Area High School Football Previews
September 12, 2019 at 2:14 a.m.
Northern Lakes Conference Games
Warsaw (2-1, 0-1 NLC) at Elkhart Memorial
(0-3, 0-2 NLC)
When: Friday, 7 p.m., Charger Field, Elkhart.
Series (last 35 years): Warsaw, 11-8.
JohnHarrell.net prediction: Warsaw, 35-24.
Last meeting: Sept. 7, 2018, Warsaw 14-7.
Last time Memorial won: Sept. 11, 2015, 42-33.
About Warsaw: The Tigers suffered a 24-19 NLC home loss in Week 3 against Plymouth … Warsaw has a three-game win streak against Memorial. The Tigers have won three times in their last four trips to EMHS … Warsaw is paced in rushing by Juan Jaramillo (80 carries for 422 yards and three touchdowns), Wyatt Amiss (24 carries for 138 yards and two TDs) and Blake Marsh (17 carries for 95 yards), passing by Amiss (8-of-17 for 135 yards and one TD) and receiving by Luke Adamiec (eight catches for 156 yards and one TD). Jaramillo also has 547 all-purpose yards. Parker Davenport (31.5), Gage Lyon (18), Zach DeFord (16) and Marsh (15) are the Tigers’ leading total tacklers.
About Elkhart Memorial: Coach Scot Shaw’s Crimson Chargers drop-ped a 48-0 conference decision last week at Goshen … Memorial was led by Derrick Woods (117 yards and one TD) and Ivan Soeun (103 yards and two TDs) in rushing, Tyler Lehner (11-of-15 for 116 yards and two TDs) in passing and Tyler Mason (five catches) in receiving against Goshen … This is the final season before the two Elkhart high schools — Memorial and Central — merge into Elkhart High School.
Warsaw coach Bart Curtis:
On Elkhart Memorial — “They are explosive and very strong. Some of these guys have been starting for three years. (Lehner) is really good throwing. He’s also dangerous running the football … It’s definitely an offensive that can give you fits. They can attack you in so many ways … (Woods and Soeun) are quick-feet, stop-on-a-dime. What’s dangerous is that they run laterally to a point and they stick a foot in the ground and get vertical. If you don’t maintain your gaps as they are running laterally, those gaps widen and create spaces for them to turn it up.”
Tackling — “We’re going to have to tackle a whole lot better than we did last week … We missed 36 tackles in 57 snaps (against Plymouth). We missed several tackles on one play. That’s first and foremost. We’ve got to be able to disengage blocks, make sure all of our run fits are where they need to be and tackle in the open space. Don’t be out of control.”
On Plymouth game — “They came over to win and they did that … You can make stats appear any way you want. We had the ball 30 out of 48 minutes. We scored on four of our six drives, but two of them were field goals … We were not productive enough offensively. Our defense got big-played … We’ve got the 24-hour rule when it doesn’t go our way. You better learn from it and move forward because there’s more football to play.”
Concord (3-0, 2-0 NLC) at Wawasee (1-2, 0-1 NLC)
When: Friday, 7 p.m., Warrior Field, Syracuse.
Series (last 35 years): Concord, 35-6.
Harrell’s prediction: Concord, 28-10.
Last meeting: Sept. 7, 2018, Concord 49-28.
Last time Wawasee won: Oct. 22, 2004, 48-9 (first round of sectional).
About Concord: Coach Craig Koehler’s IHSAA Class 5A No. 5-ranked Minutemen are coming off a 24-14 NLC home win against NorthWood. The Minutemen trailed the Panthers 7-0 at halftime … Concord has beaten Wawasee 17 straight times … Ethan Cain completed 14-of-28 passes for 235 yards and one TD against NorthWood. Carter Neveraski ran for 63 yards and one TD, Cain 48 and Roemello Moon 36 at one TD. Neveraski and Jack D’Arcy (one TD) caught five passes apiece.
About Wawasee: The Warriors lost 27-0 at conference foe Northridge last week … Wawasee gained 60 yards on 28 plays.
