Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
EAST NOBLE AT WARSAW
Kickoff: 7 p.m. Friday in Warsaw
Coaches: Luke Amstutz (East Noble), Bart Curtis (Warsaw)
Records: East Noble 1-0, Warsaw 1-0
Last Game: East Noble 16, Plymouth 6; Warsaw 10, Columbia City 8
Last Year: East Noble 28, Warsaw 7
Matchup: The Warsaw Tigers entered the Bart Curtis era last week with a 10-8 win over Columbia City as the teams battled in heavy first-half rainfall. The Tiger defense forced six Columbia City turnovers in the season opener, four fumbles to go along with interceptions by Trenton Sands and Blake Marsh. Cobe VanHouten made seven tackles in the win, while John Culbertson and Luke Adamiec had six and five tackles, respectively. Offensively, fullback Bryce Garner led Warsaw's new option offense with 75 yards on 20 carries, with most of his production coming in the first half. Kane Dawson and Josh West rushed for 48 and 35 yards, respectively, for the Tigers, who beat Columbia City despite tallying just 187 yards of offense. Garner ran for a 3-yard touchdown against the Eagles, while Harrison Mevis converted an extra-point kick and a 24-yard field goal. Warsaw and East Noble began their regular season series in 2013 and the Knights have won four of the five meetings, including the last three. East Noble, playing a Northern Lakes Conference school for the second straight week, beat Plymouth 16-6 in the season opener. Bailey Parker and Jack Herber both ran for touchdowns against the Rockies, while Joe Painter kicked a field goal. Warsaw is trying to go 2-0 for the first time since 2008 when the Tigers beat Columbia 26-19 and Homestead 29-22.
Curtis: "We look better against ourselves, and I think we've corrected some errors, shored some things up … we'll find out. East Noble is a quality program. It's the same thing every year, they get new people in there and they do a nice job. They're one of those program's that's top notch, and they're gonna do things right and they play the game right."
TIPPECANOE VALLEY AT CULVER ACADEMY
Kickoff: 7:30 p.m. Friday in Culver
Coaches: Steve Moriarty (T. Valley), Andy Dorrel (Culver Acad.)
Records: T. Valley 0-1, Culver Academy 1-0
Last Game: Bremen 34, T. Valley 7; Culver Academy 28, LaVille 6
Last Year: Culver Academy 33, T. Valley 7
Matchup: Turnovers, four of them to be exact, were a thorn in Tippecanoe Valley's side last week as the Vikings opened the 2018 season with a 34-7 loss to Bremen. Valley faces another Marshall County opponent this week as the Vikings travel to the shores of Lake Maxincuckee to play the Culver Academy Eagles at Oliver Field. The Eagles have won the last eight meetings with Valley and 13 of 16. The Vikings' last win over Culver Academy was a 26-13 victory in Akron on Aug. 20, 2010, under head coach Jeff Shriver. Valley's lone touchdown last week came on a 59-yard pass from Noah Miller to Cameron Parker. The Eagles, who opened the season with a 28-6 win over LaVille, have given up just seven total points in the last two meetings with Valley.
Moriarty: "I think the first thing that pops out (on film) is they're very athletic and disciplined. Their front line is talented. They're a very, very good team. We have to be able to contain their jet sweep and stay disciplined in the secondary. Last week the score did not indicate how close the game was … we never gave up. With seven minutes to go we still had a chance to make a run at winning. We need to play better in the secondary, and on offense we need to find a way to attack the perimeter."
COLUMBIA CITY AT WHITKO
Kickoff: 7 p.m. Friday in South Whitley
Coaches: Brett Fox (Columbia City), Jeff Sprunger (Whitko)
Records: Columbia City 0-1, Whitko 0-1
Last Game: Warsaw 10, Columbia City 8; Churubusco 28, Whitko 0
Last Year: Columbia City 48, Whitko 6
Matchup: For the second straight week, the Whitko Wildcats will host a Whitley County opponent. The 'Cats opened the season with a 28-0 loss to Churubusco, and Friday they're looking to snap a 12-game losing streak when the Columbia City Eagles travel to South Whitley. Columbia City has won seven of the last eight meetings in the series and 21 of 26, including a 48-6 victory last year at Max Gandy Athletic Field. In last week's game, Whitko ran 39 offensive plays, but tallied just 95 yards, while the defense gave up 285 yards to Churubusco on 40 plays. Whitko's Zakk Neer carried the ball 12 times for 63 yards, while Zach Gardener tallied 24 yards on seven carries and Riley Young 3 for 16. The Wildcats' rushing total was hurt by quarterback Dominick Moseley's 10 attempts for -32 yards. Moseley completed 2 of 7 pass attempts for 24 yards. In a 10-8 loss to Warsaw last week, Columbia City turned the ball over six times – four fumbles and two interceptions. Max Bedwell led the Eagles' rushing attack with 17 carries for 49 yards, while Jacob Wigent added 33 yards on 10 carries.
