On Sept. 30, the Greyhounds head to Lucas Oil Stadium to battle the Warren Central Warriors. This contest will be the Greyhound’s biggest challenge yet.

Warren Central is ranked No. 1 in the state while Carmel is ranked No. 2. Both Carmel and Warren are undefeated heading into this game at 5-0. Nationally, the Warriors have been ranked as high as 25th while Carmel is currently ranked 44th in the Xcellent 25 Writer’s Poll. Head Coach Kevin Wright said those rankings are significant in terms of how his team will prepare.

“The big thing when you play a great team, especially in the regular season, is that you have to avoid mistakes and beating yourself,” Head Coach Kevin Wright said.

Warren is led on offense by quarterback and senior Kyle Faunce. He has 59 completions for 930 yards for an average of 186 yards per game. Complementing the Warriors passing attack is Deionte Buckley, running back and senior, who averages 121.2 yards per game. There are many things about Warren that we have to specifically address, Head Coach Kevin Wright said.

Warren’s offensive line is huge,” Wright said. “The average lineman weighs about 290 pounds across the front on the offensive line. They average 265 to 270 pounds on the defensive line. They are bigger than us on paper, but that doesn’t necessarily mean much. I think both sides of the line will probably be the key to the game.”

On defense, the Warriors are led by Sheldon Day, who leads the team with a total of five sacks this year. Defensive back Jordan Shine has two interceptions to go with 23 tackles and 15 assisted tackles. Junior Tim Kimbrough Jr. led the team with 43 tackles, 37 assists and five tackles for losses prior to their last game.

“I think that when you look at Warren, they have always had really good skilled athletes, and what sets them apart this year is probably the fact that they are really good up front on the defensive and offensive lines,” Wright said.

Carmel’s high powered offense, which is outscoring opponents 50.16 to 6.83 per game, is led by quarterback and senior Brandon Denning. He is 27-of-40 passing with a 68 percent completion rate. He has 432 passing yards. Denning also poses a dual-threat with 280 rushing yards in 35 carries. His average is eight yards per carry. Denning has scored nine total touchdowns. Carmel’s potent rushing attack is led by senior Jalen Duncan, who has 783 rushing yards in 91 carries for an average of 8.6 yards per carry. He averages 156.6 yards per game. Duncan has 12 total touchdowns so far this year.

Other key offensive players for the Greyhounds are senior Damien Pennington who averages 7.5 yards per carry. He has also scored five rushing touchdowns and one receiving touchdown. Additionally, Freshman Chris Perkins has rushed for 204 yards in 25 carries (8.16 yards per carry) and has scored two touchdowns so far this season.

“I think that our biggest challenge is that our offensive linemen need to play very well. We have to be able to move the ball on the ground which will open up gains for throwing. We can’t be one dimensional,” Wright said.

These two powers have a history of playing great games in Lucas Oil Stadium. The last time these two met in downtown Indianapolis, Warren narrowly defeated the Greyhounds in overtime in the 2009-10 State Championship game. That experience may come in handy on Friday night.

“I don’t think that (playing in Lucas Oil Stadium) is a distraction, Wright said. “The thing about Lucas Oil when you play down there the crowd’s a little bit away; it’s a whole different feel, so I don’t think it’s a distraction. I think it’s a neat experience to go play there and hopefully you get to play there for the State Championship game, but that’s not a given. But in reality I think that there are pros and cons when you move a big rivalry game because this is supposed to be our home game. I think that home games at Carmel are awful special.”

“I am interested to see how we play when we are challenged because we really haven’t been challenged so far, “Wright added. We will find a little bit more about ourselves in the last four weeks of the regular season.”