Per Wawasee coach Jon Reutebuch:
On Concord — “They’ve been a strong team the last couple of year. They’ve got a lot of athletes. They have a very good quarterback (Cain) and very talented group around him. They are pretty daunting … Kicker (Ariel De La Paz) has hit field goals from 50 and 46 yards out already this year … You’ve got to control what you can control and keeping the ball out of that offensive’s hands is definitely something to do. You try to make sure that the playmakers don’t beat you … It comes down to what type of effort we put out there. If we scratch and claw and do the things we’re capable of doing then we’ll be fine.”
Progress — “We’ve come a long way. We’ve had a lot of injuries and still have a bunch now. Building the depth and kids getting some playing time results in struggles on game night, but that bodes well for the future. When we get some of those (injured) kids back, we’ll have a little more depth.”
On Northridge game — “They’re 3-0 for a reason. They don’t make a lot of mistakes. (Coach) Tom Wogomon has that program running really well. They play hard-nosed football. They ran it all over us. We’ve got to get off the field on third down. Several times we made good defensive plays on first and second down only to let them off the hook on third down.”
Non-Conference Game
Bremen (0-3) at Triton (2-1)
When: Friday, 7 p.m., Triton High School, Bourbon.
Series (last 35 years): Bremen, 32-2.
Harrell’s prediction: Bremen, 31-21.
Last meeting: Sept. 7, 2018, Bremen 49-7.
Last time Triton won: Sept. 11, 2009, 30-21.
About Bremen: Coach Jordan Leeper’s Lions are coming off a 35-12 Northern Indiana Conference loss to John Glenn … Bremen has not gotten off to an 0-3 start since losing the first five games of 2009 … The Lions’ leader in rushing is Bryce Wogomon (119 yards and three TDs). Ethan Nunemaker (25-of-26 for 323 yards and one TD) is the team’s top passer. Leading receivers are Sam Huffman (11 catches for 171 yards and one TD) and Hunter Bennitt (five catches for 107 yards).
About Triton: The Trojans whitewashed visiting Caston 41-0 in Hoosier North Conference play last week … Triton has lost nine straight to Bremen. The last time the Trojans beat the Lions it was when they both played in the old Northern State Conference. That was during Younis’ first tenure as head coach … Hunter McIntyre (141 yards and two TDs) guides Triton in rushing while Connor Pitney (35-of-56 for 615 yards and five TDs) is the leader in passing and D’Angelo Shumpert (16 catches for 338 yards and three TDs) spearheads the receiving corps. Leading in total tackles is Treton Kreft (19), Koby Mast (17) and McIntyre (16).
Per Triton coach Rodney Younis:
On Bremen — “Bremen is Bremen. Their record may not show it, but they’re still a quality team. They know how to play the game. They’ve got hard-nosed kids. You can tell they are coached well. They do their assignments.”
Progress — “We’re getting better each week with our fundamentals. Last Friday was the best we’ve done up to this point with team blocking.
“Defensively, we were doing our assignments well and not worrying about what other people’s jobs were but focusing on the task at hand.”
On Caston game — “We had to make some shuffles in our lineup, especially with the offensive line (because of injuries). I was proud of the kids who stepped up. They were given an opportunity to play. They made mistakes, but they were showing the effort and that’s what we’re asking of them.”
Three Rivers Conference Games
Manchester (1-2, 1-1 TRC) at Rochester (2-1, 2-0 TRC)
When: Friday, 7 p.m, Barnhart Field.
Series: Rochester leads 41-18.
Last meeting: Rochester won 49-14, Oct. 5, 2018.
Last Manchester win: 28-26, Oct. 6, 2017.
Harrell’s prediction: Rochester, 35-21.
