High School Football Previews

No. 8 (4A) GOSHEN AT WARSAW (NLC)

Kickoff: 7 p.m. Friday in Warsaw

Coaches: Brad Park (Goshen), Phil Jensen (Warsaw)

Records: Goshen 4-1, 1-1 NLC, Warsaw 4-1, 2-0 NLC

Last Game: Goshen 7, Concord 0; Warsaw 42, Northridge 0

Last Year: Warsaw 41, Goshen 7

Matchup: After Warsaw's offense rattled off 90 points the last two weeks, it will get a huge challenge Friday from a stingy Goshen defense that has allowed 23 points this season. The Redskins gave up seven points to Elkhart Memorial and 16 in a loss to NorthWood. Goshen's offense averages 20 points per game, while its defense gives up 4.6 points per game. Warsaw's defense has given up an average of 12.6 points per game but hasn't been scored on in two weeks. Sophomore tailback Jay Parker leads Goshen's ground game with 6.4 yards per carry. He has racked up 430 yards and four touchdowns on 67 carries. Fullback Brandon Schrock has eight touchdowns and 296 yards on 61 carries. Quarterback Geoff Zentz has thrown for 392 yards on 29-of-67 passing. For Warsaw, junior tailback Brad Seiss may return to action this week. Before sitting out the last two games, he tallied 205 yards and three touchdowns on 44 carries. After rushing the ball 15 times for 211 yards a week ago, junior Grady Randall now leads the Tiger ground game with 265 yards on 23 carries, an average of 11.5 yards per carry. Senior quarterback Jared Scrafton (147) and junior David Muta (111) have also tallied over 100 yards rushing on the year.

Park: "(Warsaw's) size (is the first thing that sticks out). They're a good, physical football team. They like to run the ball, but they have the athletes they can throw to. I think they're as talented as they've been. (Josh) Buck and (Chris) Clay are both 6-4 and great athletes. Scrafton can definitely get them the ball. And they have anybody they want in the backfield. You don't stop their offense, you can only slow them down. We don't want two (NLC) losses. For us to have a chance, Warsaw has to get a loss too."

Jensen: "Let's talk about the obvious and how good they are. They are a very talented football team. They have a lot of guys defensively that played in the state championship last year. They are very aggressive defensively and are very well-coached. Anytime you give up 23 points (so far this season), you're pretty good. They have the ability to control the football. Obviously one of our team goals is to win a conference championship. After that, all we're worried about is this week. We control our own destiny. We get a win this week and we still have that ability."

TIPPECANOE VALLEY vs. OAK HILL (TRC)

Kickoff: 11 a.m. Saturday at RCA Dome in Indianapolis

Coaches: Scott Bibler (T. Valley), Bud Ozmun (Oak Hill)

Records: T. Valley 5-0, 3-0 TRC; Oak Hill 4-1, 2-1 TRC

Last game: T. Valley 61, Northfield 8; Oak Hill 56, Whitko 16

Last year: T. Valley 26, Oak Hill 6

Matchup: Oak Hill is an option football team, so a big key for Valley this week will be making sure its defenders don't fall for the deception in the offense. Valley has given up just 33 points in five games, an average of just 6.6 points, best in the TRC. Teams are averaging just 149.6 yards of offense per game against Valley. Valley's top rusher is Wes Backus, who is averaging 45 rushing yards per game. Two other players, Josh Carter and B.J. Cunningham, average around 35 rushing yards per game. The Vikings have thrived on forcing teams to turn the ball over as they have 10 interceptions and have forced nine fumbles. Cunningham has five of the interceptions. Caleb Shewman leads Valley with 35 total tackles. Steve Rumfelt leads in sacks with three. Backus and Rumfelt each have forced two fumbles. Oak Hill quarterback Ty Henderson has completed 33 of 65 passes and thrown for 540 yards and six touchdowns. Coming off of a four-touchdown effort at Whitko that saw him run for 177 yards on 19 carries, Henderson has 538 rushing yards on 118 carries this season (4.6 average).

Bibler: "This is a huge week for us, not only because of the atmosphere in the RCA Dome, but because of the conference race. This is a critical game if we want to be in the running for the championship. One of Oak Hill's biggest strengths is they can hurt you so many ways offensively. Their quarterback, Ty Henderson, is a tremendous athlete who has mobility, is poised and shows confidence on the field. Oak Hill has tall receivers. At this point in time, this is the most balanced offense we will have faced. Oak Hill can run the ball and throw the ball."

Ozmun: "(Valley) is a physical team that doesn't try to do anything fancy. They are a very good defensive team, and I think their special teams, which have been very good, have been a hidden secret. Both teams don't make too many mistakes as far as turnovers or penalties that kill you."

