WARSAW AT 4A NO. 2 NORTHWOOD (NLC) Kickoff: 7 p.m. Friday in Nappanee Coaches: Phil Jensen (Warsaw), Nate Andrews (NorthWood) Records: Warsaw 5-2 (4-1 NLC), NorthWood 7-0 (5-0 NLC) Last Game: Warsaw 38, Wawasee 14; NorthWood 52, Elkhart Memorial 21 Last Year: NorthWood 21, Warsaw 14 Matchup: The WHME TV 46 Game of the Week has the makings of a great game, as the Warsaw Tigers travel to Andrews Field to play the Class 4A No. 2 NorthWood Panthers. The Tigers enter the contest on a four-game win streak, keeping them alive in the Northern Lakes Conference battle with a 4-1 record. NorthWood is playing like the NorthWood of old and is 7-0 overall and 5-0 in the NLC. Warsaw has won just five of its last 20 trips to Andrews Field, and the Tigers face a NorthWood team Friday that is outscoring its opponents by an average of 43-18 per game. NorthWood has scored at least 46 points in five of its seven games. The Tigers, on the other hand, average 35 points per game and have scored 46 just once this season. During its current four-game win streak, though, Warsaw has outscored its opponents by an average of 41-9. Through seven games, Warsaw quarterback Michael Jensen has completed 93 of 161 pass attempts for 1,349 yards and 16 touchdowns against just three interceptions. His favorite targets have been senior classmates D'Andre Street (31-429, 11 TDs) and Jeremy David (25-423, 2 TDs). Junior Will McGarvey spearheads Warsaw's ground game, having rushed for 755 yards and five scores on 122 carries. Senior linebacker/fullback Mason Faas and Jensen have rushed for four touchdowns each. Lane McClone leads Warsaw's defense with 42.5 tackles this season, while Faas and David have 35 and 31, respectively. NorthWood is led by dual-threat quarterback Trey Billinski, who has completed 105 of 166 pass attempts for 1,806 yards and 22 touchdowns while throwing just four interceptions. Billinski has also carried the ball 41 times for 240 yards and five scores. Deandre Smart leads all NorthWood receivers with 30 catches for 672 yards and 10 TDs, while Bronson Yoder (31-545, 5 TDs), Landen Gessinger (17-221, 4 TDs) and Drew Minnich (15-208, 2 TDs) are all threats. Bronson Yoder leads the Panthers' ground game with 511 yards and three scores, while Payton Bear (398 yds, 3 TDs) and Brayton Yoder (330 yds, 4 TDs) also see plenty of action. Dating back to 1969, NorthWood leads the all-time series against Warsaw 34-13. Jensen: "They're a good football team and a good football program. They're putting up staggering offensive numbers. They're getting a huge amount of yards both running and passing. People talk about their quarterback, Trey Billinski, a lot … but they've got plenty of weapons. They've got a great coaching staff, and they've returned to NorthWood football. We have to win the game to still have a chance in the conference, and to do that we have to beat the best team in the conference, and then come back next week and beat Concord."
WABASH AT TIPPECANOE VALLEY (TRC) Kickoff: 7 p.m. Friday in Akron Coaches: Floyd McWhirt (Wabash), Jeff Shriver & Aaron Norris (Valley) Records: Wabash 4-3 (2-3 TRC), Valley 2-5 (2-3 TRC) Last Game: North Miami 41, Wabash 7; Valley 21, Rochester 7 Last Year: Wabash 13, Valley 6 Matchup: In 10 meetings with the Wabash Apaches, the Tippecanoe Valley Vikings own a 9-1 record. The one loss was last year, and Valley is eager to avenge that setback Friday in Akron. The Vikings enter Friday's contest on a two-game win streak, while Wabash has lost three in a row. Between last season and the current one, Wabash has won 11 games. The Apaches only won 12 games total from 1999-2014. After scoring just a total of 47 points in the first five games of the season, the Vikings have scored 51 in their last two contests. Winning their first four games of the season, the Apaches gave up just 28 total points. Since then, they've given up 54, 41 and 41. For Valley, Alec Craig has completed 42 of 90 pass attempts for 536 yards with eight TDs and eight interceptions. Craig is second on the team in rushing yards with 160, trailing DJ Heckman's 421 yards, which includes two scores. Bryce Webster leads all Valley receivers with 16 catches for 208 yards and one TD. Shriver: "Wabash is a very physical team up front. Their offensive and defensive lines play very well. They've been hit by the injury bug and they've had a rough couple weeks, but we're expecting them to have some kids back, and we think we'll see the Wabash team that won the first four games of the season. They played with a freshman quarterback last week because they were without their top two quarterbacks. We expect some kids to be back for them. We've also been hit with some injuries … Alec Craig rolled his ankle this week, and we got some bad news that Dalton Prater has mono, and we're not sure when we'll have him back. He's made a big impact on our team."
