Four area football teams will look to climb over the .500 mark this season after falling a little short last year.
Those teams will be in action Friday, when the regular season begins across the state. Here is a look at those area squads:
Jennings County
The Panthers have high hopes this season with seven returning starters on defense and 10 players who saw significant action on offense.
“We’re a way faster team than we were,” Jennings coach T.J. Newton said. “We’re way stronger, and we return so many starters on both sides of the ball. Really, the biggest thing is, this is one of the most athletic teams Jennings County has had in awhile.”
Newton was pleased with what he saw in Friday’s scrimmage against Brownstown Central.
“Our defense played really well,” Newton said. “Offensively, we did some good things, but there are definitely some things to clean up on that end.”
Sophomore Parker Elmore took over at quarterback late last season and helped lead the Panthers to wins in their final two regular-season games. Senior Branden Braun, who ran a 4.5-second 40-yard dash this summer and is getting Division I and Division II interest, will be the featured back.
“He’s going to be the main guy this year,” Newton said. “We’re expecting big things from him.”
Senior Sam Burkman, who began last season at quarterback will play a wingback/tight end role, along with a pair of senior newcomers, Cole Sigler and Will Barnes. Senior Blaine Ison and junior Lane Kirchner return at receiver and will be joined by senior Loki Hifo.
Seniors Austin Byford and Jojo Hifo are back at tight end. Sophomores Konnor Brown and Andy Vogel take over at tackle. Senior Dylan Harrison and junior Xavier Gindhart return at guard, where freshman Cooper Lane also could see action. Sophomore Landin Foddrill steps in at center.
“Those guys have come a long way,” Newton said. “We started doing some stuff with them in the spring, getting them ready.”
Jennings runs a 3-4 defense, with Dylan Harrison and Barnes taking over at end and Gindhart at nose tackle.
Burkman and Jojo Hifo return at inside linebacker. Byford returns at outside linebacker, where he will be joined by Sigler.
Kirchner returns at cornerback and will team with sophomore Nathan Harrison. Elmore and Ison are back at safety.
Senior newcomers Liam Sherwood and Barnes take over the kicking and punting duties.
The Panthers went 3-7 last season, but won their final two Hoosier Hills Conference games. They’ll look to build on that in hopes of a conference title this season.
“That’s definitely one of our goals,” Newton said. “We have the talent to compete with anybody. That’s something these seniors have taken ownership of and preached to the team, whether it comes to the weight room or practice.”
Edinburgh
The Lancers started strong last season, winning their first four games, but then dropped their last five to miss their first winning season this century.
Fourteen players graduated from that team, leaving coach Tyler DeSpain with only one senior and plenty of holes to fill.
“I don’t know if it’s a rebuild,” DeSpain said. “I have expectations that we’ll still be .500 or better.”
Edinburgh dominated its scrimmage with the HomeSchool Southside Crimson Knights on Friday.
“It went really well,” DeSpain said. “Jackson Hartwell and Connor Ramey did a good job of running the ball for us. We scored plenty of touchdowns and didn’t give up any on defense, so that’s positive.”
Junior Caleb Murphy returns at quarterback. Ramey started at running back, and Hartwell also saw significant action in the backfield last season.
Senior Gabe Bennett, who missed last season with an ACL injury, is back at wingback. Junior Jared Myers saw some action in the slot. Junior Luke Fowler a transfer from Seymour, will play receiver, and junior Eli Bryant takes over at tight end.
junior Dakota Graw returns at center. Junior Jaden Childers is back at guard, where he will be joined by junior newcomer Milas Burkman. Junior Tyler Branigin and sophomore Brayden Bailey step in at tackle.
“We’ve changed our offense up,” DeSpain said. “We may be more of a run-heavy team.”
In the Lancers’ 3-4 defense, Burkman and Bailey take over at end, with junior Landon Tetrick at the nose.
Hartwell and Ramey return at inside linebacker. Bryant and junior Irving Luis-Orosco move into the outside linebacker spots.
Sophomore Samson Parkhurst and Myers step in at the corners. Bennett and Murphy take over at safety.
Sophomore Brian Callejas will assume the kicking duties. Ramey will be the punter.
“I think we’re about 25 strong,” DeSpain said. “Numbers are a little down from last year and the year before, but we graduated 24 over the past two years, so that’s to be expected. We are very junior-heavy this year.”
South Decatur
The Cougars will look to build on a 5-5 season in its second year under Rodney Martin.
“Last year, being a new coach taking over the program, it was about learning the kids and the kids learning us,” Martin said. “We struggled at first. This year, it’s been totally different. We had a great offseason, and then through the summer, we were able to expand on things we wanted to do. They knew what we wanted to do offensively and defensively, so the consistency has been good. We have some new kids out.”
Martin saw some areas of improvement his team will need following Friday’s scrimmage at Union County.
“We learned some things about ourselves,” Martin said. “We did some things well, but we used it more about finding where we’re at and what we need to work on Week 1 against North Decatur.”