WAWASEE AT PLYMOUTH (NLC)

Kickoff: 7 p.m. Friday in Plymouth

Coaches: Joe Rietveld (Wawasee), Tom Condon (Plymouth)

Record: Wawasee 2-3, 1-2 NLC; Plymouth 3-2, 1-1 NLC

Last Game: Plymouth 42, Culver Military 14; NorthWood 40, Wawasee 12

Last Year: Plymouth 48, Wawasee 19

Matchup: Plymouth tight end Jeff Stetler will make his first appearance of the season Friday. The All-Stater broke his ankle the first day of two-a-day practices. Plymouth triggerman Ben Slein has tallied 419 yards and five touchdowns on 23-of-55 passing. Tailback Charley Craig has totaled six scores and 544 yards on 81 carries, an average of 6.7 yards per carry. Logan Lees spearheads the Warrior rushing attack with his average of 5.3 yards per carry. He has rushed the ball 72 times for 385 yards and three touchdowns this season. Senior signall caller Brent Doty has 999 yards and 10 touchdowns through the air on 93-of-142 passing.

Rietveld: "The reason the quarterback (Slein) and Craig (tailback) have been so successful is because people have taken the fullback away. We have to do more stunting and blitzing to stop those guys. We're not quick enough to make the plays, so we're gonna have to blitz them more. I think our guys on the perimeter are good enough to cover them, so I feel good about that. I think they're gonna throw more this week because they get their stud tight end back. We need to catch the ball better. We dropped some passes last week that were in our hands. You can't do that against teams like NorthWood and Plymouth and the rest of the conference. We've been talking all week about coming out and playing from the start. We didn't do that last week."

Condon: "They are a very dangerous team with a quick-strike offense. They make you cover the whole field. I like Doty, he's a good, heady athlete. I watched them against Concord, they should have won. They just had some turnovers and kind of stalled out. They're only a little bit away from having a winning record. The biggest key for us will be to keep the ball away from them and eat up the clock with some long drives."

MANCHESTER vs. No. 3 (3A) ROCHESTER (TRC)

Kickoff: 1:45 p.m. Saturday at RCA Dome in Indianapolis

Coaches: Al Bailey (Manchester), Mark Miller (Rochester)

Records: Manchester 3-2, 2-1 TRC; Rochester 5-0, 3-0 TRC

Last game: Rochester 21, Southwood 12; Manchester 40, North Miami 16

Last year: Rochester 47, Manchester 7

Matchup: Any thoughts of defending TRC champion Rochester having a down year have been tossed aside with the Zebras' 5-0 start. Rochester graduated All-State players and returned only three offensive and four defensive starters, but the Zebras haven't missed a beat. Winning a game at Logansport and hosting and beating Plymouth 28-6 were two wins that gave the young Zebras confidence. Last year Rochester's freshman and junior varsity teams each lost only one game, and several of those players are on the varsity squad this year. Running back Josh Peden leads Manchester with 79.8 rushing yards per game.

Bailey: "Year in and year out, Rochester has a good football program. This year they are mixing in several young kids with kids who have been in the program.

They played some tough teams early in the season and beat them. They have a couple of pretty good running backs and a good receiver. They have been able to score against anybody. They control the ball and keep the other team's offense off the field ... How well our offensive and defensive lines play is our concern coming in. If we play well up front, we have capable receivers and backs. It's always a question of how well we play up front."

Miller: "From what we've seen, Manchester is a very physical team. They want to power the football at you and run it down your throat. Against North Miami, they threw the ball only three times. They lineup in a tight I formation, and they want to give the tailback the football 30 times. We have to focus on stopping the tailback and their inside running attack."

WHITKO vs. NORTHFIELD (TRC)

Kickoff: 7 p.m. Saturday in the RCA Dome In Indianapolis

Coaches: Bryan Sprunger (Whitko); Tony Uggen (Northfield)

Records: Whitko 0-5, 0-3 TRC; Northfield 1-4, 0-3 TRC

Last Game: Oak Hill 56, Whitko 16; Tippecanoe Valley 61, Northfield 8

Last Year: Whitko 50, Northfield 27

Matchup: Whitko and Northfield are both looking for their first Three Rivers Conference wins at the RCA Dome. Since none of the TRC teams were able to practice at the RCA Dome this week because of activities scheduled there, no team holds a home-field advantage. Offensively, Whitko averages 12.0 points to Northfield's 9.4, but the Norsemen give up 30.6 points per game defensively to the Wildcats' 37.8. Northfield will look to quarterback Shawn Smith to lead the offense. Smith has thrown for 435 yards and rushed for 300 yards. The Norsemen tend to throw the ball early in the game to try to establish their running later. Whitko will look to signal caller Adam Wendel to lead the offensive attack. He has completed 20 of 46 passes for 316 yards and two touchdowns. His favorite targets are Alex Frantz (seven catches for 118 yards) and Brent Goble (four receptions for 110 yards). Goble also leads the Wildcat ground attack with 34 rushes for 273 yards.

