> SOUTHERN INDIANA — This week’s “Aftermath” is an evaluation of each team at just past the midway point of the season.

It’s an evaluation of the teams on the field. Whatever mess is going on in the Jeffersonville athletic department certainly isn’t the fault of the players.

How it will affect the Red Devils going forward is anyone’s guess. But to this point, they have been incredibly impressive. That’s where the focus of this feature will be.

Our local seven teams have been solid as a whole, and in some cases, much better than expected.

Here is the evaluation of those seven teams:

 

CLARKSVILLE

There is no better example of a team playing better than predicted than the Generals.

Last week’s 28-0 shutout of Salem was extraordinary on several levels.

First, the shutout was Clarksville’s first since a 45-0 win over Eastern in the Musketeers’ first varsity football season. Aside from that, it had been six years since Clarksville’s defense has been so dominant.

Salem’s offense is pedestrian, at best. However, its defense is not. The Lions had shut down Silver Creek’s explosive offense and shut out North Harrison. The Generals outgained Salem 471-141 and five different Generals got in on the scoring, including a fourth-quarter safety.

The victory came on the heels of a 31-14 loss to Corydon Central, a game in which Clarksville outgained one of the best offenses in the state and held the state’s leading passer — Chase Burton — to under 200 yards passing.

A 67-18 loss to Charlestown in Week 3 seems to have gotten the Generals’ attention. Since then, they have performed at a higher level than anyone expected. At 2-3, Clarksville has several winnable games ahead of them, including a Class 2A Sectional 31 field that includes several beatable teams.

If they get the right draw in the sectional, there’s no reason to believe the Generals can’t be playing late into October.

 

CHARLESTOWN

What more is left to be said? The Class 3A No. 3 Pirates lead the state in scoring at 63.4 points per game.

And the defense has been every bit as good as the offense. They’ve surrendered 56 points, but most of those have come against the second-team defense late in blowouts. They are beating opponents by an average of 52.2 points, also the state’s best.

The schedule hasn’t exactly been murderer’s row. But a 41-3 win over Brownstown Central — the Braves’ only loss to this point — says enough.

Indianapolis Chatard’s 22-point loss to Class 2A Indianapolis Ritter opens the door for hope of a state championship. Doubting this team can do it would be a mistake.

 

FLOYD CENTRAL

We keep banging a drum that’s been beaten to death. But until the Highlanders prove they can stop the run, it’s going to be a long season in the Knobs.

Floyd is a stunning 1-4. The most stunning part is that the biggest question coming into this season — who will replace Kyle Bramble? — has been answered by Garry Posey.

In five games, Floyd is giving up nearly 40 points per outing. Last week, its defense allowed Jeffersonville to score 63 points and gain 659 yards. Concerns don’t come much bigger than that.

Of Floyd’s four remaining games, three are against very good teams and three very good offenses. If the Highlanders don’t find a way to slow down opposing offenses, they could be looking at a seven-game drop off from a year ago.

 

JEFFERSONVILLE

The Red Devils had high expectations coming into the season.

There’s no doubt they have exceeded even the craziest prognostications. The Devils have won four straight – and none of the wins were close – and are a Louisville Eastern fourth-quarter comeback from being unbeaten on the field.

Their 43.4 points per game ranks 18th in Indiana. Their 507 yards per game is mind-boggling, especially considering this is quarterback Tyler Fridley’s first full season under center. Fridley has been shockingly spectacular and he has enough weapons surrounding him to make the Red Devils nearly impossible to defend.

And the defense continues to improve. Over the past two weeks, Jeff’s D has been impenetrable until late in games when the final result has already been decided.

It’s been a strange season and despite the forfeit setback, Jeff has a shot to win the Hoosier Hills Conference when it takes on Columbus East on Oct. 5. East is ranked No. 1 in Class 4A, but the Olympians haven’t seen a team in the same league as Jeff.

Coming into the season, Castle seemed to be the heavy Class 5A Sectional 8 favorite. The Knights may still be the front-runners, but the gap certainly isn’t a large one — assuming the distractions don’t get to them.