Senior Jaylen McMurray is back at quarterback after not playing football last season. Sophomore J.P. Scudder also could take some snaps.
“We’re figuring out that we have two kids there that can do some things for us offensively,” Martin said.
Junior Corbin Johnson ran for 1,700 yards last season. Freshman Jayden Jackson-Ray and senior Tyler Bishop also could see carries.
Senior Alex Myers returns at receiver, where he will be joined by seniors Colby Rathburn and Campbell Johannigman. Senior Owen Arreola will be the wingback.
Sophomore Layden Ponsler is back at tackle and will be joined by sophomore Eli Elrod, a move-in from Indian Creek. Junior Toby Bishop and Ian AmRhein return at guard. Brayden Meadows moves from tackle to center.
In a 3-5 defense, Tyler Bishop and Toby Bishop return at end. Junior Austin Adams, who moved back to South Decatur from Texas, takes over at the nose.
AmRhein returns and senior Isaac Gasper return at inside linebacker. Johnson moves from outside to middle linebacker, and Rathburn and Arreola step in at outside linebacker.
Sophomore Garrett Huckleberry is back at corner and will team with Scudder, McMurray or Johannigman. Myers returns at safety.
Senior McKinley Shook is back as the kicker. Arreola takes over the punting duties.
“We return a significant amount of starters on both sides of the ball, and that’s been huge,” Martin said. “We pretty much started in the summer where we left off last year. They’re an exciting group. I’m excited to see what we can do with them this year.”
Brown County
There’s only one direction to go for the Eagles following an 0-10 season.
Brown County has only one senior this year. A young squad got a test against a strong Monrovia team in Friday’s scrimmage.
“We had our moments where we looked good,” Brown County coach Colton Sample said. “I do think that we will be improved on last year, based on the fact that we return quite a bit of our players. By the end of the year, a good majority of our kids that were on the field outside of our offensive and defensive lines are kids that are back now.”
Junior Noah Lewis returns at quarterback. Junior Tommy Buccos is back at running back, and sophomores Asher Stringer and Greyson Mitchell also could see carries.
Juniors Landon Scott and Kody Shugars return at receiver. Sophomore Weston Fulford is back at tight end.
Junior Jackson Daugherty started at center, and could play center or tackle. Junior Liam Cassiday and senior Jessie Fouts return at guard, and sophomore Carter Bare steps in at tackle. Sophomore Eli Young will be at center if Daugherty is at tackle. If Daugherty is a center, Young will play guard, with Fouts sliding over to tackle.
The Eagles employ a 3-4 defense. Bare and Cassiday step in at end, and Daugherty takes over at the nose.
Buccos returns at inside linebacker, where he will be joined by Stringer. Lewis and junior Corey Bartlett will be at outside linebacker.
Scott returns at corner and will be joined by sophomore Korbin Smith. Shugars returns is back at safety and will team with freshman Kyle Cobb .
Scott takes over as the kicker and punter.
“A lot of these kids got some playing time last year,” Sample said. “We’re expecting to take that experience and move forward this year.”
Football schedules for area schools:
Brown County
Friday;at Owen Valley;7 p.m.
Aug. 25;at Jennings County;7 p.m.
Sept. 1;Cloverdale;7 p.m.
Sept. 8;Irvington Prep Academy;7 p.m.
Sept. 15;at West Vigo;7 p.m.
Sept. 22;Greencastle;7 p.m.
Sept. 29;South Putnam;7 p.m.
Oct. 6;at North Putnam;7 p.m.
Oct. 13;at Edgewood;7 p.m.
Edinburgh
Friday;Indianapolis Tindley;7 p.m.
Aug. 25;at Cloverdale;7 p.m.
Sept. 1;at South Decatur;7 p.m.
Sept. 8;Greenwood Christian Academy;7 p.m.
Sept. 15;at North Daviess;7:30 p.m.
Sept., 22;Switzerland County;7 p.m.
Oct. 6;at North Decatur;7 p.m.
Oct. 13;Park Tudor;7 p.m.
Jennings County
Friday;South Dearborn;7 p.m.
Aug. 25;Brown County;7 p.m.
Sept. 1;at New Albany;7 p.m.
Sept. 8;Columbus East;7 p.m.
Sept. 15;Madison;7 p.m.
Sept. 22;at Bedford North Lawrence;7 p.m.
Sept. 29;Seymour;7 p.m.
Oct. 6;at Floyd Central;7 p.m.
Oct. 13;at Jeffersonville;7 p.m.
South Decatur
Friday;at North Decatur;7 p.m.
Aug. 25;Irvington Prep Academy;7 p.m.
Sept. 1;Edinburgh;7 p.m.
Sept. 8;at Crawford County;7 p.m.
Sept. 15;Southside HomeSchool;7 p.m.
Sept. 22;Cloverdale;7:30 p.m.
Sept. 29;Switzerland County;7 p.m.
Oct. 6;at Milan;7 p.m.
Oct. 13;at Dayton (Ohio) Christian;7 p.m.
