Week Two Local HS Football Previews
August 25, 2021 at 11:05 p.m.
Warsaw (1-0) at Michigan City (1-0)
When: Friday, 7:30 p.m. EST, Ames Field, Michigan City.
Series (last 35 years): Tied, 1-1.
John Harrell’s prediction: Michigan City, 42-35.
Last meeting: Aug. 28, 2020, Michigan City, 41-21.
About Warsaw: Coach Bart Curtis’ Tigers rolled for 523 rushing yards — led by German Flores-Otega (258 and two touchdowns), Julius Jones (164 and three TD’s) and Curtis Tucker (162 and one TD) — on the way to beating visiting Dublin (Ohio) Coffman 48-23 in Week 1 … Mason Smythe kicked six extra points.
Per Warsaw coach Bart Curtis: On Michigan City — They’re big, fast, physical and play angry. They’ve got a ton of speed and they utilize it well. They get the right people the football in space. Last year they scored six times on us — five were 50 yards or more. They big-played us to death.
Pleasant surprises — The big plays (against Coffman) shocked me a little bit. We showed some resilience. We got down a couple of times early and battled through that.
On Dublin Coffman game — There were some things that we saw that were unexpected but good and some things we need to do a better job on … We had seven penalties for 55 yards. That’s a concern. They were untimely … We missed 22 tackles (on defense). But we had one goal-line and one red-zone stop, which was nice.
About Michigan City: Coach Phil Mason’s Wolves routed visiting South Bend Riley 62-0 in Week 1. Michigan City led 55-0 at halftime.
Northfield (0-1) at Tippecanoe Valley (1-0)
When: Friday, 7 p.m., Smith-Bibler Memorial Field.
Series: Valley leads 39-7.
Last meeting: Valley won 18-10 on Aug. 28, 2020.
Last Northfield win: 27-7 on Sept. 7, 2018.
John Harrell’s prediction: Valley, 24-17.
About Northfield: The Norsemen lost 20-7 against Bluffton in their season opener. … Quarterback Jake Halderman rushed for 50 yards on 10 keepers, but was just 1-of-8 throwing for 3 yards. Northfield finished with 167 ground yards. … The Norsemen, Valley and Peru all tied for second in the Three Rivers Conference last season at 6-2, behind 7-0 Southwood.
About Valley: The Vikings opened by hammering host Wawasee 42-7 in the first-ever meeting between the two Kosciusko County schools. … It was Valley’s 300th win as a program, against 178 losses, its first meeting against any Northern Lakes Conference team since 2002 (a playoff loss to NorthWood that extended the Vikings’ string of defeats vs. NLC clubs to six) and its first win over an NLC school since downing Warsaw 12-0 in 1996. … Valley, which had lost 10 straight openers (all to Culver Academy and Bremen) is pursuing its first 2-0 start since 2007, when it started 6-0. … Braden Shepherd rushed for 90 yards on 12 carries, Nate Parker 69 on eight and Jamasyn Virgil 55 on nine against the Warriors. The Vikings scored six rushing TDs, including two by Dalton Alber. Branson McBrier added 5-of-7 passing for 69 yards. … Sophomore defensive end Kyler Johnson is out this week due to injury, but is expected back next week.
Valley coach Steve Moriarty on last week: “I thought our kids played hard. They came out aggressive. We tried to do a few things off the bat to kind of combat (Wawasee’s) speed and I think our players did well. I was pleased with the effort.”
On Northfield: “My concern is how hard they play. They’re a bit like us, do a good job running the ball, getting off the ball. Their offensive line is aggressive and their team is aggressive. Both teams are kind of made from the same cloth.”
On handling the heat: “We try to make sure we rotate in as much as we can. Last week, we had a rotating door getting in and out of the game, and we’ll do the same thing this week, because we’re going to cramp up a bit. There was a lot of that last week on both sides. (As for practice) we try to cut back, only helmets some days, definitely not full pads because of the heat index. At the same time, we want to keep conditioned, so there are things you have to do. The kids have been in this heat for a while now.”
Triton (1-0) at LaVille (1-0)
When: Friday, 7 p.m., Lancer Field, Lakeville.
Series (last 35 years): LaVille, 26-11.
John Harrell’s prediction: LaVille, 24-7.
Last meeting: Aug. 30, 2019, LaVille, 59-14.
About Triton: Coach Rodney Younis’ Trojans bested visiting South Central (Union Mills) 18-16 in Week 1 … Anthony Schuh ran 25 times for 155 yards and two touchdowns for Triton. Tyler Amsden had five carries for 86 yards and Cole Shively 10 totes for 81. Shively also completed 5-of-15 passes for 28 yards. Amari Snyder caught four of those passes … Snyder (6), Brayden Cunningham (5) and Reilley Wood (5) led the Trojans in total tackles. Dominic Smith intercepted a pass.