 

NEW ALBANY

Coming into Friday’s matchup with Columbus East, New Albany was sitting at 3-1 with nice wins over Providence and Bedford North Lawrence.

East left town with a 31-7 win. But the Bulldogs left Buerk Field with the Olympians’ respect.

After winning a single game a year ago, New Albany has now provided stiff competition for unbeaten Castle and East — even if the score didn’t indicate it in either case.

New Albany is still a year or two away from being true contenders, but there’s no longer any doubt they’ll get there under coach Charlie Fields.

The Bulldogs are 2-1 in the HHC and they’ll be underdogs against Jeffersonville on Sept. 28. However, they project to finish 5-2 or 4-3 in the league and with five or six regular-season wins. It’s been a stunning turnaround and the best is yet to come in New Albany.

 

PROVIDENCE

After a promising start to the season that included back-to-back wins over Floyd Central and Louisville Holy Cross, the Pioneers have slipped in the past two weeks. The losses to Indian Creek and Christian Academy of Louisville had second-year coach Larry Denison questioning his team’s talent and desire.

But the promise is still there. Providence is a young and growing team, but the wins over Floyd and Holy Cross showed that the Pioneers are close to turning the corner.

The problem now is the schedule. Denison’s squad goes to Jeffersonville on Friday to face a Red Devils squad that is shredding every defense it faces. After facing a winless Evansville Bosse team in two weeks, the Pioneers will face two hot rivals — Charlestown and Clarksville.

This could wind up being a memorable season at Providence after all. If the Pioneers hit their stride — and get an advantageous draw — the Sectional 31 field isn’t exactly intimidating.

Only three teams have a winning record in the field and one of those is 3-2. Lawrenceburg and Paoli are the favorites. But if Denison can put the right pieces in the right places, don’t be shocked if the Pioneers are still playing on the last weekend in October.

 

SILVER CREEK

The Dragons reached their first goal of getting a win this season.

For a second-year program, any more success is icing on the cake.

With its potent offense — and Corydon and Charlestown behind the Dragons — Silver Creek believes three of its final four games are winnable.

The Dragons will likely beat Crawford County in their finale. If they can upset North Harrison or Clarksville, a three-win regular season has to be considered a roaring success in Sellersburg.



HOOSIER HILLS REPORT

It’s still East’s title to lose, but Jeffersonville seems to have closed the gap.

 

MID-SOUTHERN REPORT

Just two weeks away from the big MSC showdown: unbeaten and third-ranked Charlestown at undefeated and Class 3A No. 5 Corydon Central.

 

WEEK 5 AWARDS

• Player of the Week: Tyler Fridley, Jeffersonville. The senior quarterback continued his extraordinary season with 340 yards on 15-of-24 passing and three touchdowns. He also ran for 118 yards and scored twice on just six carries. Through five games, Fridley leads the state with 1,511 yards and 19 touchdowns — against two interceptions.

• Team of the Week: Clarksville. The offense was stellar, and the defense was even better. Alex Clark, Marquise Parrish, Nick Jones and Nick Hardin all scored and the defense got a late safety to top off its nearly perfect night.

• Plays of the Week: Charlestown’s late scores. The Pirates led 35-7 after Silver Creek got on the board with a Brooks Howell-to-Dylan Paynter touchdown with 2:40 left until halftime. Charlestown quarterback Aaron Daniel then threw two touchdowns in the final 55 seconds to leave no doubt about the final outcome. He hit Cody Donahue for the second time for a 42-7 lead. Then after the Dragons tried a fake punt, Daniel needed just two plays to get the Pirates on the board again. He ran to the SC 6-yard line, then threw 6 yards to Tyler Odle for his third touchdown of the half.

• Coach of the Week: Steve Cooley, Clarksville. Anytime you can out-coach former state champion coach and Indiana University assistant coach Mo Moriarty, who is the current Salem coach, you’ve done something. There’s no doubt Cooley and his staff did just that.