On The Gridiron Capsules
October 13, 2016 at 4:21 p.m.
By Staff Report-
Kickoff: 7 p.m. Friday in Warsaw
Coaches: Craig Koehler (Concord), Phil Jensen (Warsaw)
Records: Concord 5-3 (4-2 NLC), Warsaw 5-3 (4-2 NLC)
Last Game: NorthWood 61, Warsaw 24; Concord 31, Northridge 19
Last Year: Concord 22, Warsaw 17
Matchup: With the Northern Lakes Conference championship wrapped up in NorthWood's 61-24 win over Warsaw last week, the Tigers find themselves in a three-team battle for second place heading into the final week of the regular season. Warsaw, Concord and Goshen are all 4-2 in league play. Warsaw entertains Concord Friday at Fisher Field, while Goshen travels to Wawasee. In the loss at Andrews Field, the Tigers gave up 38 points in the second quarter alone. Prior to that, Warsaw had only given up more than 17 points in a game just once this season. Facing a Concord team that features a dynamic receiver in Cedric Mitchell (who with 17 catches for 475 yards and 8 TDs averages 28 yards per reception), the Tigers will be without the services of key defensive players Lane McClone and AJ Villareal. McClone (tops on the team with 43.5 tackles) is out with a shoulder injury, while Villareal (4th with 28.5 tackles) is out with a rib injury. Offensively, the Tigers are led by quarterback Michael Jensen, who has completed 100 of 185 pass attempts for 1,438 yards and 17 touchdowns with five interceptions, two of which came in the NorthWood game. D'Andre Street leads all Warsaw receivers with 33 catches for 438 yards and 11 scores, while Jeremy David has 27 catches for 440 yards and two TDs and Devin Street has 13 catches for 224 yards and a pair of scores. Concord's Jack Lietzan has completed 60 of 126 attempts for 1,006 yards and 11 TDs against one interception. Dominick Debroka leads the Mintumen in rushing with 108 carries for 773 yards and five TDs, while Lietzan has 370 rushing yards and 10 scores. Warsaw and Concord first played in 1964, and the overall series is tied 26-26. The Mintumen have won eight of the last 10 meetings.
Jensen: "I didn't realize how young Concord is. I think they only have 13 seniors. That explains some of the inconsistencies early in the season, but don't get me wrong, they're a good football team. They've settled in, and they're running the ball well. Their quarterback runs the ball well. I think they wanted to come out and throw the ball all over the field, and that hasn't happened, but they've still got Cedric Mitchell … who is a big play-maker. We've still got a lot to play for. The all-sports trophy is important to us, and we can earn more points toward that if we finish second in the conference. That also gives you more selections on the all-conference team. We've got a lot play for still."
TIPPECANOE VALLEY AT SOUTHWOOD (TRC)
Kickoff: 7 p.m. Friday in Wabash
Coaches: Jeff Shriver, Aarron Norris (Valley), Dave Snyder (Southwood)
Records: Southwood 5-3 (3-3 TRC), Valley 3-5 (3-3 TRC)
Last Game: Southwood 42, Maconaquah 9; Valley 21, Wabash 13
Last Meeting: Southwood 58, Valley 29 (Sept. 12, 2014)
Matchup: After losing their first five games, the Tippecanoe Valley Vikings go into Friday's Three Rivers Conference playoff game at Southwood on a three-game win streak. The Knights have won three of their last four contests, including a convincing 42-9 win over Maconaquah last week. Valley has won four of the last six meetings with Southwood, though the Knights have won the two most-recent meetings. The teams did not play in 2015, the first year of the North and South divisions in the TRC. Valley's Alec Craig has completed 46 of 99 pass attempts this season for 591 yards and nine TDs with eight interceptions. His favorite targets have been Bryce Webster (16-208, 1 TD) and Jarod Duzenbery (10-156, 5 TDs). DJ Heckman leads Valley's ground game with 60 yards and four scores on 102 carries. Southwood's offense is led by its passing game. Carson Blair has completed 112 of 192 attempts for 1,938 yards and 25 TDs with just four interceptions. Peyton Trexler leads all Southwood receivers with 31 catches for 796 yards and 10 TDs, while Blake Martz has 29 catches for 526 yards and 10 TDs and Zach Ball has 22 receptions for 356 yards and four scores. Matt Cox paces Southwood's Ground game with 688 yards and five TDs on 102 carries.
