Warsaw (1-0) at Chesterton (0-1)
When: Friday, 7:30 p.m., Barnary Field, Chesterton.
Series (last 35 years): Warsaw, 3-1.
John Harrell’s prediction: Warsaw, 21-10.
Last meeting: Aug. 26, 2022, Warsaw, 24-7.
About Warsaw: Coach Bart Curtis’ 6A Associated Press/Indiana Football Coaches Association vote-getting Tigers triumphed 17-13 at Michigan City in Week 1 … Of Warsaw’s 273 rushing yards, Reed Zollinger gained 148 on 31 carries with one touchdown … Leyton Isbell ran six times for 101 yards and one TD … The resilient Tigers trailed 7-0 at halftime … The winning points came at 4:05 of the fourth quarter on a 71-yard TD run by Isbell … Quentin Brock completed 1-of-2 passes for 34 yards (to Grady Nolin) … Warsaw lost three of four fumbles … This week marks the second of three away contests to begin the season and the last during the regular season outside the Northern Lakes Conference.
About Chesterton: Coach Mark Peterson’s 5A Trojans lost 16-13 at Hobart in Week 1 … Brady McCormack rushed 14 times for 121 yards and one touchdown … Sebastian Boswell completed 7-of-17 passes for 109 yards with one interception … Garrett Lewis caught three passes for 71 yards … Top Chesterton total tackle leader was Hayden DeMarco with 13 … The Trojans yielded 254 total yards, including 140 passing … Chesterton High School is a cashless gate for tickets and therefore there will be no cash purchases for tickets at the gate. Tickets may be purchased in-advance at https://public.eventlink.com/tickets?t=36193&p=50813 or by a credit/debit card and apple pay at the gate. Upon arrival on game day, please be sure to pull up your ticket or self-validate screen prior to entering the venue to avoid any WiFi issues. Note that the concession stand is operated by another group and is still cash only.
Per Coach Bart Curtis:
On Chesterton — They are huge. They are big and physical. They’ve got a nice ball club. They played in a tight ball game with a very good Hobart team … They had good balance … We’re going to have our hands full for sure … We’ll show up and see what we can do. I’ll expect our kids to compete. I think it’ll be a very hard-fought ball game probably similar to what we saw Friday night at Michigan City.
Ball control — We lost three fumbles and the ball was probably on the ground five more times because of center-quarterback exchanges.
On Michigan City game — We found a way to get it done at the very end. We looked out of sync. We had some injuries which were a concern (including starting quarterback Drew Sullivan who went down during the second series and linemen Harrison Stofer and James Leiter) … We played some really, really good defense. There were two snaps that were an issue.
Tippecanoe Valley (1-0) at Rochester (1-0)
When: Friday, 7 p.m., Barnhart Field.
Series: Valley leads, 27-19
Last meeting: Valley won 26-17 on Sept. 16, 2022.
Last Rochester win: 28-14 on Sept. 29, 2017.
John Harrell’s prediction: Rochester, 28-24.
About Valley: Powered by an opportunistic defense and the record kicking of sophomore Gage Overbey, the Vikings opened with a 23-12 win last week at Wawasee. Junior lineman Asher McGriff helped give the visitors a 23-0 lead on the first play of the fourth quarter when he returned an interception 67 yards for a touchdown. Senior safety Wade Jones added two picks — extending his career school standard to 16 — on a night Valley registered four takeaways. Overbey drilled 3-of-4 on field goals, including a school-record 46-yarder, and converted both his extra-point tries. … On offense, Nate Parker rushed for 78 yards on 19 carries. Sophomore Grady Moriarty added 72 yards on just two attempts, including a 55-yarder that set up the Vikings’ first points, while junior fullback Brock Derf added 48 yards and a TD. … Valley has rung up four straight Bell Trophy wins over rival Rochester since the Zebras’ home victory in 2017. The teams did not meet in 2021, a COVID-shortened season for Rochester. … This will be the first regular-season meeting since 1986 that won’t be a Three Rivers Conference game. The Vikings are an independent this year before debuting next fall in the six-school Northern State Conference. The Zebras joined the TRC in 1987, arriving from the Northern Lakes Conference.
About Rochester: The Zebras opened last week with a 56-7 obliteration of host Wabash, leading 56-0 by halftime. … Senior fullback Alex Deming rushed for 134 yards on just nine carries, including a 51-yard touchdown on the first play from scrimmage, while Brant Beck added 125 yards and three TDs on eight attempts, all before intermission. Rochester’s seven touchdowns were accompanied by a perfect 7-of-7 on two-point conversions. … Deming’s coming off a junior season in which he powered for 1,619 yards on 252 carries (6.4 average) with 28 TDs and no lost fumbles. … A year ago, the Zebras took a 4-0 record into Death Valley, but were downed 26-17, their lone regular-season loss on their way to going 10-2 overall. Deming was limited to a career-low 39 yards on 13 carries in that game, though he scored both Rochester touchdowns.
Valley coach Steve Moriarty:
On last week — “We had a lot of good plays called back, so we had too many penalties. That was kind of frustrating, so we gotta work on that, and get better at blocking in general, but I thought it was a good overall effort against a Wawasee team that’s very improved.”
