For NorthWood, The Mitschelen Man Delivers

NAPPANEE - When Andy Mitschelen was in the seventh grade, he played quarterback.However, there was one problem - he played behind Charlie Roeder. "In seventh grade, I started out as a quarterback, but I didn't get to play much because I played behind Charlie," said Mitschelen with a grin."Then coach (Scott) Mikel moved me to the tight end position because he thought he could use me better there.Ever since then I started there." Mitschelen started in the tight end spot as an eight-grader and a freshman.Then he started on the junior varsity team as a sophomore and a junior. However, as a junior Mitschelen also started on the varsity squad as a kicker.This year, Mitschelen not only kicks for the Panthers, he is also NorthWood's third leading receiver. "I started JV as a tight end last year," said Mitschelen."But now that Blair (Baumgartner) is gone, I have moved up and I start in the tight end position.

Valley 'Draws' Up Sectional Path

Usually, the Vikings don't have it so nicely. Valley head coach Scott Bibler often sees a tough draw like he did last year when the Vikings drew undefeated Lakeland in the first round of the sectional.However, this year is different.This year, Tippecanoe Valley wouldn't see a team with more than one win until the sectional championship game. "It's been great," Bibler said."There have been years where we've been a better football team record-wise and got a tougher draw, but we're glad.It's been good for us to get a good draw and do well in the playoffs and hopefully progress to the championship game.That's always exciting." But standing in the way of a sectional championship match-up between either NorthWood or Angola is 1-8 Northridge.As Bibler says, though, don't overlook the Raiders.

Southwood Adds To Valley Woes

MENTONE - Much like the quarter used to start a football game, Three Rivers Conference rivals Southwood and Tippecanoe Valley were on different sides of the coin entering Friday night's clash. The Vikings, who won their first game of the season, were on a two-game skid with a season record of 1-2 and 0-1 in the TRC.On the other hand, the Knights who lost their first game of the season, came to Valley last night with an overall record of 2-1 and 1-0 in the TRC. After a 34-21 Southwood win, the two football teams remain on opposite ends of the spectrum.

Just One Of The Guys

Scott Backus, Tippecanoe Valley Middle School's seventh-grade football coach, tells of the time a few weeks ago when his wing back left players sprawling on the field. "On this one particular carry in the Rochester game," he says, "three guys were lying on the ground when it was over." Football players lying on the ground after plays because they got their bell rung is nothing new, you say. What is new, or at least different, is when the wing back's name is Rebekah Parker, and she is the 5-foot-5, 107-pound football player who sent the defenders scattering like bowling pins.

Valley Is Underdog In Sectional Semifinal Matchup With Norwell

AKRON - Former Ohio State University football coach Woody Hayes once said: "It's never an upset if the so-called underdog has all along considered itself the better team." When Tippecanoe Valley hosts Norwell tonight at 7:30 in the semifinal round of Sectional 20, the Vikings will undoubtedly be written off as the underdogs. And for good reason. Norwell will bring its Class 3A No.4 ranking, 405.2 yards per game average and 9-1 record to the table against a Viking team that averages just 254.1 yards of total offense per game. "Obviously, we're in a situation where we have to create something," said Valley coach Scott Bibler, who in his 10th season with the Vikings owns a 56-45 record."We've made a nice second season.The kids believe we can win, and that's half the battle." Valley is no stranger to the underdog role. The four losses the Vikings have suffered this year have all come to teams that, at one time during the season, were ranked in the top 10.

Smythe Wins, Sets New Course Record

GOSHEN - Less than an hour after Northridge High School's girls cross country squad turned in a perfect team score, Wawasee sophomore Ryan Smythe came through with an outstanding individual performance at Tuesday's Elkhart Central Sectional. Confident in the course conditions, saying it "was a perfect day to run," and his own ability, Smythe told his coach he would finish the 5,000-meter race with a new course record. He made good on his word, winning the boys individual sectional championship at Ox Bow Park with a time of 15:56. His winning time broke the former course record of 15:59 and led the Warriors to a third-place finish in the boys race.

Trojans Get Defensive In Playoffs

BOURBON - The Triton coaching staff watched the game tape, the one that showed the Trojans' 27-0 win over North Miami last week. There.There it was. They saw it again.And again.And again. They saw their defense dominate the Warriors, holding them to 78 yards in this sectional game.The coaches also saw proof right before their eyes on the television screen that the players had listened to defensive coordinator Jason Hunter's four favorite words: fly to the ball. "They were all finding the ball," Hunter says."Once the play stopped, we would have 10 guys at the ball and one guy on man coverage." Fly to the ball. Hunter's defense has done that well recently. Yes, Triton's overall record is an unimpressive 3-6.But in all three wins, the defense shut out the other team.Three losses were by seven points or less.Triton head coach Brad Shields will tell you his team is this close to being 5-2.