Shriver: "Southwood is a very good football team with some very good athletes. They have a big, strong offensive line, and defensively they have big, strong players. We've got our hands full. We're trying to get better each week fundamentally. The whole time I've been a coach, I've always said 'no team stays the same, you either get better or worse.' Obviously we're trying to get better and keep this momentum going."
WHITKO AT PERU (TRC)
Kickoff: 7 p.m. Friday in Peru
Coaches: Jeff Sprunger (Whitko), Bob Prescott (Peru)
Records: Whitko 6-2 (4-2 TRC), Peru 6-2 (5-1 TRC)
Last Game: Northfield 34, Whitko 12; North Miami 43, Peru 34
Last Year: Peru 19, Whitko 7
Matchup: After winning their first five games of the season, the Whitko Wildcats have lost two of their last three. Whitko goes into its Three Rivers Conference game at Peru on the heels of a 34-12 loss to Northfield, who is the No. 1 seed in the TRC North Division and will play at North Miami for the league title Friday. Whitko's offensive bread-and-butter this season has been the running game, which has produced 2,624 yards and 35 touchdowns. Garrett Elder spearheads the ground game and enters Week 9 with 1,353 yards and 19 TDs on 104 carries, while Hunter Reed has tallied 913 yards and 13 scores on 160 carries. Quarterback Collin Craig has attempted just 33 passes this season, completing 16 of them for 260 yards with three TDs and an interception. Peru opened its season with a loss to Logansport, then won six in a row before falling 43-34 to North Miami last week.
Sprunger: "Peru is a team that is simply going to try and overpower us. They slam a lot of bodies in a small space and run the ball very well because of it. We again need to play disciplined football and be solid tacklers. We need to play this game looking to clean our offense and defense up, and use this to help us prepare for the sectional. This will be a tough game, and we will have to grind out a victory much like you do in the high school playoffs."
GOSHEN AT WAWASEE (NLC)
Kickoff: 7 p.m. Friday in Syracuse
Coaches: Kyle Park (Goshen); Josh Ekovich (Wawasee)
Records: Goshen 6-2 (4-2 NLC); Wawasee 4-4 (2-4 NLC)
Last week: Goshen 7, Plymouth 2; Wawasee 38, Elkhart Memorial 14
Last year: Goshen 20, Wawasee 0
Matchup: Goshen went 0-10 in park's first season in 2014, 5-5 last year, and have already topped that win number for this season with a squad that is senior-heavy. Senior quarterbacks Clayton Detweiler and Charlie Collins have combined to pass for 1,470 yards and 10 touchdowns. Most of those catches, yards and scoring plays went to senior Rummel Johnson, with 48 receptions for 807 yards and seven TDs. Among the RedHawks' receiving corps, the only underclassmen to average more than one catch per game are juniors Austin Bontrager and Brandon Holley. Senior running back Jeff Stoll is averaging just under 100 yards a game rushing, and senior Dylan Back averages better than five yards a carry, and they have five rushing touchdowns each. In Friday's win over Memorial, Wawasee scored at least five first-half touchdowns for the second time this season (West Noble on Aug. 26), but had just one field goal after halftime.
Ekovich: "We had a few more penalties than we wanted to (against Memorial) but we came out and put it to them pretty quick there in the first quarter and a half. Then we got a little complacent, which is something we're working on this week. Goshen has skills; they run the ball well, and they have guys who can throw it well. They're a good team. It's senior night, and a rivalry game, and the kids are really focused on getting the 'W.'"