WAWASEE AT ELKHART MEMORIAL (NLC) Kickoff: 7 p.m. Friday in Elkhart Coaches: Josh Ekovich (Wawasee), Scot Shaw (Elkhart Memorial) Records: Wawasee 3-4 (1-4 NLC), Elkhart Memorial 2-5 (0-5 NLC) Last week: Warsaw 38, Wawasee 14; NorthWood 52, Elkhart Memorial 21 Last year: Wawasee 31, Elkhart Memorial 21 Matchup: This year's Crimson Charger seniors have never won more than one conference game in a season in their careers, and have just two more chances to get that done this year; Friday night and Oct. 14 at one-win Northridge. Of Memorial's four wins over the last two seasons, half of them have been against Indianapolis Shortridge. Wawasee has a five-game winning streak against the Chargers, good enough to take a 9-6 leaden in the all-time series. Memorial quarterback Nathan Williams connected with Andrew Goodman for a 74-yard catch and run for a touchdown at NorthWood last week, demonstrating the Chargers' big-play capability. After being the lions' share of the offense in the opening weeks, Wawasee is getting the ball out of Tyler Smith's hands a little more. Part of that is because defenses are keying on the senior quarterback, but the majority of the reasoning is to go with the plan Ekovich and offensive coordinator Chris Cotton had in mind from the beginning. Ekovich also said he wants the Warriors to get more acclimated to game-night situations in an effort to eliminate the turnovers and penalties that have been the difference between a decent season and one to remember. Ekovich: "This week we've done everything we can to put them in pressure situations, so that way they're handling it a couple of days before and it makes the game a little bit easier. (Memorial) throws the ball pretty well, and they've got some dynamic outside receivers and their quarterback's got a decent arm. They've got a young running back that can be deadly if we let him get out in the middle of the field. Defensively they play tough and execute their gameplan. You wonder if they're more like the team that nearly beat Plymouth or do they make a lot of the same mistakes we do and put themselves in bad situations. That's probably why our records are similar. They're an athletic team, and any time you go up there it's a tough game. Teams are trying to take Tyler away, and lately we haven't targeted using him a lot. In the beginning of the season he had a hot hand, and against Concord he just happened to run the ball 38 times; that's what they were giving us that night. We never said 'Tyler's got to run the ball 30 times a game or we won't be successful.' We've got capable running backs and that's what we've been trying to establish the last few weeks with that balance."
KNOX AT TRITON (HNAC) Kickoff: 7:30 p.m. Friday in Bourbon Coaches: John Hendryx (Knox), Ron Brown (Triton) Records: Knox 5-2 (4-2 HNAC), Triton 0-6 (0-5 HNAC) Last week: Pioneer 48, Knox 6; North Judson 38, Triton 12 Last year: Knox 40, Triton 14 Matchup: Knox is a middle-of-the-pack team in the conference, alone in fourth place with losses to 1A No. 12 LaVille and No. 3 Pioneer by a combined score of 76-6, but handing Culver Community its only loss in the HNAC two weeks ago. Last season, Knox finished 6-6, ending its season in the sectional title game. Triton coach Ron Brown said Knox reminds him of the better teams in the conference, and it'll be important for Triton to not only avoid mistakes, but create a few breaks of its own to get its first win of 2016. The Trojans' issues have been well-documented - poor offensive starts, turning the ball over, leaving the defense little room for error and poor blocking and tackling can all be identified, but Brown feels like his young team needs to take the initiative for themselves to perform better and come together as a team. Brown: "We need to work on what we're going to do, and see where the chips fall. (Knox) is going to be like playing a LaVille team; they're very big and physical up front. We're going to have to find a way to help ourselves out in that area. If we give them more possessions than they would normally have, it's going to be a brutal night. I feel like (competing at a high level) is a decision the kids need to make. I talk all the time about having 'contact courage.' That's not something you can teach or scheme. You have to stick your nose in there and take on the lead block and sacrifice, and someone else has to be smart enough to come over the top and make the play for you. If you don't have all the pieces working together, you're going to continue to have errors. Every scheme out there is designed to stop an offense. When it comes down to it, to comes down to who's going to make a tackle, who's going to make a block, who's going to have a will to not let someone get through. Because the other team practices all week, just like we do. Just because we draw a play up to work a certain way doesn't mean it's going to work that way in the game. It's more of a want-to than anything else.
