Miners, Cougars to meet again in sectional championship game

Linton-Stockton back Kaleb Bridges (34) uses several blocks by Miner football teammates to break through the line for a big gain against North Knox last week. The Miners will host North Daviess at 7 p.m. Friday at Roy Williams Field in the Class A Sectional 40 championship game. Tickets are $5 and Miner Pride Passes cannot be accepted for this Indiana High School Athletic Association tournament event. (By B.J. Hargis/Greene County Daily World). [Order this photo]

Is it a revenge game for the Miners, who lost to the Cougars 34-6 on the same field Sept. 15?

Is it a payback game for North Daviess, who fell to Linton-Stockton 18-16 in the sectional title game a year ago, also at Roy Williams Field?

The Miners should have ultimate confidence having posted a four-game winning streak entering the sectional finale. They have defeated Union (Dugger) and North Central to end the regular season and Tecumseh and North Knox in the first two rounds of the state tournament.

They have scored 224 points, exactly 56 points per game, during this run of success, which has coincided with the change back to the wing-T, featuring two tight ends.

The Miner defense has given up just 31 points in those four victories, slightly more than a touchdown per game.

"We are just tickled to be playing," said Linton-Stockton coach Steve Weber. "Nobody would have given us a chance to still be playing.

"We have put ourselves in a position to be playing for a sectional title."

Linton-Stockton's season numbers include scoring over 35 points per game, while yielding 13. The point-total against the Warriors were the most given up by the Miners this season.

They limited North Knox to 42 yards of total offense in a 44-0 victory over the Warriors in the sectional semifinals Oct. 30.

"Our defense has been pretty consistent all season," said Linton-Stockton coach Steve Weber, who has won three sectionals (2008, 2007, 2004) and two regionals (2007, 2004) in his 10 seasons in charge of the Miners. "Even when we were struggling offensively, our defense played well enough for us to win."

North Daviess also will not be lacking for confidence. If not for a 14-6 loss to Class 3A Washington, who also is playing for a sectional championship Friday night, the Cougars, ranked No. 4 in the final Class A poll, would be undefeated.

They are averaging over 45 points while allowing just over six. The Cougars have only given up as many as 14 twice, in the loss to Washington and a 40-point victory over Eastern Greene.

Jano Davis, a converted fullback, runs the show at quarterback. He is not known for throwing, but completed a 6-yard touchdown pass to Corey Stuffle. He was 3 of 3 for 73 yards, two to Jess Tribby for 65 yards, in the first game against Linton-Stockton.

The other Cougar score against Perry Central came as a result of a recovered fumble in the end zone. Davis booted two extra points as the Cougars eliminated Perry Central from the playoff for the second straight season.

"Our guys persevered through some tough conditions and we had to be patient," North Daviess coach Scott Helms told the Washington Times Herald after the win over Perry. "We told them all week that the weather was going to be bad, and it was one of those games where you're not going to move the ball very well throughout much of the game.

"Nights like this are when the fundamentals show up. Usually, the team that puts it on the ground the least is the winner."

Ryan Webster, Dalton Sellers and Jess Tribby are the other cast of characters in the Cougar backfield.

Webster had 32 rushes for 160 yards and four TDs in the first meeting with the Miners.

"We just got beat by a good football team. They just outplayed us," Weber said after that regular-season setback to the Cougars. "North Daviess is a quality football program and is well coached.

"It will be at home, giving our fans a chance to see us compete against a good team for a sectional championship."

Going into the Perry Central game, Webster had 199 rushes for 1,860 yards and 25 touchdowns, fifth in the state with an average of 186 yards per game.

"Ryan seems to get stronger as the game goes on," said Helms. "He loves the physical contact."

The Miners have been led offensively by senior wingback Evan Magni, who has rushed for 1,221 yards on 123 attempts. 9.9 yards per carry. He has rushed for 10 scores and accounted for 16 total touchdowns.

Kaleb Brides had three TDs and 147 yards rushing in the victory over North Knox. For the season, He has averaged over eight yards per carry and 11 touchdowns, 12 total.

Converted lineman Stefan Sparks, who still keys the defense from his linebacker position, has scored five TDs and averaged almost seven yards per carry at fullback since the shift in offense.

"Linton is a very good football team," said Helms. "It is never easy to go to Roy Williams and get a win."

Weber said there has a been another benefit from this run through the playoffs.

"We just get a chance to keep playing and not a lot of teams are out there still playing," Weber said of the state tournament that is down to 80 teams vying for a chance to go to the regional Nov. 13. "And for our younger kids, it's valuable to them for the reps they're getting."

The two teams have met 43 times previously, with the Miners having a 29-14 advantage in the series that dates back to 1971, three years after the consolidation to form NDHS in 1968.

This will be the fifth time the two schools have met in the Class A playoffs, including the third in the title contest.

The Miners won 40-0 at Elnora in a first-round tournament game in 1988. Ten years later, Linton-Stockton defeated the Cougars 42-27 at Cougar Valley for a sectional title.

In 2001, the Cougars defeated the Miners 14-0 at Roy Williams Field in the semifinals. This came after Linton-Stockton won 31-0 at home in the regular season.

Last year the Miners held on for the two-point victory over ND, claiming their seventh sectional title.

The Cougars have won two sectional championships -- 1983 and 1993.

Tickets are $5.

"We want them bad," Bridges said. "They pretty much put it to us during the regular season, we're ready for them. I think it'll be a real good game."