TRITON AT WEST CENTRAL (HNAC)
Kickoff: 7 p.m. Friday in Francesville
Coaches: Ron Brown (Triton); Marc Hall (West Central)
Records: Triton (0-8, 0-7 HNAC); West Central 1-7 (0-7 HNAC)
Last week: Knox 34, Triton 33 (3OT); West Central 38, Frontier 24
Last year: Triton 13, West Central 12
Matchup: The loser of this game gets the storm cellar of the HNAC for another year. But for teams that have one win between them this season, both come in with some momentum. West Central scored almost as many points last week in its win over Frontier (38) as in the other seven games combined (44). Sophomore quarterback Brayden Kletz is passing for 36 yards a game and has as many touchdowns (3) as interceptions. But West Central (also known as the Trojans) will want to run the ball; Senior Nick Vallad and sophomore Collin Fritz have 74 and 70 carries, respectively, 18 more than anyone else on the team. Senior running back Adrian Villarreal has only played in six games and is third in carries with 54. But as a steam West Central has 924 yards rushing and 1,212 yards of total offense in eight games. Brown said while no one around Triton's football program is in to moral victories, the triple overtime game with Knox did boost the team's confidence. They got off to a fast start, with a season-long eight-minute drive early. That drive came up empty, but Triton took the lead with a pair of scores. When Knox came back to tie, Triton held a lead in the second overtime, and only a missed PAT kept the game from going on to a fourth overtime. Sophomore James "Bo" Snyder passed for a career-high three touchdowns, including two in the extra sessions. Senior Zac Pitney continues to be a favorite target of Snyder's with 20 yards a catch and a pair of touchdowns.
Brown: "After the game you could obviously see the kids were distraught. That shows me that they actually, really care and they're willing to put in the effort to win. We were able to do what we wanted to do on offense without having those errors, those little things that'll kill you, like turnovers or penalties all over the place. And we were able to do it against a team (Knox) that's not a joke; they'll probably win a sectional title this year. It shows are kids are capable of playing against some big teams, and they still have a lot of football left year, if they choose to invest in that. We're still going to go into this week like we did against Knox. We know the plays they want to run, and we know what they want to do. But we're going to focus on us, and that formula worked well for us last week. We want to attack them; we don't want to wait and see what they're going to do, just like we did with Knox.
MANCHESTER AT WABASH (TRC)
Kickoff: 7 p.m. Friday in Wabash
Coaches: Greg Miller (Manchester), Floyd McWhirt (Wabash)
Records: Manchester 1-7 (1-5 TRC); Wabash 4-4 (2-4 TRC)
Last week: Manchester 42, Rochester 27; Tippecanoe Valley 21, Wabash 13
Last game: Wabash 28, Manchester 14 (Sept. 2)
Matchup: Detractors of the current Three Rivers Conference playoff format say it will create too many rematches. This year, the opening round of sectionals has more rematches (2) than the TRC playoff. The two teams met in the opening week of TRC play, and Manchester was down one score late. Wabash senior quarterback Sammy Hipskind and senior running back Luke Proctor returned from injury last week against Valley, but both looked a bit like they hadn't practiced in quite a while. Proctor got hot in the second half, but by then it was too late to catch the Vikings. Meanwhile, Manchester got off the schnide when junior quarterback Hayes Sturtsman found senior Kane Gable four times for 164 yards and three touchdowns. Manchester will need to eliminate many, if not all, of the mistakes it tends to make to avenge the Week 3 loss.
Miller: "It would have been nice to get that first win earlier, but we'll take them any time we can get them. We've stayed the course, and I think the kids enjoy practice, especially now that it's getting cooler out. We're still working on the little things we need to do right to be successful. Watching film; we got the win but we didn't play perfect. So we'll work on correcting those mistakes and use the Rochester game as a stepping stone to bigger and better things to come. I think we're peaking or coming into our own at the perfect time, and with the second season coming soon, we're feeling pretty good about where we are. We went back and dissected our game plan from the first Wabash game, and we'll make some changes to put our kids in better situations. On Monday we went back and watched the game film from the first Wabash game, only this time as a scout film instead of a teaching film. We found places where we can get better, and we have to cut down on the mistakes we made. I thought we played pretty well up through the first half against them; they had a late drive in the half and put it in (the end zone) and then we came out in the third quarter and we had a bad snap on a punt. So it was bad news at the end of the first half and the beginning of the second, but overall I thought we played pretty well. We're confident in that, and hopefully we can take that Friday night and go out and get another win."