On Rochester — “They’re well-coached, really fire off the ball. They’re predominantly run and they’re good at it, so being able to stop the run will be our main objective.”
On the Bell at stake — “Usually, this is like game five for us (indeed, Valley vs. Rochester has occurred no earlier than Week 5 since being each team’s season opener in 1986), so moving it up poses a bit of a challenge, but it’s kind of our one conference game now. Hopefully, we get things put together OK and focus well. I think we’ll have a pretty good focus. Our guys are excited for this opportunity.”

Wawasee (0-1) at West Noble (1-0)
When: Friday, 7 p.m., Charger Field, Ligonier.
Series (last 35 years): West Noble, 5-4.
John Harrell’s prediction: West Noble, 35-17.
Last meeting: Aug. 26, 2022, West Noble, 35-24.
About Wawasee: Coach Jon Reutbuch’s 4A Warriors lost 23-12 to visiting Tippecanoe Valley in Week 1 … Hunter Tinkey rushed six times for 45 yards and caught four passes for 98 yards and one touchdown … Mason Shoemaker connected on 13-of-19 passes for 209 yards with two touchdowns (64 yards to Tinkey and 15 yards to Derek Bontrager) and four interceptions (one returned for a TD) … Bontrager gathered three receptions for 21 yards and the TD … Donovan Blair (8), Brandon Kelly (7), Bontrager (6) and Tinkey (5) led total tackles … Wawasee gave up 279 total yards, including 246 rushing … The Warriors were 3-of-12 on third-down efficiency and 0-of-1 on fourth down.
About West Noble: Coach Monte Mawhorter’s 3A Chargers romped to a 47-7 win at Central Noble in Week 1 … Estil Pruitt ran 23 times for 150 yards and four touchdowns … Drew Yates produced 50 yards and two TDs on seven carries … The Chargers are 5-1 in their last six meetings with Wawasee … This is Mawhorter’s 25th season leading the program.
Per Coach Jon Reutebuch:
On West Noble — It’s basically the same team from last year. We’re going to have to keep (Pruitt and Yates) in-check … We just need to make sure we do it better than we did the first game … Weather can be a factor. It’s supposed to be super-hot this week. We have to be smart about it.
Point of emphasis — We need to clean up a lot of things. We made a lot of correctable errors (in Week 1). We can’t turn the ball over. (Tippecanoe Valley) turned the ball over zero times. We had a couple of opportunities to (recover) a fumble and an interception was ruled incomplete. There was a fumble on a kickoff that we didn’t recover and one on a sack that they recovered … We need to take advantage of opportunities and make sure we don’t give the other team opportunities.
On Tippecanoe Valley game — We didn’t quit. I feel like we won the second half. If we wouldn’t have put ourselves in such a hole with turnovers and penalties we would have won the game … The defense played pretty well if you take out four plays. When you hold (Nathan) Parker to under 100 yards (rushing) you’re doing something well.
Manchester (1-0) at Bluffton (1-0)
When: Friday, 7 p.m., Fred F. Park Field, Bluffton.
Series: Bluffton, 14-4.
John Harrell’s prediction: Bluffton, 49-14
Last meeting: Aug. 26, 20222, Bluffton 42-14.
About Manchester: The Squires opened up the 2023 season with a 34-24 win over North Miami last Friday, the first win for new head coach Eddie Fields at Manchester. The Squires were led offensively by an outstanding night from junior quarterback Logan Eastgate, who finished the game 8-12 for 146 yards passing and two touchdowns while also adding 47 yards and another score on the ground. Sophomore running back Riess Gaerte totalled 157 yards of offense and two touchdowns in Friday’s win, 134 of those yards coming on the ground. Four different receivers caught passes for Manchester, led by Eli Metzger and his 66 yards. The Squires committed seven penalties for 52 yards last week.
About Bluffton: Ranked in the top 25 for Class 2A, the reigning sectional champion Tigers come into 2023 with a team littered with seniors on both sides of the ball. Bluffton began its season in dominant fashion last week, defeating Manchester’s Three Rivers Conference brethren Northfield 47-6. The Tigers led that game 35-0 at halftime. Freshman Cooper Craig scored three touchdowns in his first ever high school game.
Manchester head coach Eddie Fields:
On his first win at Manchester - Being here kind of feels like a second act for me so it does kind of feel like my “first” first win again. It’s phenomenal for the kids. I had this expectation going in based on how we worked and how we felt that we were going to win, and we went out and dominated, especially offensively. Afterwards, it was almost a surprise to our community and our players that we pulled it off. So to get that kind of validation early in the season is really nice.
On Logan Eastgate’s performance - He looked really good, not just throwing the ball but running it as well. He picked up a huge fourth down conversion for us when the game was close. He showed that he’s a great playmaker, great play caller and a great leader all rolled up into one. We had fourth down conversions by four different players last week and he was the ringleader for all of them.
