Woodlan (5-4) at Tippecanoe Valley (6-3)
(Class 3A sectional 26 first round)
When: Friday, 7 p.m., Smith-Bibler Memorial Field, Akron.
Series: Woodlan leads 1-0.
Only meeting: Woodlan won 14-7, Nov. 3, 1981, in Class 1A sectional.
John Harrell’s prediction: Valley, 28-17.
About Woodlan: The Warriors ended the regular season with a 42-6 loss to 2A No. 4-ranked Adams Central (8-1). That snapped a four-game winning streak capped by victories of 42-0 at Prairie Heights (4-5) and 35-28 at South Adams (4-5). … Woodlan is 4-2 on the road. … A deep running attack is paced by senior halfback Drew Fleek, who has 794 ground yards, a 7.0 average and 12 touchdowns. The Warriors are averaging 212 rushing yards per game, but just 4.3 pass attempts, completing 44%. Nevertheless, senior tight end Carter Fleek has 11 catches for 278 yards and two TDs. … Drew Fleek also leads the defense at 14 tackles for loss, five sacks and three fumble recoveries. Sophomore Emerson Spieth and freshman fellow linebacker Eli Funk are the top tacklers overall at 73 and 71, respectively. Freshman defensive back Cooper Smith has three of his team’s 11 interceptions. … Woodlan’s in its first season under Brock Rohrbacher, serving as an Indiana head coach for the first time in 19 years. He led New Haven and Leo for a combined 11 seasons from 1995 to 2005 (going 27-83). … The Warriors lost 7-6 to unbeaten Hamilton Southeastern in the 1981 1A state title game to close 11-3 in the same season as their lone meeting with Valley. For the Vikings, it was their only loss in a 10-1 year. … Woodlan’s dropped five straight sectional openers since making a second state appearance in 2017 and getting nipped 15-14 by Southridge in the 2A final.
About Valley: The Vikings will look to bounce back in quick order from their 24-10 loss last Friday at Bremen (5-4). Valley trailed 17-0 at halftime, but rallied to within 17-10 at 7:43 left in the fourth quarter on a Gage Overbey 29-yard field goal. Both that and the Vikings’ third-period touchdown, a 10-yard run by Wes Parker, were set up by interceptions, from Hudson Shepherd and Owen Omondi. Parker finished at 68 yards receiving and 38 rushing. Valley attempted a season-high 27 passes. … The Vikings are seeking their first postseason home win since the 2020 opening round against South Bend Washington. Since then, they’ve lost at home in the 2020 second round to Marian, the 2021 second round to Marian, the 2022 second round to Guerin Catholic and the opening round last year to Indianapolis Chatard, though those three parochial powers wound up a combined 43-10 over those four seasons, including Chatard’s unbeaten 3A state title run a year ago. … Valley’s clinched its seventh straight winning season, all under eighth-year coach Steve Moriarty, behind only the program’s first nine years from 1975 to ’83. … In the Sagarin ratings, the Vikings and Woodlan are virtually even at 153 and 154 among 314 teams in Indiana, just .12 of a point apart. … With a win Friday, Valley would either host No. 4-ranked Garrett (9-0) or visit Lakeland (5-4) in next week’s sectional semifinals. The Lakers fell 41-27 to the host Railroaders in the regular season.
Valley coach Steve Moriarty:
On last week — “To be honest, I was very frustrated by our first half, but the second half, we came out and played solid. They got a third-and-3 bomb to (Tyrus) Graverson to go up 24-10, but we put ourselves in a situation where we could’ve won. Bremen’s really hitting their stride, and having Graverson back helps their chances. We lost to a team that I think will be a strong playoff team.”
On postseason outlook — “I think we have a good shot in the playoffs to be a good football team. I think teams will have to fight hard to beat us. We just have some bugs to get out, but I think we’re going to do that.”
On Woodlan — “They’ve played some tough competition. They’re a good team, 5-and-4 with losses to teams like Heritage and Adams Central (both 8-1). They run that old T offense where everyone’s in the box. They like to run the ball and we’ll have to be ready for the ball fakes they do out of that.”