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Kickoff: 7 p.m. Friday in Warsaw
Coaches: Craig Koehler (Concord), Phil Jensen (Warsaw)
Records: Concord 5-3 (4-2 NLC), Warsaw 5-3 (4-2 NLC)
Last Game: NorthWood 61, Warsaw 24; Concord 31, Northridge 19
Last Year: Concord 22, Warsaw 17
Matchup: With the Northern Lakes Conference championship wrapped up in NorthWood's 61-24 win over Warsaw last week, the Tigers find themselves in a three-team battle for second place heading into the final week of the regular season. Warsaw, Concord and Goshen are all 4-2 in league play. Warsaw entertains Concord Friday at Fisher Field, while Goshen travels to Wawasee. In the loss at Andrews Field, the Tigers gave up 38 points in the second quarter alone. Prior to that, Warsaw had only given up more than 17 points in a game just once this season. Facing a Concord team that features a dynamic receiver in Cedric Mitchell (who with 17 catches for 475 yards and 8 TDs averages 28 yards per reception), the Tigers will be without the services of key defensive players Lane McClone and AJ Villareal. McClone (tops on the team with 43.5 tackles) is out with a shoulder injury, while Villareal (4th with 28.5 tackles) is out with a rib injury. Offensively, the Tigers are led by quarterback Michael Jensen, who has completed 100 of 185 pass attempts for 1,438 yards and 17 touchdowns with five interceptions, two of which came in the NorthWood game. D'Andre Street leads all Warsaw receivers with 33 catches for 438 yards and 11 scores, while Jeremy David has 27 catches for 440 yards and two TDs and Devin Street has 13 catches for 224 yards and a pair of scores. Concord's Jack Lietzan has completed 60 of 126 attempts for 1,006 yards and 11 TDs against one interception. Dominick Debroka leads the Mintumen in rushing with 108 carries for 773 yards and five TDs, while Lietzan has 370 rushing yards and 10 scores. Warsaw and Concord first played in 1964, and the overall series is tied 26-26. The Mintumen have won eight of the last 10 meetings.
Jensen: "I didn't realize how young Concord is. I think they only have 13 seniors. That explains some of the inconsistencies early in the season, but don't get me wrong, they're a good football team. They've settled in, and they're running the ball well. Their quarterback runs the ball well. I think they wanted to come out and throw the ball all over the field, and that hasn't happened, but they've still got Cedric Mitchell … who is a big play-maker. We've still got a lot to play for. The all-sports trophy is important to us, and we can earn more points toward that if we finish second in the conference. That also gives you more selections on the all-conference team. We've got a lot play for still."
TIPPECANOE VALLEY AT SOUTHWOOD (TRC)
Kickoff: 7 p.m. Friday in Wabash
Coaches: Jeff Shriver, Aarron Norris (Valley), Dave Snyder (Southwood)
Records: Southwood 5-3 (3-3 TRC), Valley 3-5 (3-3 TRC)
Last Game: Southwood 42, Maconaquah 9; Valley 21, Wabash 13
Last Meeting: Southwood 58, Valley 29 (Sept. 12, 2014)
Matchup: After losing their first five games, the Tippecanoe Valley Vikings go into Friday's Three Rivers Conference playoff game at Southwood on a three-game win streak. The Knights have won three of their last four contests, including a convincing 42-9 win over Maconaquah last week. Valley has won four of the last six meetings with Southwood, though the Knights have won the two most-recent meetings. The teams did not play in 2015, the first year of the North and South divisions in the TRC. Valley's Alec Craig has completed 46 of 99 pass attempts this season for 591 yards and nine TDs with eight interceptions. His favorite targets have been Bryce Webster (16-208, 1 TD) and Jarod Duzenbery (10-156, 5 TDs). DJ Heckman leads Valley's ground game with 60 yards and four scores on 102 carries. Southwood's offense is led by its passing game. Carson Blair has completed 112 of 192 attempts for 1,938 yards and 25 TDs with just four interceptions. Peyton Trexler leads all Southwood receivers with 31 catches for 796 yards and 10 TDs, while Blake Martz has 29 catches for 526 yards and 10 TDs and Zach Ball has 22 receptions for 356 yards and four scores. Matt Cox paces Southwood's Ground game with 688 yards and five TDs on 102 carries.
