How McCutcheon football is approaching its final scrimmage against an Indiana powerhouse

LAFAYETTE - The McCutcheon football team is preparing for one more look at its summer progress when it scrimmages against Carmel this Friday.

One last preseason game with the training wheels against against one of the sterling programs in Indianapolis that has won two of its 10 state championships in Class 6A.

"We have the utmost respect for coach (John) Hebert and the Greyhounds, how they do things and how they handle themselves as a program," McCutcheon coach Josh Strasser said. "We want to scrimmage teams like that to help us prepare. This scrimmage is going to tell us who is ready to play and who is not."

McCutcheon will gets its first physical test against Carmel senior offensive lineman Evan Parker. Parker is a 3-star recruit who committed to Indiana in 2023 and held offers from Ball State, Bowling Green, Austin Peay and Akron.

Returning junior offensive lineman Mikah Bell shared how his team is approaching Friday before kicking off the regular season next Friday at Guerin Catholic.

"We just hope to execute, play aggressive and play with the right mindset," Bell said. "Making sure we are going out every play, playing at 100%."

The scrimmage against Carmel will be the first time senior quarterback Lonnie Griffin plays organized 11-on-11 after competing in exhibitions during the summer against Ben Davis, Michigan City, and Chicago suburban teams Crete Monee and Kankakee.

More: How Central Catholic football hopes to become a 'championship team' in 2024

Griffin played linebacker last season and now transitions to the offensive side of the ball full time.

"Obviously I'm really excited because we have a competitive championship team coming here," Griffin said. "We treat it like every other game, give them a run for their money, get some good looks that day and get ourselves ready for next week."

Ethan Hanson is the sports reporter for the Journal & Courier in Lafayette. He can be reached at ehanson@jconline.com , on Twitter at EthanAHanson and Instagram at ethan_a_hanson .

This article originally appeared on Lafayette Journal & Courier: How McCutcheon football is approaching its final scrimmage against an Indiana powerhouse