Week 2 preview: Won’t take them ‘lite’ly: After loss to North Judson, Culver to visit South Central

BY VAL TSOUTSOURIS

Sports Editor, RTC

Culver (0-1) at South Central (Union Mills) (0-1), 7:30 p.m. Eastern

Culver trailed Class 1A, No. 3 North Judson 6-0 after one quarter last week, but the lead sprouted to 27-0 by halftime, and the Mercy Rule was instituted before the third quarter was over in a 47-0 loss.

Culver is now 0-10 in their last 10 meetings against the Blue Jays, and three of the losses have been by shutout.

North Judson outgained the Cavaliers 465-99. Ryan Beem and Ethan Binion had two receptions each, and Binion also ran for 44 yards.

“We started out the game really well,” Culver first-year coach Austin Foust said. “Jonas McCuen hit a couple nice pass plays and Binion broke off a run. … We took a nice opening drive, took it right at them. Jonas threw a nice ball. It was a little bit more of a 50-50 ball, but credit to the Judson kid: He came down with the play, and I think we threw an interception at the 5-yard line.

“Then we made them really work for it for their first touchdown. Then we gave up two big touchdowns on pass plays in the first half that broke the game open. It really should have been like a 14-0 ballgame than 27-0, but I thought defensively Jonas McCuen did a good job coming up on run support from the safety position. I thought Jack Rodgers, in his first start at inside backer for us, I thought he played well. I thought Logan Caudill did some good things up front for us on the d-line as well.”

Culver will try to rebound against a South Central team that they routed 61-0 in last year’s sectional semifinals. Culver has knocked South Central out of the sectional each of the last two years. They have won the last three meetings against South Central by a combined score of 111-16.

South Central lost their opener 30-6 to Triton last week.

“They’re improved from last year,” Foust said of South Central. “Last year was a down season for them, but they’ve got pretty much everybody back. They got a four-year varsity starter at quarterback (Zack Hanchar), and they’ve got a four-year varsity starter at running back (Aaron Hogan). They love to throw the ball back, so our secondary is obviously going to have their work cut out, especially since we gave up two big pass plays last week. So obviously, we’ve got to get that shored up.”

This will be the teams’ last nonconference meeting. South Central joins the Hoosier North for football only next year.