5A Sectional 11 Championship
Warsaw (7-3) at Concord (10-0)
When: Friday, 7 p.m., Jake Field, Dunlap.
Series (last 35 years): Concord, 20-16.
John Harrell’s prediction: Concord, 31-28.
Last meeting: Sept. 20, 2024, Concord, 28-24.
About Warsaw — Bart Curtis’ Associated Press No. 9/Indiana Football Coaches Association No. 10 Tigers beat visiting Goshen 52-7 in the sectional semifinals (after topping the RedHawks 56-7 on Sept. 6) … Warsaw went ahead 38-0 early in the third quarter, triggering the running clock for the rest of the game … The Tigers used reserves in the second half … Rushing touchdowns were scored by Daylon Fitzpatrick (2), Tucker Reed (2), Quinton Brock (1), Brody Duncan (1) and Cohen McCreary (1) … Before Friday, quarterback Drew Sullivan had not played since the first Concord game because of injury and Brock moved to QB … On the season, Sullivan is 12-of-29 passing for 220 yards and two TD’s with four interceptions and Brock 11-of-20 for 148 yards and four TD’s with one interception … Top rushers are Brock (74 carries for 714 yards and eight TD’s), Duncan (111 carries for 506 yards and four TD’s), Reed (26 carries for 370 yards and nine TD’s), Sullivan (74 carries for 308 yards and five TD’s), Fitzpatrick (48 carries for 249 yards and four TD’s) and Evan Davis (20 carries for 182 yards and three TD’s) … Ethan Egolf has 15 receptions for 231 yards and four TD’s …. Mason Smythe is 42-of-44 on extra points, 3-of-4 on field goals with 41-of-59 kickoff for touchbacks and 4-of-12 punts inside the 20 … Tackle point leaders are Daylor Vilamaa (81), Tristan Wilson (81), Jayden Habegger (74) and Cohen Heady (63) … Wilson (5) and Heady (2) lead in interceptions … Flores-Ortega has two fumble recoveries … In the Week 5 meeting at Concord, Warsaw led 17-0 at halftime. The Minutemen scored 21 fourth-quarter points. Bo Brunner’s TD pass to Derek Gomez with 24 seconds to go helped the Minutemen to victory … Smythe booted a field goal. Rushing TD’s were tallied by Sullivan (2) and Brock (1) … Warsaw scores 33.8 points per game and give up 16.9 … In the Sagarin Ratings, the Tigers (77.26) are No. 35 overall and No. 7 in 5A … Since 1985, Warsaw is 19-39 in tournament games … The Tigers’ lone sectional title came in 2019 (6A). Warsaw was in 6A sectional championship games three of the past four years, bowing to Homestead in 2020, Carroll in 2022 and Penn in 2023.
About Concord — Craig Koehler’s AP No. 1/IFCA No. 1 Minutemen won 38-21 at Fort Wayne North Side in the sectional semifinals … Brunner completed 7-of-13 passes for 67 yards with two interceptions and ran 12 times for 94 yards, including a 45-yard gain, and two TD’s … Jaron Thomas had 23 carries for 163 yards and two TD’s … Rafa Sabas kicked three extra points and three field goals … Char’rese Breveard caught four passes for 34 yards … Thomas made 14 total tackles, Milo Martinez 10, Gomez 9 and Hudson Glantz 8 … The Minutemen score 35.9 points per game and yield 17.4. In the Sagarin Ratings, Concord (81.58) is No. 25 overall and No. 5 in 5A … Since 1979, the Minutemen are 57-42 in tournament games … Concord has won 10 sectional titles — the last 2018 (5A).
Per Coach Bart Curtis:
On Concord — They have answered all challenges. They are without a doubt the real deal. They’re fun to watch on film. They play hard. They play the game the right way … They do a great job of spreading the ball out and getting into formations that make it possible for different people to harm you … Everything runs through the middle of their backfield … (Quarterback) Bo Brunner is the catalyst that makes them go. (Running back/middle linebacker) Jaron Thomas is as good of a player as we’ve coached against
Trophy game — Somebody is going to be stacking thigh boards into a box, collecting helmets and washing practice gear on Monday. Somebody’s going to be celebrating with an IHSAA trophy … By 10 p.m. Friday, there will be eight (5A) teams left. It certainly is an honor, privilege and a tremendous challenge to play the No. 1 team in the state again.
Goshen game — (Goshen) is young and struggling at some positions. They came out and did some things similar to Game 3 but also threw in a few wrinkles in there … I was pleased that our young kids offensively executed at a high level defensively at times … We came out healthy … We’re a much better team with both (Sullivan and Brock) on the field.