Wawasee (1-8) at Plymouth (5-4)
(Class 4A Sectional 18 first round)
When: Friday, 7 p.m., The Rockpile, Plymouth
Series (last 35 years): Plymouth, 25-15.
John Harrell’s prediction: Plymouth, 38-14.
Last meeting: Sept. 20, 2024, Plymouth, 30-0.
About Wawasee — Matt Thacker’s Warriors lost 46-7 to visiting 4A Associated Press No. 6/Indiana Football Coaches Association No. 6 Mishawaka in Week 9 … Wawasee scored in the fourth quarter on a 21-yard touchdown pass to Jaylen Lowery from Johnny Zachary and a Frank Hoffer kick … Total tackle leaders were Reed Reidenbach (7) and Bradyn Pike (5) … On the season, Cameron Senter is 14-of-27 passing for 274 yards with four TD’s and one interception and has 110 carries for 219 rushing yards and two TD’s … Benjamin Brace has 111 carries for 414 yards and four TD’s, Pike 29 carries for 178 yards and two TD’s and Jayden Stahl 38 carries for 125 yards … Dallas Miller has five receptions for 111 yards and one TD and Reidenbach two catches for 94 yards and one TD … Total tackle leaders are Kassidy Carter (49), Reidenbach (36) and Derek Morrison (35) … The winner of Wawasee at Plymouth plays the winner of AP No. 6/IFCA No. 6 Mishawaka at Northridge in the Sectional 18 semifinals on Nov. 1 … Since 1973, Wawasee is 22-40 in tournament games. The last postseason win came in the opening round in 2023.
About Plymouth — Adam Handley’s Rockies lost 42-14 to visiting Concord in Week 9 … Plymouth ran 61 plays (to the Minutemen’s 39). Exzander Ramirez had 14 carries for 69 yards and one TD and was 13-of-23 passing for 158 yards and one interception … Finn Holm toted 12 times for 42 yards and one TD … Jose Fernando caught six passes for 84 yards … Pacing in total tackles was Lathan Cotton (8) and Brady Coffin (5) … On the season, Ramirez is 66-of-118 passing for 713 yards and four TD’s with nine interceptions and 146 rushes for 1,139 yards and 11 TD’s … Holm has 141 carries for 690 yards and 10 TD’s … Fernando has 23 receptions for 307 yards and one TD and Kaden Milliser 12 catches for 111 yards and one TD … Total tackle leaders are Coffin (88), Carter Bush (83), Cotton (6) and Hayden Graham-O’Brien (57) … Jaden Yates has intercepted three passes and Ethan O’Leary two … The Rockies blanked the Warriors in NLC play in Week 5.
Per Coach Matt Thacker:
On Plymouth — (Ramirez) does a great job of running the football and running the offense. That’s a great example of what a three-year starter can do in an offense given a chance to grow. He does a great job with their (run-pass option) action. It’s a great challenge and a great test … I’m really happy with the fight and effort our kids have shown. There’s a lot of stuff in the locker room, classroom, hallways and on the sideline that are true positives.
Postseason — You still want to establish your base offense and defense, but everybody’s going to tweak something in order to get an advantage somehow.
Mishawaka game — Mishawaka is a heckuva lot more physical than we are. That’s something we are aspiring to become. They definitely gave us the example on what to go by and how to get there.

Churubusco (4-5) at Manchester (5-4)
(Class 2A sectional 35 first round)
When: Friday, 7 p.m., Burk Field, North Manchester
Series: First Meeting
John Harrell’s prediction: Churubusco 31-17
Last meeting: N/A
About Churubusco: Churubusco comes into the matchup after going 4-5 in the regular season. All four of those wins came in Northeast Corner Conference play, in which the Eagles went a perfect 4-0. No team in the conference finished above .500, with Churubusco, along with Eastside and Prairie Heights all finishing 4-5. The Eagles finished the season 0-5 in nonconference play, wrapping up the regular season with a 58-0 loss to West Noble and a 42-18 loss to Fairfield. In last week’s game, quarterback Brody Lawrence finished 9/17 passing for 108 yards and a touchdown to Brayden Bianski. Angelo Ianucilli ran for 104 yards and two touchdowns on the ground. Ianucilli averages 81 rushing yards a game this year. The Eagles’ Sagarin rating of 40.46 is 200th in Indiana, 33rd in 2A.