Shriver: "Southwood is a very good football team with some very good athletes. They have a big, strong offensive line, and defensively they have big, strong players. We've got our hands full. We're trying to get better each week fundamentally. The whole time I've been a coach, I've always said 'no team stays the same, you either get better or worse.' Obviously we're trying to get better and keep this momentum going."
WHITKO AT PERU (TRC)
Kickoff: 7 p.m. Friday in Peru
Coaches: Jeff Sprunger (Whitko), Bob Prescott (Peru)
Records: Whitko 6-2 (4-2 TRC), Peru 6-2 (5-1 TRC)
Last Game: Northfield 34, Whitko 12; North Miami 43, Peru 34
Last Year: Peru 19, Whitko 7
Matchup: After winning their first five games of the season, the Whitko Wildcats have lost two of their last three. Whitko goes into its Three Rivers Conference game at Peru on the heels of a 34-12 loss to Northfield, who is the No. 1 seed in the TRC North Division and will play at North Miami for the league title Friday. Whitko's offensive bread-and-butter this season has been the running game, which has produced 2,624 yards and 35 touchdowns. Garrett Elder spearheads the ground game and enters Week 9 with 1,353 yards and 19 TDs on 104 carries, while Hunter Reed has tallied 913 yards and 13 scores on 160 carries. Quarterback Collin Craig has attempted just 33 passes this season, completing 16 of them for 260 yards with three TDs and an interception. Peru opened its season with a loss to Logansport, then won six in a row before falling 43-34 to North Miami last week.
Sprunger: "Peru is a team that is simply going to try and overpower us. They slam a lot of bodies in a small space and run the ball very well because of it. We again need to play disciplined football and be solid tacklers. We need to play this game looking to clean our offense and defense up, and use this to help us prepare for the sectional. This will be a tough game, and we will have to grind out a victory much like you do in the high school playoffs."
GOSHEN AT WAWASEE (NLC)
Kickoff: 7 p.m. Friday in Syracuse
Coaches: Kyle Park (Goshen); Josh Ekovich (Wawasee)
Records: Goshen 6-2 (4-2 NLC); Wawasee 4-4 (2-4 NLC)
Last week: Goshen 7, Plymouth 2; Wawasee 38, Elkhart Memorial 14
Last year: Goshen 20, Wawasee 0
Matchup: Goshen went 0-10 in park's first season in 2014, 5-5 last year, and have already topped that win number for this season with a squad that is senior-heavy. Senior quarterbacks Clayton Detweiler and Charlie Collins have combined to pass for 1,470 yards and 10 touchdowns. Most of those catches, yards and scoring plays went to senior Rummel Johnson, with 48 receptions for 807 yards and seven TDs. Among the RedHawks' receiving corps, the only underclassmen to average more than one catch per game are juniors Austin Bontrager and Brandon Holley. Senior running back Jeff Stoll is averaging just under 100 yards a game rushing, and senior Dylan Back averages better than five yards a carry, and they have five rushing touchdowns each. In Friday's win over Memorial, Wawasee scored at least five first-half touchdowns for the second time this season (West Noble on Aug. 26), but had just one field goal after halftime.
Ekovich: "We had a few more penalties than we wanted to (against Memorial) but we came out and put it to them pretty quick there in the first quarter and a half. Then we got a little complacent, which is something we're working on this week. Goshen has skills; they run the ball well, and they have guys who can throw it well. They're a good team. It's senior night, and a rivalry game, and the kids are really focused on getting the 'W.'"