On Bluffton - They’re a very solid football program, if they’re not ranked in the top 10 yet they will be soon. They’re well coached, full of seniors and most of them are returners from their sectional championship last year. We’re going to have to play well obviously but we’re going to have to play focused as well. They can beat you in a lot of different ways so it has to be one of those games these kids take one play at a time.
Whitko (1-0, 0-0 TRC) at Peru (1-0, 0-0)
When: Friday, 7 p.m., Bengal Stadium.
Series: Peru leads 6-0.
Last meeting: Peru won 60-0 on Aug. 26, 2022.
John Harrell’s prediction: Peru, 35-0.
About Whitko: The Wildcats kicked their 15-game losing streak to the curb with a 20-0 win last week at Prairie Heights. In the process, Whitko recorded its first road shutout in nearly 12 years (35-0 over Wabash in September 2011), its first shutout anywhere since 2015 (45-0 over Prairie Heights in a sectional opener), its second season-opening win in the last seven years (the other in 2020) and its second win in its last 24 games overall. … Seniors Kaden Long and Jack Hill each made an impact on both sides of the ball. Long ran seven times for 114 yards and a touchdown, to go with an interception from his safety spot. Hill scored two TDs and netted 56 yards on 19 QB keepers, and picked off a pass. … The Whitko defense piled up 11 tackles for loss — four by Trevor Freel and three each by Issac Irwin and Breyden Kirkdorffer. All three are juniors. … The Wildcats held the Panthers to 83 yards while totaling 318 of their own.
About Peru: The Tigers opened with a 42-28 over visiting Logansport, leading 42-20 through three quarters and going on to heartily flip the script on last season’s 44-0 loss to the Berries. … Peru returns 18 seniors from last season’s club, appearing poised for improvement on last fall’s 3-7 record. Among those seniors is 6-4, 235-pound tight end/defensive end Braxton Strong, a Colorado State commit, along with fellow two-way standouts Matt Roettger and Alex Ross. Roettger ran 21 times for 137 yards against Logansport in addition to completing two TD passes and adding a defensive pick. Ross gained 138 yards on 12 carries, helping the Tigers to 391 ground yards as a team, in addition to notching four of Peru’s five sacks on defense. … Sophomore Isaiah Korba returned a punt 40 yards for a score.
Whitko coach Brad Sprunger:
On last week — “The kids played really hard. We talked all week about ‘next play, next play,’ and they went and did that. … Our defense, they didn’t necessarily surprise me, but we’ve done a lot of new drills in practice to teach them basics and how to read offense, and you could see it in their faces that it was hitting home with them.”
On ending the skid — “It was both (relief and joy). Everyone was excited. When it was 14-nothing at halftime, you could tell it was uncharted territory. They’ve never been up like that, but they went back out and finished it. Then on the bus coming back and all weekend, everybody wanted to be with each other. We’ve had some really good team bonding. … Now, we’re still young and growing and have a long way to go. We’ll hit some bad times and some good times, but this was a great way to start.”
On Peru — “Peru’s Peru. They’re always big and physical and a tough football team. We’re putting four sophomores out there on defense and we gotta try to match up with their hitting. They have a bunch of athletes all over the place. We can’t match them athlete for athlete, but we just have to play our game.”
Triton (1-0) at LaVille (1-0)
When: Friday, 7 p.m., Lancer Field, Lakeville.
Series (last 35 years): LaVille, 27-9.
John Harrell’s prediction: LaVille, 31-3.
Last meeting: Aug. 26, 2022, LaVille, 56-14.
About Triton: Coach Zach Whittaker’s 1A AP/IFCA vote-getting Trojans defeated visiting South Central (Union Mills) 30-6 in Week 1 … Cole Shively toted 17 times for 157 yards and three touchdowns … Vincent Prater ran 21 times for 87 yards and Wayne Reichert 12 for 47 and one TD … All 322 of the Trojans yards came via the run … Colton Reynolds (8) and Javan May (5) led in total tackles and Weichert bagged an interception … Triton held South Central to 66 net yards … The Trojans have now opened the season with a win for seven straight years … It was Whittaker’s first game as a head coach after four seasons as Triton’s defensive coordinator.
About LaVille: Coach Jeff Kaiser’s 2A AP No. 9/IFCA No. 10-ranked Lancers was a 17-10 victor at Bremen in Week 1 … Cody Allen carried 27 times for 157 yards and two touchdowns … Lucas Plummer completed 3-of-8 passes for 34 yards … Braedyn Foster (11), Xzavian Lafavre (10) and Jon Neese (6) paced the Lancers in total tackles … Like Whittaker, Kaiser is in his first season leading the program.
Per Coach Zach Whittaker:
On LaVille — We just need to stick to who we are. We set a goal to always give 100-percent effort. I think it’s going to be a great match-up.
Improvement needed — We just need to be confident in what we’re doing.
On South Central game — Effort and aggressiveness were something we’d been preaching in the off-season and that definitely translated in the first week … Our system is pretty similar to what (Triton) did before. I always tell them, ‘if ain’t broke, don’t fix it.’ We were getting a lot of yardage so we just kept with that game plan … When we’ve got an athlete like (Shively) we’ve got to utilize him when we can.