About Manchester: The Squires had their four-game winning streak snapped Friday night, falling 35-28 to Peru. Despite the loss, Manchester clinched a fourth place finish in the Three Rivers Conference. Like Churubusco, all five of the Squires’ wins came against conference opponents. The lone nonconference game Manchester played was against Bluffton, a 28-14 loss. The team could potentially avenge that defeat in the second round. Maddux Greer led the team in rushing last week, picking up 81 yards on just eight carries while putting up a score. Quarterback Dallas Martin had two rushing touchdowns to go with 76 yards. The fourth and final touchdown scored by the Squires came from Reiss Gaerte, who ran for 59 yards. Gaerte also had 15 tackles. Manchester will try to advance to the sectional final for the second straight year. The team’s Sagarin rating of 33.75 is 222nd in the state, 42nd in 2A.
Manchester head coach Brian Enyeart:
On last week – We went up 14-0 in that game but we didn’t keep our foot on the pedal. We kind of went on cruise control and they kept chipping away. The intensity that we’ve played with for the last few weeks wasn’t there. We made a few big mistakes down the stretch that cost us and kind of let them dictate what was happening. We can’t do that moving forward.
On the playoff mindset – We have to look at it like everybody is 0-0 again. We have to get back on the right path and play our game. Nobody wants their season to end here so you’re going to be getting max effort from everybody on every play. If things aren’t going our way, we can’t panic. We have to regroup and make plays.
On Churubusco – That’s a really good team, another one that has run the same system for several years so those kids are going to know what to do. You can’t look at their record in a game like this, they’ve played some really good teams, but so have we. They’re going to give it all they have and we need to do the same.

Eastside (5-4) at Whitko (0-9)
(Class 2A sectional 35 first round)
When: Friday, 7 pm., Huff Stadium, South Whitley.
Series: First-ever meeting.
John Harrell’s prediction: Eastside 45-7.
About Eastside: The Blazers are in their second season under former Manchester coach Alyx Brandewie. They’ve won three of their last four games, the exception being last week’s 25-7 loss at Angola (4-5). … Freshman standout Noah Dove, one of three players to see time at quarterback for Eastside this year, has rushed for a team-leading 683 yards, a 6.8 average and nine touchdowns besides completing 10-of-16 passes. … On the defensive side, junior Jake Warstler leads a balanced attack with 50 tackles, while senior safety Ethan Miller has four interceptions. … The Blazers have won at least one playoff game each of the last five years, going 12-5 over that stretch with two sectional titles and a regional crown.
About Whitko: The Wildcats fell behind 22-0 in the first quarter last week at Wabash, but rallied to as close as 22-12 early in the fourth period before losing 30-12, their closest loss of the season. … Whitko limited the Apaches to just 30 passing yards on 12 attempts, but Wabash running back Noah Baldwin erupted for 228 yards and two touchdowns on 28 carries … Senior Trevor Freel rushed for 68 yards on nine attempts and a 12-yard TD for the Wildcats, and added three catches for 34 yards. Sophomore quarterback Crew Ebbinghouse notched his team’s first score with a 6-yard run. … Whitko’s trying to avoid its fourth 0-10 season in the last eight years and seeking its first postseason win since a 28-24 opening-round victory in 2016 at Central Noble. … With a win Friday, the Wildcats would be on the road next week regardless of opponent, visiting Prairie Heights (4-5) or Central Noble (0-9) for a sectional semifinal.
Whitko coach Brad Sprunger:
On last week — “Once we got settled in, we played very well defensively and offensively. We just couldn’t put the ball in the end zone like we had a chance to. We had a couple times we could’ve scored that we killed ourselves with penalties. We gave up 82 yards in the second half, so I thought we played really well there.”