1A Sectional 43 Championship
Triton (8-3) at North Miami (9-2)
When: Friday, 7 p.m., Tim DuBois Field, Denver.
Series (last 30 years): Triton, 2-1.
John Harrell’s prediction: North Miami, 28-27.
Last meeting: Oct. 18, 2024, North Miami, 21-13.
About Triton — Rodney Younis’ IFCA No. 10 Trojans beating visiting Southern Wells 61-6 in the sectional semifinals … Triton led 48-0 at halftime, meaning there was a running clock in the second half. Rushing TD’s were scored by Ryder Gearhart (2), Jayden Overmyer (2), Vinnie Prater (2) and Dante’ Workman (1). Ben McFarland threw scoring passes to Jaxen Earl and Tanner Witt-Hoyo … On the season, McFarland is 36-of-63 passing for 628 yards and 14 TD’s with six interceptions and has 33 carries for 90 yards and three TD’s … Rushing leaders are Overmyer (155 carries for 1,185 yards and 13 TD’s), Prater (98 carries for 652 yards and six TD’s), Workman (23 carries for 165 yards and three TD’s) and Gayheart (21 carries for 153 yards and three TD’s) … Workman (17 receptions for 365 yards and five TD’s) and Isaac Quintana (five receptions for 122 yards and three TD’s) are the top pass catchers … Total tackle leaders are Colton Reynolds (70), Esai Lemler (69), Workman (49), Wayne Reichert (48) and Prater (44) … Workman (3), Gage Riffle (3), Overmeyer (2) and Witt-Hoyo (2) pace the team interceptions … McFarland, Reichert and Dominique Bradley have two fumble recoveries apiece … Workman has kicked 40-of-45 extra points and 1-of-1 field goals … In Week 9 in Denver, North Miami went up 21-0 in the second half. Triton had the ball inside the Warrior 10 with a chance to tie and back-to-back holding calls took the Trojans out of it … Triton scores 31.6 points per game with opponents averaging 12.9 … In the Sagarin Ratings, the Trojans (54.35) are No. 134 overall and No. 9 in 1A … Since 1985, Triton is 29-39 in tournament games … The Trojans have won three sectional titles — the last in 2018 (1A). The team was in the sectional final against North Judson in 2023.
About North Miami — Joe Grant’s AP No. 10/IFCA No. 13 Warriors won 35-7 at Fremont in the sectional semifinals … North Miami led 28-7 at halftime … Hartley Hoover completed 1-of-3 passes for 5 yards and one TD and ran five times for 68 yards and one TD … Ryan Meredith (nine carries for 98 yards and two TD’s), Kody Whann (18 carries for 78 yards and one TD) and Lake Musall (12 carries for 63 yards) were also among rushing leaders … Colin Floyd caught the TD pass … Jordan Korreckt (9), Meredith (8), Hoover (6) and Meredith (6) were total tackle leaders … On season, Hoover has passes for 257 yards with six TD’s and two interceptions … Rushing yardage leaders are Meredith (859 with 13 TD’s), Hoover (817 with 12 TD’s), Whann (799 with eight TD’s) and Musall (781 with nine TD’s) … Meredith has four receptions for 146 yards and three TD’s … North Miami scores 35.7 points per game and gives up 18.1 … In the Sagarin Ratings, the Warriors (52.68) are No. 144 overall and No. 11 in 1A … Since 1985, North Miami is 36-38 in tournament games … The Warriors have won four sectional titles — the last in 2012 (1A).
Per Coach Rodney Younis:
On North Miami — They’re a tough team. Their offense is very well-balanced. They run the option and counting their quarterback, they have four kids that can hurt you. We’re going to have to be very disciplined. We’re going to have to read our keys. The secondary has to have good eye discipline because if they get caught with their eyes in the backfield we can get hurt on a play-action pass … It’s definitely going to take a team effort and everybody trusting one another that they’re going to do their job … Offensively, it’s going to come down to line play. The last time we played we thought that was the difference in the play. (North Miami) controlled the line of scrimmage. We have to be able to flip the script to give ourselves an opportunity … We had two good quarters last time. We have to string together four quarters this time.
Title on the line — This is the fun part of the year. From here on out you’re playing for hardware. There’s going to be no easy route. With every team, there’s a reason why they’re left. We’ve got our hands full but we’re excited about the opportunity.
Southern Wells game — We were happy the mindset of the kids all week in practice. They were locked in and focused on the things we needed to improve on. We got a quick start to the game. It was great that we were able to rest some kids and get plenty of kids playing time … We had multiple kids contribute. Our offensive line did a great job of creating holes for us and making it a little easier for our running backs to gain yards.