The Sword victory latest confirmation of McCutcheon football's rapid rise

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WEST LAFAYETTE — Cason Trader hoisted The Sword into the air awaiting the ensuing swarm from his McCutcheon football teammates.

Trader was all by himself, though, as he pointed the Tippecanoe School Corp. traveling trophy — battled for since 1975 and symbolic of upending your biggest rival — into the air while the celebration continued about 10 yards away.

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Forgive the Mavericks for being unprepared.

It's been nearly a decade since they were on the winning side against Harrison.

But for 48 minutes at Rickard Field on Friday, Sept. 18, McCutcheon was fully prepared for all the moments that would lead up to Trader being handed The Sword, which no Maverick player has held following a victory since 2017.

That nine-year drought ended thanks to a swarming defense and a bulldozing offensive line combined with an opportunistic Karson Smith, who threw two touchdown passes to Trader and another to Jax Jenkinson in McCutcheon's 21-0 victory, ending an eight-game losing streak to Harrison.

"I've been envisioning it since third grade, it's the last time we won it," said McCutcheon senior offensive lineman Luke Anderson, one of the catalysts for the Maverick offense draining nearly the entire fourth quarter clock with a run game that did just enough to keep moving the chains. "It's been a dream."

It wasn't just The Sword victory — although after nine years, that's a nice latest validation that McCutcheon's football program is trending up.

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It was the late game-winning drive to beat West Lafayette on Aug. 28, three quarters of competitive football against Lafayette Jeff before crashing in the fourth quarter, followed by now two consecutive shutouts, coupling Friday with last week's 23-0 victory over Culver Academies.

Things started changing quickly and for the better when Mike Fenters was hired as head coach in March.

"He set the tone for us," senior Brodyn Sharp said. "We saw that and how he was working. He set the tone for us and we followed."

Setting the tone was a theme against a Harrison football team Friday night missing some of its best players due to injuries.

McCutcheon's defense forced a three-and-out on Harrison's opening drive, followed by two more forced punts after that. Harrison's best drive, getting inside the 10 late in the first half, ended with McCutcheon junior defensive back Cooper Illes scooping up a fumble.

"They are athletically better than us across the board. They have more kids than we do," Fenters said. "They've had more success as a program. Ultimately, sometimes, those intangible things of just a strong desire to win and a strong desire to not quit, sometimes those things actually matter.

"Our kids just bought into it and I'm so extremely proud of them for having this moment, for being able to share that, and being able to show the guys underneath, hey, it's possible. It's not something we're going to wait another nine years for."

All the progress over the past six months needed confirmation that McCutcheon had closed the gap on its biggest rival, though. That came in dominating fashion.

McCutcheon's last victory over Harrison was 21-7 in 2017. Harrison's eight consecutive victories before Friday night came by an average margin of 25.6 points and none were decided by single digits.

Prior to Friday night, Harrison had been shut out just twice since the start of the 2014 season and not since a sectional loss to 2024 Class 6A runner-up Westfield in the sectional tournament that year.

McCutcheon's motto this season is "reset the standard."

A three-touchdown victory over Harrison goes a long way in doing just that.

"It's the best feeling in the world," Anderson said. "Four years (we've) been waiting for it. It's a great win."

Sam King covers sports for the Journal & Courier. Email him at [email protected] and follow him on X and Instagram @samueltking.

This article originally appeared on Lafayette Journal & Courier: The Sword victory latest confirmation of McCutcheon football's rapid rise

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