About Manchester: The Squires are coming off their first win, 21-14 over visiting Wabash. Sophomore Braxton Ream ran for two touchdowns in the victory, his second coming in the fourth-quarter to break a 14-14 deadlock. A 52-yard pass from Devin Marcum to Trey Clark helped set up the score. … Marcum is 29-of-59 passing on the season for 420 yards with two TDs against five interceptions. Sam Martindale leads in rushing yardage at 222 on 46 carries, good for a 4.8 average to go with four TDs. Clark’s caught 10 passes for 196 yards and a touchdown. … Ream and fellow sophomore safety Dylan Stroud are 1-2 on the team in tackles at 24 and 22. … Junior Albin Lederhilger has punted nine times for a 39.0 average.
About Rochester: Quarterback Nick Allen rushed for second-half touchdowns of 1 and 67 yards as the Zebras shook a 7-7 halftime tie for a 21-7 win last week at Whitko. … On the season, Allen is 19-of-32 through the air for 295 yards and three TDs against one interception. … He’s also one of four Rochester players with between 151 and 181 yards rushing. Each player in that balanced quartet is averaging at least 4.1.
Manchester coach Greg Miller:
On last week — “We had some great moments, and some not so great. We played well enough for the ‘W,’ which is a big boost for our kids, but as they saw on film, we had too many mistakes and too many turnovers. We’ve got to tighten those up for this week and beyond. We were in the red zone a couple times early and didn’t punch it in, and we had a chance to ice the game late and didn’t. We have to tackle better, but we’ll take the win.”
On Rochester — “It’s a typical Rochester team. Coach (Sean) Kelly was there with Coach (Mark) Miller, then was at Culver with Coach (Mike) Zehner the last couple years, and now he’s back. They’re big up front, have some athletes. It’s a ball-control offense, but they will throw. They’ll try to grind it out and use those big horses up front. Defensively, they’re aggressive and will pressure us. Their defensive backs have always been pretty solid, so it’s hard to get over the top.”
North Miami (2-1, 1-1 TRC) at Tippecanoe Valley (2-1, 2-0 TRC)
When: Friday, 7 p.m, Death Valley.
Series: Valley leads 29-17.
Last meeting: Valley won 36-7, Aug. 31, 2018.
Last North Miami win: 40-14, Oct. 6, 2017.
Harrell’s prediction: Valley, 35-24.
About North Miami: The Warriors were whipped 45-7 last week by visiting Southwood in a battle of unbeatens. … Dual-threat quarterback Tristan Working is 27-of-44 for 399 yards passing with two touchdowns. All four of his picks came last week against the Knights. He’s rushed for 248 yards, a 6.7 average and seven TDs. A standout on defense as well, Working leads North Miami in total tackles (38), solos (24) and assists (14) from his free safety spot. … Junior Darian Hanley is pacing the Warriors on the ground with 368 yards and a 9.7 average to go with three TDs. Braxton Beall’s added 12 catches for 177 yards.
About Valley: The Vikings are one of three unbeatens left in TRC play, joined by Southwood and Rochester. Each is 2-0. …. Dakota Goff (14 for 157, one TD) and fellow senior running back Jaydin Conley (24 for 154, two TDs) racked up over 300 combined rushing yards in Valley’s 32-18 road win last week over previously unbeaten Peru. …. Safety Jalen Potter tied a school record in the victory with three interceptions, while Domingo Santiago kicked a 37-yard field goal, also tying a school mark. Santiago’s perfect on three field goal tries for the season to go with 7-of-9 on extra points.
Valley coach Steve Moriarty:
On last week — “We held Daunte Majors, a very explosive player, to 77 yards, so that was a very big step for our defense. We gang-tackled well, and we had over 350 yards rushing on offense. Our offensive line did a good job. Overall, the players executed the game plan perfectly.”
On North Miami — “They have a very good offense. Working is a natural tailback, so with him being at the helm of the offense, they’re just very explosive. They’ve rattled off quite a few points in a couple of their games. They didn’t have as much success against Southwood, but Southwood’s very good. It’s still an explosive offense that is going to be hard to handle.”
Whitko (0-3 overall, 0-2 TRC) at Maconaquah (1-2, 1-1)
When: Friday, 7 p.m, Maconaquah HS.
Series: Maconaquah leads 3-2.
Last meeting: Maconaquah won 33-0, Aug. 31, 2018.