Per Triton coach Rodney Younis: On LaVille — (LaVille coach) Will Hostrawser does a very good job with his team. They’re always ready to play. They play physical and they’re not going to do anything to hurt themselves. Our conference is very solid. This is the start of it.
Big plays — We had a few plays (against South Central) where we were able to set them up and hurt them with some counters. It all starts with our front line which did a good job of run blocking.
On South Central game — It started off a little rough. After halftime we settled down and played really well on both sides of the ball. We had a number of younger kids step up and fill some important roles … The first game of the year you’re always going to have mistakes that you hope to correct as the season goes on … Both teams had safeties. We missed an extra point. It came down to a field goal (by the Satellites).
About LaVille: Coach Will Hostrawser’s Lancers won 14-12 at Bremen in Week 1 … Owen Smith scored two touchdowns for the Lancers — one on a 90-yard kickoff return … A failed two-point conversion made the difference in beating the Lions.
Wawasee (0-1) at West Noble (0-1)
When: Friday, 7 p.m., Charger Field, Ligonier.
Series (last 35 years): Wawasee, 4-3.
John Harrell’s prediction: West Noble, 24-21.
Last meeting: Aug. 28, 2020, Wawasee, 31-0.
About Wawasee: Coach Jon Reutebuch’s Warriors lost 42-7 against visiting Tippecanoe Valley in Week 1 … Lucas Ringler rushed 13 times for 39 yards and completed 3-of-8 passes for 18 passes. Jaxon Brown connected on 1-of-4 passes for 42 yards and one touchdown, caught by Ringler in the fourth quarter … Nathaniel Larson (4) led the Warrior defense in total tackles.
Per Wawasee coach Jon Reutebuch:
On West Noble — West Noble is a team also looking for their first win. We are next-door neighbors so it’s a rivalry game. We came out on top last year so they’re probably looking for payback … They have good size. It should be a good matchup … (Against Central Noble), they did about equal amounts passing and throwing. They’re usually a run-first type of team. They feel good about their receivers and their quarterback (Drew Yates) and his ability to throw the ball.
Positive — We did have some sophomores get some playing time and that will help in the future.
On Tippecanoe Valley game — We had a lot of new faces on the field. That overwhelmed us in the beginning of the game. I don’t think mentally we were quite ready for the game … Tippy Valley is a very good team. They’re senior-laden. They played well. Four turnovers hurt us immensely … There was nothing surprising schematically. We thought we could be more physical (than Tippecanoe Valley). All our mistakes were correctable — blocking the wrong people, using the wrong technique, first-game jitters kind of stuff.
About West Noble: Coach Monte Mawhorter’s Chargers lost 21-14 at Central Noble in Week 1.
Whitko (0-1) at Peru (0-1)
When: Friday, 7 p.m., Bengal Field.
Series: Peru leads 4-0.
Last meeting: Peru won 49-14 on Aug. 28, 2020.
John Harrell’s prediction: Peru, 35-14.
About Whitko: The Wildcats fell 39-7 at Prairie Heights in Chip Coldiron’s head coaching debut, while the Panthers ended a string of 17 losses in season openers. … Senior linebacker Tyler Veach led the Whitko defense with 11 tackles and a fumble recovery. The Wildcat offense was limited to 62 total yards, including 33 rushing by senior Izzy Kyles on 12 carries. … Sophomore Jack Hill suffered a likely season-ending knee injury in the first quarter. He was expected to see regular action at wingback and safety in addition to being Whitko’s No. 2 quarterback this season.
About Peru: The Tigers lost 36-8 in their opener at rival Logansport — that after leading 8-7 at the half. Coach Romison Saint-Louis noted that his team “had a lot of people missing,” and was thus more vulnerable to the humid conditions. … Quarterback Levi Strong led Peru with 96 yards on 13 keepers, including a 40-yard TD scamper, to go with 8-of-11 passing for 28 yards.
Whitko coach Chip Coldiron
On last week: “The more times I watch the film, the better I feel. The scoreboard doesn’t indicate how hard we played. We played our butts off, but we had a lot of injuries in the first half. We had to scramble to plug holes. We were a step slower than we need to be, high on our blocks and high on our tackles, things we need to clean up, but most teams had a scrimmage and we didn’t (Whitko’s scheduled one against Oak Hill was canceled), so that made it tough for a first game. You just can’t simulate facing a real opponent.”
On Peru: “They like to run the football. They have some good athletes and they look to be aggressive on defense. It’s going to be who executes the best. I don’t think one team has superior athletes to the other. Maybe I’ll be proved wrong, but we’ll see.”
On growing the roster: “Our roster is up to 36. We’ll have about 30 ready for Friday. I would say we had no more than 20 (available last week). Some of the others didn’t have enough practices yet. Besides our core group of seniors we just don’t have a lot of guys who have played much.”