On best areas — “Once we figured it out, I thought our offensive line (Lucas Wagner at center, Isaac Irwin and Ryan Campbell at guards, and Guy Howard and Kendrick Clark at tackles) was really dominant, and then our defense, other than that first quarter, it was probably the best game they’ve had in two years. Just really dominant at times, kind of shut everything down.”
On Eastside — “They’re a tough team. Their coach and I have some history formed from when he was at Manchester. We know each other well, kind of know what we’re each gonna do. It should be a fun game, especially if we play well. We’ve had a recurring theme where we’ll play well for two quarters, and then last week, we got it to three, so if we can keep (trending) that way, that would be great.”

Southwood (0-9) at Triton (6-3)
(Class 1A Sectional 43 first round)
When: Friday, 7 p.m., Trojan Field, Bourbon.
Series (last 30 years): Southwood, 4-0.
John Harrell’s prediction: Triton, 38-10.
Last meeting: Oct. 28, 2016, Southwood, 39-20 (sectional).
About Southwood — Thomas Tyree’s Knights lost 41-22 to visiting Lewis Cass in Week 9 … Southwood gained 342 yards passing and 18 rushing … Griffin Chambers was 21-of-28 passing for 219 yards and two TD’s. Eli Shellhamer was 7-of-8 for 123 yards and one TD … Owen Enyeart had 15 catches for 207 yards and two TD’s. Coan Holloway had five receptions for 87 yards and one TD … Total tackle leaders were Tripper Schnepp (19), Ivan Ranck (16) and Enyeart (11) … On the season, Chambers is 92-of-176 passing for 932 yards and eight TD’s with six interceptions and has 57 carries for 289 yards and two TD’s … Maddox Marshall has 100 carries for 391 yards and four TD’s … Enyeart has 51 receptions for 498 yards and four TD’s and Holloway 22 catches for 320 yards and three TD’s and Emery Liddick 16 catches for 196 yards and three TD’s … Total tackle leaders are Ranck (124), Marshall (90) and Enyeart (81) … Marshall has three interceptions and Liddick two.
About Triton — Rodney Younis’ 1A AP No. 10/IFCA No. 10 Trojans lost 21-13 at 1A IFCA vote-getter North Miami in Week 9 … Triton trailed 14-0 at halftime and 21-0 in the third quarter. The Trojans’ TD’s were Ben McFarland (run) and Jayden Overmyer (run) … On the season, McFarland is 29-of-52 passing for 505 yards and 10 TD’s with six interceptions and has 31 carries for 101 yards and three TD’s … Overmyer (133 carries for 917 yards and nine TD’s), Vinnie Prater (80 carries for 490 yards and four TD’s), Dante’ Workman (19 carries for 112 yards and one TD) are rushing leaders … The team average is 5.92 yards per rush on 307 attempts … Workman has 15 receptions for 279 yards and five TD’s and Isaac Quintana four catches for 102 yards and two TD’s … Total tackle leaders are Esai Lemler (66), Colton Reynolds (62), Workman (43) and Wayne Reichert (43) … Overmyer, Workman and Gage Riffle have two interceptions each … The winner of Southwood at IFCA No. 10 Triton plays the winner of Fort Wayne Blackhawk Christian at AP No. 10/IFCA vote-getter North Miami in the Sectional 43 semifinals on Nov. 1 … Since 1985, Wawasee is 27-39 in tournament games. The last postseason wins came in the first two rounds in 2023.
Per Coach Rodney Younis:
On Southwood — They do something we really haven’t seen all year. They run more of a spread offense. They’re going to throw the ball all over the field. We have our work cut out for us ... Their record can be a little deceiving. They’ve been in some games and had some success. They just didn’t get into the win column.
Postseason — This is a brand new season. Everybody starts fresh. It’s who plays the best that night. From here it’s win or you’re done … It’s time to get to work. Our focus is one week at a time.
North Miami game — I feel like we are two evenly-matched team. Unfortunately, we got off to a slow start. That’s a credit to North Miami … In the second half, we were able to get our offense going. We put ourselves in position to have an opportunity to tie the game late in the fourth quarter. We got inside the 10 and had back-to-back penalties that moved us back and — In the end — it cost us. But our kids battled. I like the fight that we had.