Last Whitko win: 36-7, Sept. 2, 2016.
Harrell’s prediction: Maconaquah, 35-10.
About Whitko: The Wildcats recovered a pair of pop-up kicks against Rochester last week — sophomore Isaiah Kyles coming up with both — but the Zebras ultimately won 21-7, breaking free of a 7-7 halftime deadlock. … Sophomore Cade Berg was a two-way force for Whitko, rushing for 65 yards on 13 carries and getting in on a team-high dozen tackles. … While the Wildcats have been outscored 82-20 through three weeks, a year ago through three weeks the count was 75-0. Opponents in both instances have played to a combined 7-2 record.
About Maconaquah: Leading 14-7 at halftime last week, the Braves tacked on 22 third-quarter points on the way to their first win, 43-7 over host Northfield. Maconaquah opened its season with a pair of losses to teams that are currently a combined 6-0. That includes a narrow 20-17 road defeat at the hands of Southwood. … Brave junior running backs Carter Little and Jared Blake have combined for 513 rushing yards, five touchdowns and a 5.2 average. … The Maconaquah defense has recorded 22 tackles for loss, including five by linebacker Aaron McKinley.
Whitko coach Phil Jensen:
On last week — “We played a decent first half, had a 15-play scoring drive, which as I told the kids, is great at any level. It was as good a drive as I’ve had with any team. We had a couple nice recoveries on pop-up kicks — I saw where they were described as onside kicks, but they’re really more to prevent a big return than necessarily get the ball — but those were nice. There’s definitely positive things to build on. We just have to continue to stay positive and mentally focused.”
On Maconaquah — “They run that phone booth offense — double tight, double wing, fullback up there — and want to power the football at you. They’ll throw a little, but they want to run and instill their will on you. They want to come at you downhill.”
On bigger picture — “We’re getting healthier and getting more kids eligible. We’ve been able to play two JV games the last two weeks (a 6-0 win over Peru and a 19-6 loss to Rochester), so we’re getting lots of kids playing. We’re fielding both a seventh and eighth grade team, and that didn’t happen last year.”
Northern Lakes Conference Games
Warsaw (2-1, 0-1 NLC) at Elkhart Memorial
(0-3, 0-2 NLC)
When: Friday, 7 p.m., Charger Field, Elkhart.
Series (last 35 years): Warsaw, 11-8.
JohnHarrell.net prediction: Warsaw, 35-24.
Last meeting: Sept. 7, 2018, Warsaw 14-7.
Last time Memorial won: Sept. 11, 2015, 42-33.
About Warsaw: The Tigers suffered a 24-19 NLC home loss in Week 3 against Plymouth … Warsaw has a three-game win streak against Memorial. The Tigers have won three times in their last four trips to EMHS … Warsaw is paced in rushing by Juan Jaramillo (80 carries for 422 yards and three touchdowns), Wyatt Amiss (24 carries for 138 yards and two TDs) and Blake Marsh (17 carries for 95 yards), passing by Amiss (8-of-17 for 135 yards and one TD) and receiving by Luke Adamiec (eight catches for 156 yards and one TD). Jaramillo also has 547 all-purpose yards. Parker Davenport (31.5), Gage Lyon (18), Zach DeFord (16) and Marsh (15) are the Tigers’ leading total tacklers.
About Elkhart Memorial: Coach Scot Shaw’s Crimson Chargers drop-ped a 48-0 conference decision last week at Goshen … Memorial was led by Derrick Woods (117 yards and one TD) and Ivan Soeun (103 yards and two TDs) in rushing, Tyler Lehner (11-of-15 for 116 yards and two TDs) in passing and Tyler Mason (five catches) in receiving against Goshen … This is the final season before the two Elkhart high schools — Memorial and Central — merge into Elkhart High School.
Warsaw coach Bart Curtis:
On Elkhart Memorial — “They are explosive and very strong. Some of these guys have been starting for three years. (Lehner) is really good throwing. He’s also dangerous running the football … It’s definitely an offensive that can give you fits. They can attack you in so many ways … (Woods and Soeun) are quick-feet, stop-on-a-dime. What’s dangerous is that they run laterally to a point and they stick a foot in the ground and get vertical. If you don’t maintain your gaps as they are running laterally, those gaps widen and create spaces for them to turn it up.”