Sprunger: "Northfield is a team that likes to throw the ball so they can establish the run. Their game is modeled after Purdue, a very good offense. Right now we are preparing ourselves. We need to cut down on the mistakes and turnovers. We want to get better as a football team, and we're still working to find some consistency ... It's tough to prepare to play in the RCA Dome because we did not have an opportunity to go down and practice this week. I guess we'll play it by ear and let the kids experience what it's like for themselves."

Uggen: "Obviously Whitko is young - they have a lot of sophomores. They'll be a pretty good football team in a year or two. Their defense is very similar to the teams we have played in the past couple weeks, so hopefully we will have a pretty decent read offensively. We are trying to cut down on our own mistakes. We are less concerned with what our opponent is doing and more concerned with what we are doing. We want to balance out our offense and run the ball more."

NEW PRAIRIE AT TRITON (NSC)

Kickoff: 7:30 p.m. Friday in Bourbon

Coaches: Bart Curtis (New Prairie), Rod Wildman (Triton)

Records: New Prairie 3-2,1-2 NSC; Triton 2-3, 0-3 NSC

Last Game: Jimtown 35, New Prairie 0; Glenn 30, Triton 0

Last Year: New Prairie 53, Triton 9

Matchup: Triton's quest for a Northern State Conference win continues this week. After winning the first two games of the season, the Trojans are on a three-game skid. Joe Potter leads all Triton rushers with 338 yards and two touchdowns on 100 carries. No other Trojan has rushed for more than 100 yards on the season. Quarterback Steven Boyer has thrown for 280 yards and two touchdowns on 17-of-44 passing. He has also thrown seven interceptions. New Prairie's offense is led by four rushers. Alan Hensell, Derrick Jackson, Brad Jasinski and Pete Tabaka have all rushed for between 270 and 280 yards.

Curtis: "When you look at Triton, the first thing that pops out is that they are a very solid team on both sides of the ball. They don't make a lot of mistakes on either side of the ball. They're a strong defensive team. The played Bremen 7-0 at the quarter and they played John Glenn tough except for a couple big plays. They don't have a lot of players, but they get a lot of good miles out of the ones they do have. We're still trying to find ourselves offensively."

Wildman: "(New Prairie) runs the ball a lot. They don't pass a whole lot. They run a good option, we've got to stop that. Our offensive line has to get some better blocking. Their heads aren't in it. They're just going through the motions. It's not so much what the other team has done to us, it's our lack of intensity and drive and desire."

NORTHRIDGE AT No. 5 (3A) NORTHWOOD (NLC)

Kickoff: 7 p.m. Friday in Nappanee

Coaches: Frank Amato (Northridge); Rich Dodson (NorthWood)

Records: Northridge 0-5, 0-3 NLC; NorthWood 4-1, 3-0 NLC

Last Game: Warsaw 42, Northridge 0; NorthWood 40, Wawasee 12

Last Year: NorthWood 33, Northridge 6

Matchup: This is a battle between the first-place team in the Northern Lakes Conference (NorthWood) and the last-place team in the conference (Northridge). (At 3-0 in NLC play, NorthWood leads Warsaw (2-0 NLC) by 1/2-game.) The Panthers are producing an average of 35.0 points per game while giving up just 15.2. The Raiders, on the other hand, are producing just 4.8 points per game and giving up 33.6. NorthWood will look to triggerman Mike Blosser to lead the offensive attack. His favorite target is Willy Will. Ben Lehman and Jesse Fink are NorthWood's leading rushers. Defensively, the Panthers will look to middle linebacker Josh Cook and Will to hold down the Raider offense. Will is the only Panther who plays offense and defense.

Dodson: "Northridge plays hard, and they have shown signs of being able to move the football. They have not won a game yet this season, but we are not taking them lightly. They are well-coached, and they like to establish a run game early. We want to be able to stop the run. Then we want to be able to finish our drives. We also need our special teams to play better than they have been.

Amato: "NorthWood is a very good football team. They are strong offensively, defensively and on special teams. At this point we just want to eliminate our mistakes. We also want to be able to take what NorthWood gives us and use it. In order to be successful, we need to do that and take care of the ball."