Football: First Round Sectional preview

Guerin Catholic hosts first-time opponent West Vigo

By CRAIG ADKINS

For The Reporter

Class 3A Sectional 29: West Vigo (4-5) at 3A No. 14 Guerin Catholic (4-5)

The Guerin Catholic Golden Eagles get to work in sectional play at home and face a first-time opponent. The West Vigo Vikings hail from West Terre Haute and are part of the Western Indiana Conference, Green Division.

Guerin started the season 3-0 with wins at home over McCutcheon (36-17), at Lebanon (35-31) and back at home over Heritage Christian (53-34).

Then, the meat of the schedule showed its grit. The Golden Eagles lost four in a row mid-season against Brebeuf Jesuit (69-62), at Roncalli (38-23), at Bishop Chatard (48-13) and at home versus Pike (42-3).

The Brebeuf game saw numerous school and state records be set by quarterback Malcolm Houze with 40 completions, 56 attempts and 638 yards and eight TD passes and wide receiver Hayden Cler, who also set a single-game national record for receptions (26) in a game. That went along with his 396 yards and six touchdown catches.

Since then, the ship has been turned around. With a convincing win at Class 5A Terre Haute North (41-18), strides were made in a heartbreaking loss at Class 2A No. 1 Lafayette Central Catholic (22-21) to close out the regular season. Guerin held the lead until the Knights mounted a comeback late in the game.

Senior Malcolm Houze leads the offense by completing 157 of 257 passes (61.1 percent) for 1,955 yards, with 23 TDs and just five interceptions. He’s also ran 57 times for 366 yards and another eight scores.

Junior Jack Linden leads the backfield with 740 yards on 148 carries and five touchdowns. Freshman Kolbe Klee has come on since mid-season, rushing 50 for 239 and has also caught seven for 50 yards.

Senior Hayden Cler is on top of the receivers chart, catching 61 for 781 yards and 10 TDs. Sophomore Aidan Horn has 29 receptions for 424 yards and seven touchdowns, while junior Trevor Macey has 22 for 342 and four scores and senior Julian Melendez 12 for 135 at the tight end position.

Defensively, Guerin is anchored by senior Dylan Vargas (97 tackles), junior Aiden Ferry (eight pass deflections) and senior Dominic Elliott with 88 each. Junior Quentin Klee has 84 stops and senior Elias Niccum 66 and seven sacks.

Aaron Clements is in his third season with West Vigo and is 10-20. Overall, Clements is 18-32 with two previous seasons at Tell City (8-12) in 2018-19 before heading to Terre Haute.

The Vikings are led by quarterback Landon Fields. The junior is 45 of 96 passing for 724 yards with four TDs and six interceptions. Fields has also run 32 times for 130 and a score.

A run first offense, Jacob Dewey is the leading rusher with 909 yards on 134 runs (6.8 average). The tandem of Ryan Cobb (505) and Connor Wallace (480) help account for the 2,114 rushing yards as a team for a 7.1 yard per carry average.

Chase Hedden has caught 19 of Fields’ passes for 324 yards and a TD.

West Vigo started off the season 1-3, opening with a loss at 2A No. 5 South Vermillion 49-0. WV got a narrow 28-26 win at Parke Heritage in Week 2, but then lost consecutive games at home to Greencastle (42-13) and Northview (49-7).

From that point, the Vikings won at Brown County (50-29), but then lost at home to Class 1A South Putnam (32-0) and at North Putnam (56-22).

West Vigo heads into sectional action with two wins in a row against Cloverdale (34-33) and at Sullivan (12-7).

The Golden Eagles last won a sectional in 2014, its fourth in the short history of Guerin Catholic football. The Vikings won their lone sectional championship in 1985.