Tackling — “We’re going to have to tackle a whole lot better than we did last week … We missed 36 tackles in 57 snaps (against Plymouth). We missed several tackles on one play. That’s first and foremost. We’ve got to be able to disengage blocks, make sure all of our run fits are where they need to be and tackle in the open space. Don’t be out of control.”
On Plymouth game — “They came over to win and they did that … You can make stats appear any way you want. We had the ball 30 out of 48 minutes. We scored on four of our six drives, but two of them were field goals … We were not productive enough offensively. Our defense got big-played … We’ve got the 24-hour rule when it doesn’t go our way. You better learn from it and move forward because there’s more football to play.”
Concord (3-0, 2-0 NLC) at Wawasee (1-2, 0-1 NLC)
When: Friday, 7 p.m., Warrior Field, Syracuse.
Series (last 35 years): Concord, 35-6.
Harrell’s prediction: Concord, 28-10.
Last meeting: Sept. 7, 2018, Concord 49-28.
Last time Wawasee won: Oct. 22, 2004, 48-9 (first round of sectional).
About Concord: Coach Craig Koehler’s IHSAA Class 5A No. 5-ranked Minutemen are coming off a 24-14 NLC home win against NorthWood. The Minutemen trailed the Panthers 7-0 at halftime … Concord has beaten Wawasee 17 straight times … Ethan Cain completed 14-of-28 passes for 235 yards and one TD against NorthWood. Carter Neveraski ran for 63 yards and one TD, Cain 48 and Roemello Moon 36 at one TD. Neveraski and Jack D’Arcy (one TD) caught five passes apiece.
About Wawasee: The Warriors lost 27-0 at conference foe Northridge last week … Wawasee gained 60 yards on 28 plays.
Per Wawasee coach Jon Reutebuch:
On Concord — “They’ve been a strong team the last couple of year. They’ve got a lot of athletes. They have a very good quarterback (Cain) and very talented group around him. They are pretty daunting … Kicker (Ariel De La Paz) has hit field goals from 50 and 46 yards out already this year … You’ve got to control what you can control and keeping the ball out of that offensive’s hands is definitely something to do. You try to make sure that the playmakers don’t beat you … It comes down to what type of effort we put out there. If we scratch and claw and do the things we’re capable of doing then we’ll be fine.”
Progress — “We’ve come a long way. We’ve had a lot of injuries and still have a bunch now. Building the depth and kids getting some playing time results in struggles on game night, but that bodes well for the future. When we get some of those (injured) kids back, we’ll have a little more depth.”
On Northridge game — “They’re 3-0 for a reason. They don’t make a lot of mistakes. (Coach) Tom Wogomon has that program running really well. They play hard-nosed football. They ran it all over us. We’ve got to get off the field on third down. Several times we made good defensive plays on first and second down only to let them off the hook on third down.”
Non-Conference Game
Bremen (0-3) at Triton (2-1)
When: Friday, 7 p.m., Triton High School, Bourbon.
Series (last 35 years): Bremen, 32-2.
Harrell’s prediction: Bremen, 31-21.
Last meeting: Sept. 7, 2018, Bremen 49-7.
Last time Triton won: Sept. 11, 2009, 30-21.
About Bremen: Coach Jordan Leeper’s Lions are coming off a 35-12 Northern Indiana Conference loss to John Glenn … Bremen has not gotten off to an 0-3 start since losing the first five games of 2009 … The Lions’ leader in rushing is Bryce Wogomon (119 yards and three TDs). Ethan Nunemaker (25-of-26 for 323 yards and one TD) is the team’s top passer. Leading receivers are Sam Huffman (11 catches for 171 yards and one TD) and Hunter Bennitt (five catches for 107 yards).