Sprunger: "They seem to have offensive and defensive linemen that can get off the ball and attack. They also seem to have some team speed, especially in the secondary on defense. Offensively, they seem to have lineament that can sustain blocks, and backs that are capable of getting to the edge. Overall, I believe they have a very solid football team that is going to give us a good battle. We have had vast improvement from our scrimmage to last week's game. However, we made too many fatal errors like blown assignments on kickoff, penalties and fumbles. These are all things we can correct and have addressed. Defensively, I felt we played well last week. We had a couple of plays that we broke down on and Churubusco was able to take advantage of like good teams do, but for the most part we made them work for their touchdowns."
LAVILLE AT TRITON (HNAC)
Kickoff: 7 p.m. Friday in Bourbon
Coaches: Ron Brown (Triton); Will Hostrawser (LaVille)
Records: Triton 1-0, 0-0 HNAC; LaVille 0-1, 0-0 HNAC
Last Game: Triton 30, South Central 17; Culver Academy 28, LaVille 6
Last Meeting: LaVille 10, Triton 7; (sectional championship)
Matchup: Triton coach Ron Brown has been counting the days since Triton's sectional title game loss to LaVille last season. At the same time, he said his players are preparing for the Lancers like they're any other team. Triton runs a balanced attack, and is coming off a week where quarterback James Snyder excelled in the air and running back Delano Shumpert racked up yards on the ground. However, the Trojans weren't impressed with their blocking or tackling last week, and will be looking to improve in that aspect. Brown said that he's "fine" with being the underdog in this fight, and that playing at home will definitely be an advantage for his team.
Brown: "We need to play assignment football. (The Lancers) switched their offense up. They're now a Wing T offense and they run multiple sets, so our kids have to be able to recognize what they see, check into the correct alignments and execute their tackling. Their defense is very, very mobile. They are fast, they all tackle well, and they are aggressive. I think they have one of the best defenses around, and if you want to be able to compete with those teams, you really gotta be ready for it."
WEST NOBLE AT WAWASEE
Kickoff: 7 p.m. Friday in Syracuse
Coaches: Mike Eshbach (Wawasee); Monte Mawhorter (West Noble)
Records: Wawasee 0-1; West Noble 1-0
Last Game: Lakeland 28, Wawasee 7; West Noble 14, Central Noble 12
Last Meeting: West Noble 31, Wawasee 14
Matchup: The Warriors will look to rebound from a game in which they struggled to get much going offensively. Wawasee coach Mike Eshbach attributed their struggles to first-game jitters and fixable mistakes. He was impressed with his team's ball management more in the second half, in which the Warriors ran about 40 plays as opposed to 18 in the first half. Still, he said a focus will be sustaining offensive drives and running a balanced attack. Wawasee plans to rely on depth, particularly in the running game, to move the chains. Defensively, Eshbach wants to see his players rally to the ball quicker and show more aggression.
Eshbach: " The Chargers are not real big, but they're fast, they're physical, so we're gonna have to move our feet. We're gonna have to, hopefully, catch them in a couple spots where maybe they're flowing a little too fast. (They're) somewhat similar to what we are as far as offense goes, and defense, we're probably really similar as well as far as size and speed goes."
BLUFFTON AT MANCHESTER
Kickoff: 7 p.m. Friday in North Manchester
Coaches: Greg Miller (Manchester); Brent Kunkel (Bluffton)
Records: Manchester 0-1; Bluffton 1-0
Last Game: Southwood 33, Manchester 0; Bluffton 40, Northfield 12
Last Meeting: Bluffton 8, Manchester 0
Matchup: It's been nine years since the Squires defeated the Tigers, so Greg Miller is looking to get that weight off the team's shoulders. To do that, the Squires have to avoid a repeat of mistakes made on both sides of the ball in Week 1. Manchester watched film and pinpointed poor offensive reads, missed blocks, and turnovers as the reason for the zero on the scoreboard. Miller said that defensively, the Squires will move players around to new positions in hopes of a better outcome. Miller called Bluffton "aggressive" on both sides of the ball, and hopes to combat that with aggression of Manchester's own. The Squires also will look to running back Delton Moore to run hard and gobble up yardage.
Miller: "We're talking confidence. We're building (our players) up. We're a new team and we're posing it as that. Each and every week we're building that confidence, that this is our week to take on a new challenge. We're gonna continue that all year. What happened in the past is the past, just like what happened last week is last week. We have goals that we want to meet and Bluffton is our next challenge in meeting those goals."