Warsaw (1-0) at Michigan City (1-0)
When: Friday, 7:30 p.m. EST, Ames Field, Michigan City.
Series (last 35 years): Tied, 1-1.
John Harrell’s prediction: Michigan City, 42-35.
Last meeting: Aug. 28, 2020, Michigan City, 41-21.
About Warsaw: Coach Bart Curtis’ Tigers rolled for 523 rushing yards — led by German Flores-Otega (258 and two touchdowns), Julius Jones (164 and three TD’s) and Curtis Tucker (162 and one TD) — on the way to beating visiting Dublin (Ohio) Coffman 48-23 in Week 1 … Mason Smythe kicked six extra points.
Per Warsaw coach Bart Curtis: On Michigan City — They’re big, fast, physical and play angry. They’ve got a ton of speed and they utilize it well. They get the right people the football in space. Last year they scored six times on us — five were 50 yards or more. They big-played us to death.
Pleasant surprises — The big plays (against Coffman) shocked me a little bit. We showed some resilience. We got down a couple of times early and battled through that.
On Dublin Coffman game — There were some things that we saw that were unexpected but good and some things we need to do a better job on … We had seven penalties for 55 yards. That’s a concern. They were untimely … We missed 22 tackles (on defense). But we had one goal-line and one red-zone stop, which was nice.
About Michigan City: Coach Phil Mason’s Wolves routed visiting South Bend Riley 62-0 in Week 1. Michigan City led 55-0 at halftime.
Northfield (0-1) at Tippecanoe Valley (1-0)
When: Friday, 7 p.m., Smith-Bibler Memorial Field.
Series: Valley leads 39-7.
Last meeting: Valley won 18-10 on Aug. 28, 2020.
Last Northfield win: 27-7 on Sept. 7, 2018.
John Harrell’s prediction: Valley, 24-17.
About Northfield: The Norsemen lost 20-7 against Bluffton in their season opener. … Quarterback Jake Halderman rushed for 50 yards on 10 keepers, but was just 1-of-8 throwing for 3 yards. Northfield finished with 167 ground yards. … The Norsemen, Valley and Peru all tied for second in the Three Rivers Conference last season at 6-2, behind 7-0 Southwood.
About Valley: The Vikings opened by hammering host Wawasee 42-7 in the first-ever meeting between the two Kosciusko County schools. … It was Valley’s 300th win as a program, against 178 losses, its first meeting against any Northern Lakes Conference team since 2002 (a playoff loss to NorthWood that extended the Vikings’ string of defeats vs. NLC clubs to six) and its first win over an NLC school since downing Warsaw 12-0 in 1996. … Valley, which had lost 10 straight openers (all to Culver Academy and Bremen) is pursuing its first 2-0 start since 2007, when it started 6-0. … Braden Shepherd rushed for 90 yards on 12 carries, Nate Parker 69 on eight and Jamasyn Virgil 55 on nine against the Warriors. The Vikings scored six rushing TDs, including two by Dalton Alber. Branson McBrier added 5-of-7 passing for 69 yards. … Sophomore defensive end Kyler Johnson is out this week due to injury, but is expected back next week.
Valley coach Steve Moriarty on last week: “I thought our kids played hard. They came out aggressive. We tried to do a few things off the bat to kind of combat (Wawasee’s) speed and I think our players did well. I was pleased with the effort.”
On Northfield: “My concern is how hard they play. They’re a bit like us, do a good job running the ball, getting off the ball. Their offensive line is aggressive and their team is aggressive. Both teams are kind of made from the same cloth.”
On handling the heat: “We try to make sure we rotate in as much as we can. Last week, we had a rotating door getting in and out of the game, and we’ll do the same thing this week, because we’re going to cramp up a bit. There was a lot of that last week on both sides. (As for practice) we try to cut back, only helmets some days, definitely not full pads because of the heat index. At the same time, we want to keep conditioned, so there are things you have to do. The kids have been in this heat for a while now.”
Triton (1-0) at LaVille (1-0)
When: Friday, 7 p.m., Lancer Field, Lakeville.
Series (last 35 years): LaVille, 26-11.
John Harrell’s prediction: LaVille, 24-7.
Last meeting: Aug. 30, 2019, LaVille, 59-14.
About Triton: Coach Rodney Younis’ Trojans bested visiting South Central (Union Mills) 18-16 in Week 1 … Anthony Schuh ran 25 times for 155 yards and two touchdowns for Triton. Tyler Amsden had five carries for 86 yards and Cole Shively 10 totes for 81. Shively also completed 5-of-15 passes for 28 yards. Amari Snyder caught four of those passes … Snyder (6), Brayden Cunningham (5) and Reilley Wood (5) led the Trojans in total tackles. Dominic Smith intercepted a pass.