About Triton: The Trojans whitewashed visiting Caston 41-0 in Hoosier North Conference play last week … Triton has lost nine straight to Bremen. The last time the Trojans beat the Lions it was when they both played in the old Northern State Conference. That was during Younis’ first tenure as head coach … Hunter McIntyre (141 yards and two TDs) guides Triton in rushing while Connor Pitney (35-of-56 for 615 yards and five TDs) is the leader in passing and D’Angelo Shumpert (16 catches for 338 yards and three TDs) spearheads the receiving corps. Leading in total tackles is Treton Kreft (19), Koby Mast (17) and McIntyre (16).
Per Triton coach Rodney Younis:
On Bremen — “Bremen is Bremen. Their record may not show it, but they’re still a quality team. They know how to play the game. They’ve got hard-nosed kids. You can tell they are coached well. They do their assignments.”
Progress — “We’re getting better each week with our fundamentals. Last Friday was the best we’ve done up to this point with team blocking.
“Defensively, we were doing our assignments well and not worrying about what other people’s jobs were but focusing on the task at hand.”
On Caston game — “We had to make some shuffles in our lineup, especially with the offensive line (because of injuries). I was proud of the kids who stepped up. They were given an opportunity to play. They made mistakes, but they were showing the effort and that’s what we’re asking of them.”
Three Rivers Conference Games
Manchester (1-2, 1-1 TRC) at Rochester (2-1, 2-0 TRC)
When: Friday, 7 p.m, Barnhart Field.
Series: Rochester leads 41-18.
Last meeting: Rochester won 49-14, Oct. 5, 2018.
Last Manchester win: 28-26, Oct. 6, 2017.
Harrell’s prediction: Rochester, 35-21.
About Manchester: The Squires are coming off their first win, 21-14 over visiting Wabash. Sophomore Braxton Ream ran for two touchdowns in the victory, his second coming in the fourth-quarter to break a 14-14 deadlock. A 52-yard pass from Devin Marcum to Trey Clark helped set up the score. … Marcum is 29-of-59 passing on the season for 420 yards with two TDs against five interceptions. Sam Martindale leads in rushing yardage at 222 on 46 carries, good for a 4.8 average to go with four TDs. Clark’s caught 10 passes for 196 yards and a touchdown. … Ream and fellow sophomore safety Dylan Stroud are 1-2 on the team in tackles at 24 and 22. … Junior Albin Lederhilger has punted nine times for a 39.0 average.
About Rochester: Quarterback Nick Allen rushed for second-half touchdowns of 1 and 67 yards as the Zebras shook a 7-7 halftime tie for a 21-7 win last week at Whitko. … On the season, Allen is 19-of-32 through the air for 295 yards and three TDs against one interception. … He’s also one of four Rochester players with between 151 and 181 yards rushing. Each player in that balanced quartet is averaging at least 4.1.
Manchester coach Greg Miller:
On last week — “We had some great moments, and some not so great. We played well enough for the ‘W,’ which is a big boost for our kids, but as they saw on film, we had too many mistakes and too many turnovers. We’ve got to tighten those up for this week and beyond. We were in the red zone a couple times early and didn’t punch it in, and we had a chance to ice the game late and didn’t. We have to tackle better, but we’ll take the win.”
On Rochester — “It’s a typical Rochester team. Coach (Sean) Kelly was there with Coach (Mark) Miller, then was at Culver with Coach (Mike) Zehner the last couple years, and now he’s back. They’re big up front, have some athletes. It’s a ball-control offense, but they will throw. They’ll try to grind it out and use those big horses up front. Defensively, they’re aggressive and will pressure us. Their defensive backs have always been pretty solid, so it’s hard to get over the top.”
North Miami (2-1, 1-1 TRC) at Tippecanoe Valley (2-1, 2-0 TRC)
When: Friday, 7 p.m, Death Valley.
Series: Valley leads 29-17.
Last meeting: Valley won 36-7, Aug. 31, 2018.
Last North Miami win: 40-14, Oct. 6, 2017.
Harrell’s prediction: Valley, 35-24.
