This is my first year, so we've grown a lot, and we just come to work every week, and we've just ended up doing good the past couple of games."
Of course it doesn't hurt when you can spread the football in the running game either. Last Friday Center Grove finished with 288 total rushing yards, as Nolan Wiedman finished for 38 yards for three touchdowns, Jimmy Boshears had 108 yards on 13 carries and two touchdowns, and Jimmy Daggett finished the night with 62 yards and one trip to the end zone.
Check Out Jeremiah Johnson's Football Friday Rewind For The Sectional Championships
"Not all the cylinders are quite where they need to be just yet," said Coach Moore. "But they're just about right where they need to be. We're really divided well as all the positions in the backfield are carrying the ball equally in the game. And we're a little bit harder to prepare for because of that."
But it always helps when you can have a defense that is just allowing 12.2 points per game throughout the entire season.
"That's what we tried to build this team in the off-season with," said Moore. "Getting great players to put on defense and try to get the offense to come around. We've come around a little bit on offense now, and we're able to help our defense a little bit now. But you can't win a championship without a good defense."
Floyd Central enters Friday night's contest with a 42-32 victory over Castle. The Highlanders capitalized on two early turnovers in the first quarter, and never looked back as starting quarterback Max Guenther finished the night with four touchdowns. Running back Alex Sparks also ran for 178 yards rushing on 31 carries and scored twice in the end zone.
It's reasons like Guenther and Sparks do the Trojans believe they'll have their hands full on Friday night.
"They're going to try to runt he ball a lot,": said Cox. "They are going to try to run the ball on us, and we're just going to have to fit like we did last week, and do our jobs."
The Indy Sports Nation Feature Game Of The Week takes place on Friday night at Center Grove High School at 7:00 p.m. Highlights of the game can be seen on Fox 59's "Football Friday Night at 10:35 p.m., while an extended re-cap with videos and photo galleries can be found on Indysportsnation.com later in the night.
"Last year they were part of a great season," said Head Coach Eric Moore. "You know they were part of a state championship season, but it's always the seniors' team. So they've not felt like that was something that they had earned. So I challenged them all summer to earn something that they could hang your hat on."
With a 48-7 victory last Friday night over Bloomington North, the Trojans had finally earned an accomplishment that their senior class would be proud of.
"It's great to be sectional champs," said Senior defensive lineman Joel Cox. "Coach (Eric Moore) has always said that you need to get something to hang your hat on as a Senior. We've got a sectional championship now, and now it's time to go on to the regional."
Check Out The Football Friday Night Game Plan For Friday's Regional Championships
On Friday night the Trojans (9-3) will attempt to climb the next rung in the ladder to Center Grove football immortality when they host Floyd Central (9-3) in the Indy Sports Nation Feature Game Of The Week.
Center Grove enters the contest with an offense that sputtered to end the regular season, having scored only combined points in the season's two final games, to a team that has averaged over 39 points per game in the playoffs. Senior Quarterback Kyle Barth, who is in his first year under center for the Trojans, believes the team's inexperience early on had been causing the offensive unit to struggle.
"We're young, and a lot of us haven't had experience," said Barth. "This is my first year, so we've grown a lot, and we just come to work every week, and we've just ended up doing good the past couple of games."
Of course it doesn't hurt when you can spread the football in the running game either. Last Friday Center Grove finished with 288 total rushing yards, as Nolan Wiedman finished for 38 yards for three touchdowns, Jimmy Boshears had 108 yards on 13 carries and two touchdowns, and Jimmy Daggett finished the night with 62 yards and one trip to the end zone.
Check Out Jeremiah Johnson's Football Friday Rewind For The Sectional Championships
"Not all the cylinders are quite where they need to be just yet," said Coach Moore. "But they're just about right where they need to be. We're really divided well as all the positions in the backfield are carrying the ball equally in the game. And we're a little bit harder to prepare for because of that."
But it always helps when you can have a defense that is just allowing 12.2 points per game throughout the entire season.
"That's what we tried to build this team in the off-season with," said Moore. "Getting great players to put on defense and try to get the offense to come around. We've come around a little bit on offense now, and we're able to help our defense a little bit now. But you can't win a championship without a good defense."
Floyd Central enters Friday night's contest with a 42-32 victory over Castle. The Highlanders capitalized on two early turnovers in the first quarter, and never looked back as starting quarterback Max Guenther finished the night with four touchdowns. Running back Alex Sparks also ran for 178 yards rushing on 31 carries and scored twice in the end zone.
It's reasons like Guenther and Sparks do the Trojans believe they'll have their hands full on Friday night.
"They're going to try to runt he ball a lot,": said Cox. "They are going to try to run the ball on us, and we're just going to have to fit like we did last week, and do our jobs."
The Indy Sports Nation Feature Game Of The Week takes place on Friday night at Center Grove High School at 7:00 p.m. Highlights of the game can be seen on Fox 59's "Football Friday Night at 10:35 p.m., while an extended re-cap with videos and photo galleries can be found on Indysportsnation.com later in the night.