Per Triton coach Rodney Younis: On LaVille — (LaVille coach) Will Hostrawser does a very good job with his team. They’re always ready to play. They play physical and they’re not going to do anything to hurt themselves. Our conference is very solid. This is the start of it.
Big plays — We had a few plays (against South Central) where we were able to set them up and hurt them with some counters. It all starts with our front line which did a good job of run blocking.
On South Central game — It started off a little rough. After halftime we settled down and played really well on both sides of the ball. We had a number of younger kids step up and fill some important roles … The first game of the year you’re always going to have mistakes that you hope to correct as the season goes on … Both teams had safeties. We missed an extra point. It came down to a field goal (by the Satellites).
About LaVille: Coach Will Hostrawser’s Lancers won 14-12 at Bremen in Week 1 … Owen Smith scored two touchdowns for the Lancers — one on a 90-yard kickoff return … A failed two-point conversion made the difference in beating the Lions.
Wawasee (0-1) at West Noble (0-1)
When: Friday, 7 p.m., Charger Field, Ligonier.
Series (last 35 years): Wawasee, 4-3.
John Harrell’s prediction: West Noble, 24-21.
Last meeting: Aug. 28, 2020, Wawasee, 31-0.
About Wawasee: Coach Jon Reutebuch’s Warriors lost 42-7 against visiting Tippecanoe Valley in Week 1 … Lucas Ringler rushed 13 times for 39 yards and completed 3-of-8 passes for 18 passes. Jaxon Brown connected on 1-of-4 passes for 42 yards and one touchdown, caught by Ringler in the fourth quarter … Nathaniel Larson (4) led the Warrior defense in total tackles.
Per Wawasee coach Jon Reutebuch:
On West Noble — West Noble is a team also looking for their first win. We are next-door neighbors so it’s a rivalry game. We came out on top last year so they’re probably looking for payback … They have good size. It should be a good matchup … (Against Central Noble), they did about equal amounts passing and throwing. They’re usually a run-first type of team. They feel good about their receivers and their quarterback (Drew Yates) and his ability to throw the ball.
Positive — We did have some sophomores get some playing time and that will help in the future.
On Tippecanoe Valley game — We had a lot of new faces on the field. That overwhelmed us in the beginning of the game. I don’t think mentally we were quite ready for the game … Tippy Valley is a very good team. They’re senior-laden. They played well. Four turnovers hurt us immensely … There was nothing surprising schematically. We thought we could be more physical (than Tippecanoe Valley). All our mistakes were correctable — blocking the wrong people, using the wrong technique, first-game jitters kind of stuff.
About West Noble: Coach Monte Mawhorter’s Chargers lost 21-14 at Central Noble in Week 1.
Whitko (0-1) at Peru (0-1)
When: Friday, 7 p.m., Bengal Field.
Series: Peru leads 4-0.
Last meeting: Peru won 49-14 on Aug. 28, 2020.
John Harrell’s prediction: Peru, 35-14.
About Whitko: The Wildcats fell 39-7 at Prairie Heights in Chip Coldiron’s head coaching debut, while the Panthers ended a string of 17 losses in season openers. … Senior linebacker Tyler Veach led the Whitko defense with 11 tackles and a fumble recovery. The Wildcat offense was limited to 62 total yards, including 33 rushing by senior Izzy Kyles on 12 carries. … Sophomore Jack Hill suffered a likely season-ending knee injury in the first quarter. He was expected to see regular action at wingback and safety in addition to being Whitko’s No. 2 quarterback this season.
About Peru: The Tigers lost 36-8 in their opener at rival Logansport — that after leading 8-7 at the half. Coach Romison Saint-Louis noted that his team “had a lot of people missing,” and was thus more vulnerable to the humid conditions. … Quarterback Levi Strong led Peru with 96 yards on 13 keepers, including a 40-yard TD scamper, to go with 8-of-11 passing for 28 yards.
Whitko coach Chip Coldiron
On last week: “The more times I watch the film, the better I feel. The scoreboard doesn’t indicate how hard we played. We played our butts off, but we had a lot of injuries in the first half. We had to scramble to plug holes. We were a step slower than we need to be, high on our blocks and high on our tackles, things we need to clean up, but most teams had a scrimmage and we didn’t (Whitko’s scheduled one against Oak Hill was canceled), so that made it tough for a first game. You just can’t simulate facing a real opponent.”
On Peru: “They like to run the football. They have some good athletes and they look to be aggressive on defense. It’s going to be who executes the best. I don’t think one team has superior athletes to the other. Maybe I’ll be proved wrong, but we’ll see.”
On growing the roster: “Our roster is up to 36. We’ll have about 30 ready for Friday. I would say we had no more than 20 (available last week). Some of the others didn’t have enough practices yet. Besides our core group of seniors we just don’t have a lot of guys who have played much.”