About North Miami: The Warriors were whipped 45-7 last week by visiting Southwood in a battle of unbeatens. … Dual-threat quarterback Tristan Working is 27-of-44 for 399 yards passing with two touchdowns. All four of his picks came last week against the Knights. He’s rushed for 248 yards, a 6.7 average and seven TDs. A standout on defense as well, Working leads North Miami in total tackles (38), solos (24) and assists (14) from his free safety spot. … Junior Darian Hanley is pacing the Warriors on the ground with 368 yards and a 9.7 average to go with three TDs. Braxton Beall’s added 12 catches for 177 yards.
About Valley: The Vikings are one of three unbeatens left in TRC play, joined by Southwood and Rochester. Each is 2-0. …. Dakota Goff (14 for 157, one TD) and fellow senior running back Jaydin Conley (24 for 154, two TDs) racked up over 300 combined rushing yards in Valley’s 32-18 road win last week over previously unbeaten Peru. …. Safety Jalen Potter tied a school record in the victory with three interceptions, while Domingo Santiago kicked a 37-yard field goal, also tying a school mark. Santiago’s perfect on three field goal tries for the season to go with 7-of-9 on extra points.
Valley coach Steve Moriarty:
On last week — “We held Daunte Majors, a very explosive player, to 77 yards, so that was a very big step for our defense. We gang-tackled well, and we had over 350 yards rushing on offense. Our offensive line did a good job. Overall, the players executed the game plan perfectly.”
On North Miami — “They have a very good offense. Working is a natural tailback, so with him being at the helm of the offense, they’re just very explosive. They’ve rattled off quite a few points in a couple of their games. They didn’t have as much success against Southwood, but Southwood’s very good. It’s still an explosive offense that is going to be hard to handle.”
Whitko (0-3 overall, 0-2 TRC) at Maconaquah (1-2, 1-1)
When: Friday, 7 p.m, Maconaquah HS.
Series: Maconaquah leads 3-2.
Last meeting: Maconaquah won 33-0, Aug. 31, 2018.
Last Whitko win: 36-7, Sept. 2, 2016.
Harrell’s prediction: Maconaquah, 35-10.
About Whitko: The Wildcats recovered a pair of pop-up kicks against Rochester last week — sophomore Isaiah Kyles coming up with both — but the Zebras ultimately won 21-7, breaking free of a 7-7 halftime deadlock. … Sophomore Cade Berg was a two-way force for Whitko, rushing for 65 yards on 13 carries and getting in on a team-high dozen tackles. … While the Wildcats have been outscored 82-20 through three weeks, a year ago through three weeks the count was 75-0. Opponents in both instances have played to a combined 7-2 record.
About Maconaquah: Leading 14-7 at halftime last week, the Braves tacked on 22 third-quarter points on the way to their first win, 43-7 over host Northfield. Maconaquah opened its season with a pair of losses to teams that are currently a combined 6-0. That includes a narrow 20-17 road defeat at the hands of Southwood. … Brave junior running backs Carter Little and Jared Blake have combined for 513 rushing yards, five touchdowns and a 5.2 average. … The Maconaquah defense has recorded 22 tackles for loss, including five by linebacker Aaron McKinley.
Whitko coach Phil Jensen:
On last week — “We played a decent first half, had a 15-play scoring drive, which as I told the kids, is great at any level. It was as good a drive as I’ve had with any team. We had a couple nice recoveries on pop-up kicks — I saw where they were described as onside kicks, but they’re really more to prevent a big return than necessarily get the ball — but those were nice. There’s definitely positive things to build on. We just have to continue to stay positive and mentally focused.”
On Maconaquah — “They run that phone booth offense — double tight, double wing, fullback up there — and want to power the football at you. They’ll throw a little, but they want to run and instill their will on you. They want to come at you downhill.”
On bigger picture — “We’re getting healthier and getting more kids eligible. We’ve been able to play two JV games the last two weeks (a 6-0 win over Peru and a 19-6 loss to Rochester), so we’re getting lots of kids playing. We’re fielding both a seventh and eighth grade team, and that didn’t happen last year.”