Cooper, Warsaw Golfers Sink Squires

Dorey Bungitak, standing several yards away, raised her arms like referees do for made field goals and shouted, "It went in!" "No way," Ashley Cooper said."Are you lying?" No, Bungitak wasn't, and yes, Cooper's 165-yard shot with a five-iron at the third hole at Rozella Ford Golf Course somehow, some way rolled right into the cup. On this day, individuals named Bungitak and Cooper and April Turner highlighted Thursday's match between Manchester and Warsaw on a sunny, warm September afternoon.Warsaw improved to 13-1 by beating 6-3 Manchester 191-210. You had Cooper's miraculous shot for par on the third hole, a par-5 hole. You had Manchester's Bungitak tearing up Rozella, shooting a 40, the best score against Warsaw in a nine-hole match at the Tigers' home course this year.Nothing new for Bungitak, who already holds Manchester's record for best score in an 18-hole match - and she's a sophomore.

Valley's Eaton Won't Let Injuries, Sickness Slow Him

AKRON - Only Brandon Eaton knows if he is a fan of roller-coasters, but his football career at Tippecanoe Valley has been just that. Eaton, a 6-foot-4, 165-pound senior who also plays basketball and golf, has seen the highs: he's been the starting signal caller for the Vikings for three years now.Just the same, he's seen the lows: he's been hurt or sick, causing him to miss games in each of those seasons. As a sophomore it was a shoulder injury. As a junior it was mono, a sickness that caused him to sit out the sectional game, a game the Vikings lost 13-12 to Northridge.It also slowed him at the beginning of the basketball season. And now there's his senior year. This year Eaton, who already has eight varsity letters, broke the thumb on his throwing hand during the Warsaw game, the second game of the season.

Warsaw Falls To NorthWood

Vikings Pull Away From Warriors

DENVER - Despite leading at halftime, Tippecanoe Valley coach Scott Bibler knew some adjustments were still needed. The Vikes had the slim two-point advantage (14-12) over Three Rivers Conference-rival North Miami, but the Warriors had seemed to dictate the pace of the game with its no-huddle, wish bone offensive attack. Mission accomplished for the Vikings. After surrendering 161 first-half rushing yards, Valley clamped down on the Warriors and stepped things up on special teams for a 40-12 thrashing Friday. North Miami got only 73 yards in the second half, and the Vikings got a blocked punt and two long punt returns to help set up touchdowns.

Triton Soaks Up Sectional Experience

BOURBON - Brad Shields is more animated than Ross Perot on debate night. "The bus will leave at 3:57," he tells his team."I am leaving at 3:57, not at 4 o'clock. "I'm getting antsy." No question about it. Shields and his team are enjoying their first week of extra practice.The Trojans gave Shields, who has been at Triton five years, his first sectional win last Friday, 27-0 over North Miami. Shields says that was the best game his team played this season.North Miami gained only 78 yards in the game. Now Triton (3-6) travels to South Adams (5-4) on Friday, and the team bus will assuredly depart Triton at 3:57, not at 4 p.m., for the 8 p.m.game in Berne.Shields is so excited he can't wait to get packed - he tells his team all the gear will be loaded in the bus Thursday.

Warsaw Has No Answers For Snider

HUNTINGTON - For the second time this season, Fort Wayne Snider got the best of Warsaw's varsity volleyball team. After the Tigers raced out to a 6-0 record at the start of the season, Snider ended Warsaw's win streak with an 8-15, 15-13, 15-7 win on the Tigers' home floor. After Warsaw clawed back in dramatic fashion to edge No.9 McCutcheon Saturday in the semifinals of the Huntington North Regional, Snider, also ranked No.9, topped the Tigers 13-15, 15-3, 15-5. Warsaw, whose last regional championship came in 1996, ends its season at 26-9; Snider improves to 32-7 and will face No.3 Muncie Central (33-5) Saturday in the semifinal round of the state finals. "We made too many errors," second-year Warsaw coach Tanya Coon said."Snider is a tough team, they earned the win, but we made a lot of errors." After the Tigers won the first game 15-13, it was all Snider from there.

Culver Kicks Warsaw Out Of Sectional

That may be all these two schools share. Warsaw Community High School is a 5A school with 1,900 students that prides itself in turning out quality athletic programs and views itself as one of the premier high schools in the state.Culver Community High School is a 1A school with 300 students that experiences limited success in athletics. None of this mattered when the schools' girls soccer teams clashed in Wednesday's Oregon-Davis Sectional. Warsaw coach Brent Wildman expressed relief earlier in the week about Warsaw no longer running into state-ranked Homestead, the team that beat the Tigers in the last four Columbia City Sectional championship games.