MANCHESTER AT ROCHESTER (TRC) Kickoff: 7 p.m. Friday in Rochester Coaches: Greg Miller (Rochester), Joe Grant (Rochester) Records: Manchester 0-7 (0-5 TRC), Rochester 0-7 (0-5 TRC) Last week: Whitko 31, Manchester 20; Tippecanoe Valley 21, Rochester 7 Last year: Manchester 34, Rochester 14 Matchup: Only Maconaquah has scored fewer points than Rochester in the Three Rivers Conference, and the loser of this matchup will play at the Braves next Friday. Rochester is implementing a new offense under first-year coach Joe Grant. The Zebra coach played his high school football for Greg Miller at North Miami. Sophomore Brady Perez has completed just under half his passes, and had about a third more attempts than senior Ross Pearson. The senior has completed just 20 percent of his passes, but has four of the five Zebra touchdown passes. Rochester has been so focus-minded that 14 different players have at least one varsity carry this season. Freshman Bryce Abbott leads the Zebras with 320 yards rushing, followed by Perez with 173 yards. No other carrier has more than 52 yards on the ground. Manchester junior quarterback Hayes Sturtsman averages 11 completions, 143 yards and a TD per contest, and has three rushing touchdowns. Devin Rooney has four receiving TDs on the season for the Squires. Miller: "It's going to be a fun game. Joe Grant was my quarterback at North Miami, when we went to the offense we're running now at Manchester. Joe's a friend of mine and we talked before the season, a little trash talk about mentor vs. mentee. It's going to be a fun game, a hard-fought game, and we'd better show up to win. (Rochester) throws the ball more than they run it; they probably throw it more than Coach Grant wants to, and they've had a lot of injuries, so they're playing fairly young kids. Anytime it's the first year in the system, you're going to have some growing pains. You can see them getting better each and every week. We'll have to play our 'A' game and take it to them. We've gone in each and every week thinking we have a great chance to win, and it hasn't quite happened. Our kids are pumped up to make sure this is the week. We've talked about it all week, about how we have to practice hard to earn the right to win this game. Hopefully, we can go out and execute well."
NORTHFIELD AT WHITKO (TRC) Kickoff: 7 p.m. Friday in South Whitley Coaches: Brandon Baker (Northfield), Jeff Sprunger (Whitko) Records: Northfield 6-1 (5-0 TRC), Whitko 6-1 (4-1 TRC) Last Game: Whitko 31, Manchester 20; Northfield 53, Maconaquah 7 Last Year: Whitko 19, Northfield 7 Matchup: With the Three Rivers Conference playoffs just a week away, the Whitko Wildcats host the Northfield Norsemen in a battle of teams that are a combined 12-2 overall and 9-1 in the TRC. Whitko has won 18 of its past 20 meetings with Northfield, including a 19-7 win last year in Wabash. Friday's contest could be a quick one, as both teams love to run the ball. Through seven games, Whitko has racked up 2,469 yards on the ground and just 237 through the air. Northfield has tallied 2,412 rushing yards and 290 passing yards. Whitko's ground game is led by Garrett Elder, who has carried the ball 86 times for 1,258 yards and 17 TDs. Hunter Reed has 149 carries for 896 yards and 13 scores. Northfield's ground game is led by Jensen Frieden (1,003 yds), John Schuler (522), Layne Evans (283) and Jackson Beery (271).