TRITON AT WEST CENTRAL (HNAC)
Kickoff: 7 p.m. Friday in Francesville
Coaches: Ron Brown (Triton); Marc Hall (West Central)
Records: Triton (0-8, 0-7 HNAC); West Central 1-7 (0-7 HNAC)
Last week: Knox 34, Triton 33 (3OT); West Central 38, Frontier 24
Last year: Triton 13, West Central 12
Matchup: The loser of this game gets the storm cellar of the HNAC for another year. But for teams that have one win between them this season, both come in with some momentum. West Central scored almost as many points last week in its win over Frontier (38) as in the other seven games combined (44). Sophomore quarterback Brayden Kletz is passing for 36 yards a game and has as many touchdowns (3) as interceptions. But West Central (also known as the Trojans) will want to run the ball; Senior Nick Vallad and sophomore Collin Fritz have 74 and 70 carries, respectively, 18 more than anyone else on the team. Senior running back Adrian Villarreal has only played in six games and is third in carries with 54. But as a steam West Central has 924 yards rushing and 1,212 yards of total offense in eight games. Brown said while no one around Triton's football program is in to moral victories, the triple overtime game with Knox did boost the team's confidence. They got off to a fast start, with a season-long eight-minute drive early. That drive came up empty, but Triton took the lead with a pair of scores. When Knox came back to tie, Triton held a lead in the second overtime, and only a missed PAT kept the game from going on to a fourth overtime. Sophomore James "Bo" Snyder passed for a career-high three touchdowns, including two in the extra sessions. Senior Zac Pitney continues to be a favorite target of Snyder's with 20 yards a catch and a pair of touchdowns.
Brown: "After the game you could obviously see the kids were distraught. That shows me that they actually, really care and they're willing to put in the effort to win. We were able to do what we wanted to do on offense without having those errors, those little things that'll kill you, like turnovers or penalties all over the place. And we were able to do it against a team (Knox) that's not a joke; they'll probably win a sectional title this year. It shows are kids are capable of playing against some big teams, and they still have a lot of football left year, if they choose to invest in that. We're still going to go into this week like we did against Knox. We know the plays they want to run, and we know what they want to do. But we're going to focus on us, and that formula worked well for us last week. We want to attack them; we don't want to wait and see what they're going to do, just like we did with Knox.
MANCHESTER AT WABASH (TRC)
Kickoff: 7 p.m. Friday in Wabash
Coaches: Greg Miller (Manchester), Floyd McWhirt (Wabash)
Records: Manchester 1-7 (1-5 TRC); Wabash 4-4 (2-4 TRC)
Last week: Manchester 42, Rochester 27; Tippecanoe Valley 21, Wabash 13
Last game: Wabash 28, Manchester 14 (Sept. 2)
Matchup: Detractors of the current Three Rivers Conference playoff format say it will create too many rematches. This year, the opening round of sectionals has more rematches (2) than the TRC playoff. The two teams met in the opening week of TRC play, and Manchester was down one score late. Wabash senior quarterback Sammy Hipskind and senior running back Luke Proctor returned from injury last week against Valley, but both looked a bit like they hadn't practiced in quite a while. Proctor got hot in the second half, but by then it was too late to catch the Vikings. Meanwhile, Manchester got off the schnide when junior quarterback Hayes Sturtsman found senior Kane Gable four times for 164 yards and three touchdowns. Manchester will need to eliminate many, if not all, of the mistakes it tends to make to avenge the Week 3 loss.
Miller: "It would have been nice to get that first win earlier, but we'll take them any time we can get them. We've stayed the course, and I think the kids enjoy practice, especially now that it's getting cooler out. We're still working on the little things we need to do right to be successful. Watching film; we got the win but we didn't play perfect. So we'll work on correcting those mistakes and use the Rochester game as a stepping stone to bigger and better things to come. I think we're peaking or coming into our own at the perfect time, and with the second season coming soon, we're feeling pretty good about where we are. We went back and dissected our game plan from the first Wabash game, and we'll make some changes to put our kids in better situations. On Monday we went back and watched the game film from the first Wabash game, only this time as a scout film instead of a teaching film. We found places where we can get better, and we have to cut down on the mistakes we made. I thought we played pretty well up through the first half against them; they had a late drive in the half and put it in (the end zone) and then we came out in the third quarter and we had a bad snap on a punt. So it was bad news at the end of the first half and the beginning of the second, but overall I thought we played pretty well. We're confident in that, and hopefully we can take that Friday night and go out and get another win."
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