Tigers Turn In Win Of Historic Proportions

The football game was not dramatic.Warsaw had more points in the first five minutes than Gary Wallace had fans in the stands. In an offensive attack Warsaw has not seen the likes of since 1952 when the Tigers defeated Garrett 53-7, Warsaw scored early and often in Friday's 54-0 debacle of the Gary Wallace Hornets.Warsaw has not started the season 4-0 since 1992 when the Tigers won six games before losing to NorthWood in the seventh game of the season. The Tigers started their offensive onslaught when Greg Seiss connected with Zach Nelson on a 51-yard touchdown pass on the second play from scrimmage. On Wallace's first drive, the Warsaw defense pummelled the Hornet offense causing them to lose 11 yards on three plays. Then the brothers Seiss connected for another Warsaw touchdown with 8:57 as Brad caught a 19-yard pass from Greg to put the Tigers up 14-0.

Tiger Win NLC Thriller

ELKHART - What looked like an easy interception late in the fourth quarter, Warsaw corner back J.W.Maierle said it felt more like a beach ball slipping through his hands rather than a football. And when he had a chance to put his hands on the ball on offense in the final minute Friday with his team trailing host Northern Lakes Conference opponent Elkhart Memorial 21-17, the 6-foot-3 senior had hands like fly paper, reeling in a 24-yard pass from classmate Mark Sudhoff that gave the Tigers first-and-goal at the 5 with nine seconds left. Sudhoff, after spiking the ball on first down to stop the clock, carried the ball and scored on second-and-goal, going airborn for the winning touchdown with 3.4 seconds remaining in the Tigers' 24-21 win at Charger Field in Elkhart. With Warsaw leading 17-14, Maierle had a chance to ice the game with what looked like an easy interception, but the ball slipped through his hands and fell to the turf.

Fear Chases Iden To State

NORTH MANCHESTER - When Manchester track star Nick Iden turned fourth and 10th seeds into first and second places at last week's Kokomo Regional, Nate Grossman wasn't surprised. "Nick Iden," Grossman said, "has the tenacity of a pit bull." Grossman is Robin to Iden's Batman.Grossman, who graduated from Manchester this year, competed in two hurdle events with Iden.His season ended at the regional. Iden's tenacity served him well.His fourth seed was in the 110-meter hurdles, which he won with a time of 14.82 seconds.His 10th seed was in the 300 hurdles, where he placed second with a time of 37.98 seconds.He holds the school record in the 300 (he broke his own) and is .02 seconds off the record for the 110. Both were his best times ever.Both got him a trip to Friday's state finals - for the second year in a row. He placed 16th in the 110 and 10th in the 300 at state last year. This year he hopes to crack the top nine in both events.

Tigers Claw Back To Beat No. 9 McCutcheon

HUNTINGTON - In an underdog role, Warsaw's varsity volleyball team used nine lives to come from behind and edge No.9 McCutcheon 15-13, 8-15, 17-15 in the semifinal round of the Huntington North Regional Saturday. "You couldn't ask for a better game," second-year Warsaw coach Tanya Coon said."The kids showed mental toughness.They were down the entire game, but they kept coming back and they all stepped up when they need to." The win improved Warsaw's overall season record to 26-8; McCutcheon finished its season at 30-7. McCutcheon jumped out to a 7-0 lead on the serving of senior Kathy Asay - the Mavericks' first server of the game. The Tigers came right back and got three points off the serving of sophomore Nicole DeFord, but McCutcheon then took leads of 11-4 and 13-6 and had the Tigers on the ropes. And that's when things got exiting.

College Roundup

NORTH MANCHESTER -ÊThe Manchester College football team won its first conference game of the season Saturday when the Spartans defeated Mount St.Joseph 36-14. In its first win in 10 conference games, Manchester scored two touchdowns in the first quarter.That marks the first time the Spartans have scored in the first quarter so far this season. Freshman running back Antonio Watkins led the Spartans with 169 yards on 39 carries, while freshman quarterback Seth Hoppe was 15-of-24 passing for 137 yards and two touchdowns.Darren Reed had nine receptions for 199 yards and a touchdown. Amos Frye, a NorthWood High School graduate, led the Spartans with 13 tackles on the day. Manchester improves to 2-6 overall and 1-3 in Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference play.The Spartans travel to Hanover College for a game Saturday at 1:30 p.m.

At Whitko, Wildcat Football Players Follow Sprunger's Lead

SOUTH WHITLEY - "Leader." If Whitko assistant coach Dave Lopshire had to describe head coach Bryan Sprunger in one word, that would be it. Of course, choosing just one word to describe a man who has coached for 20 years (17 years as head coach and three as an assistant) at Whitko High School was not easy for Lopshire, who has coached with Sprunger each of those years. "Coach Sprunger is a leader both on and off the field," said Lopshire."He is a leader emotionally and spiritually as well as physically." Sprunger began his career at Whitko as a student teacher and assistant coach in 1978, and was offered a full-time position soon after. "I only expected to be here for two or three years," said Sprunger."But this area has a way of making itself home.