WARSAW AT NORTHWOOD (NLC) Kickoff: 7:30 p.m. Friday in Nappanee Coaches: Phil Jensen (Warsaw), Scott Hoover (NorthWood) Records: Warsaw 5-2 (4-1 NLC), NorthWood 4-3 (4-1 NLC) Last Game: Wawasee 14, Warsaw 13; NorthWood 27, Memorial 24 Last Year: Warsaw 22, NorthWood 19 Matchup: Despite losing their first Northern Lakes Conference game of the season, the Warsaw Tigers are still in a tie for first place. A log jam at the top of the NLC has Concord, Plymouth, NorthWood and Warsaw all with 4-1 records. The Tigers finish the regular season with a trip to NorthWood and with a home game against Concord. In a 14-13 loss at Wawasee Friday, Warsaw trailed 14-0 when sophomore quarterback Jake Mangas took over for injured starter Austin Head. Mangas threw a pair of fourth-quarter touchdown strikes to senior Taylor Cone. the Tigers went for the winning two-point conversion with 36 seconds remaining but fumbled and came up empty. Mangas finished the game 9 of 10 for 87 yards. Junior running back Tristan McClone rushed for 175 yards and moved closer to Rod Wildman’s single-season school record of 1,652 yards. Through seven games, McClone has carried the ball 228 times for 1,343 yards and 13 touchdowns. In a series that dates back to 1969, NorthWood has a 32-11 record against Warsaw. The Tigers have won two of the last three meetings but haven’t won at Jim Andrews Field since Brad Seiss’ two-point conversion led to a 29-28 victory in 2000. Jensen: “One of us is still going to be playing for a conference championship the last week of the regular season. There’s no re-do. We have to come out ready to play Friday night. Last week is over, but I hope we learned from it. We better be prepared to play Friday night. I know NorthWood will be.”
TIPPY VALLEY AT NORTH MIAMI (TRC) Kickoff: 7 p.m. Friday in Denver Coaches: Jeff Shriver (Tippy Valley), Greg Miller (N. Miami) Records: Tippy Valley 6-1 (5-0 TRC), N. Miami 5-2 (4-1 TRC) Last Game: Tippy Valley 27, Rochester 6; Whitko 13, N. Miami 10 Last Year: Tippy Valley 55, N. Miami 13 Matchup: With last week’s win over Rochester, and North Miami’s loss to Whitko, the Tippecanoe Valley Vikings are alone atop the Three Rivers Conference standings. Valley is 5-0, while North Miami and Rochester are 4-1. The Vikings have outscored their five TRC opponents 196-46. Their only close conference game was a 28-26 victory over Northfield. Valley’s offense, which averages 34 points per game, is led by a balanced rushing and passing attack. Justin Gunter leads the ground game with 377 yards, while Chris Torpy has rushed for 293 yards and Nolan Sponseller has carried for 157 yards. Ben Shriver is third in the TRC in passing yards with 943. He has completed 64 of 106 passes with nine touchdowns. The majority of those yards have gone to Tanner Andrews, the TRC’s leading receiver. Andrews has caught 26 passes for 490 yards and five scores. For North Miami, Brady Briggs has rushed for 616 yards, while Austin Barker has run for 554 yards. Barker has also thrown for 553 yards and four touchdowns.
WHITKO AT ROCHESTER (TRC) Kickoff: 7 p.m. Friday in Rochester Coaches: Wayne Swender (Whitko), Mike Zehner (Rochester) Records: Whitko 3-4 (3-2 TRC), Rochester 4-3 (4-1 TRC) Last Game: Whitko 13, N. Miami 10; Tippy Valley 27, Rochester 6 Last Year: Rochester 30, Whitko 8 Matchup: After handing North Miami its first Three Rivers Conference loss last week, the Whitko Wildcats can play spoiler again Friday at Rochester. Tippecanoe Valley is alone atop the TRC standings at 5-0, while North Miami and Rochester are 4-1 and Whitko is 3-2. Offensively, Whitko is led on the ground by Tanner Hughes, who has rushed for 545 yards, while Devin Gerding has run for 410 yards and Alex Stoddard 185 yards. Stoddard has completed 20 of 53 passes for 385 yards and three touchdowns. No other starting quarterback in the conference has attempted fewer than 76 passes. Rochester’s running game is led by Jacob Howdeshell’s 530 yards. Carter Screeton has rushed for 200 yards. Zebras quarterback Jon O’Dell is second in the conference in passing yards with 962, though he has only completed 62 of 145 attempts. Peyton Showley is second in the TRC with 25 catches for 385 yards and a touchdown. Rochester has won seven of its last eight meetings against Whitko. Swender: “As always, Rochester is a good, quality ball club. They have a new coach over there, but he’s followed in Coach (Mark) Miller’s footsteps. We’ve got our work cut out for us. We need to play four quarters of good, hard, fundamental football.”
WAWASEE AT ELKHART MEMORIAL (NLC) Kickoff: 7:30 p.m. Friday in Elkhart Coaches: Tom Wogomon (Wawasee), Bill Roggeman (Memorial) Records: Wawasee 3-4 (2-3 NLC), Memorial 0-7 (0-5 NLC) Last Week: Wawasee 14, Warsaw 13; NorthWood 27, Memorial 24 Last Year: Wawasee 20, Memorial 17 Matchup: The Wawasee Warriors snapped a four-game losing skid against Memorial last season, and hopes to reach two wins in a row Friday in Elkhart. Still riding high after handing Warsaw its first Northern Lakes Conference loss Friday, the Warriors face the worst offensive team in the conference this week. At 0-7 on the year, and 0-5 in the NLC, the Crimson Chargers have scored just 33 points this year and have been outscored 139-30 in the conference. Through seven games, Memorial is averaging just 4.7 points a game, while it’s defense surrenders 30.1. With Memorial’s offense struggling, the Warriors quarterback Gage Reinhard will look to take advantage. This season, Reinhard has completed 61 of 111 pass attempts for 826 yards and seven TDs. Clayton Cook has become the quarterback’s top target, hauling in 29 passes for 492 yards, 102 of which came in last week’s victory on five catches. Wogomon: “Defensively we've spent the last four weeks defending (or at least attempting to defend) the run. Now as we prepare to go up to Elkhart our focus switches towards stopping the pass. Memorial threw for over 300 yards last week against NorthWood. (Wide receiver Demetri) Chatman is a guy who can put six points on us real quick if we aren't covering him up. There is no doubt Elkhart has begun to find an identity. The key for us is to play disciplined, passionate football for a full 48 minutes.”
MANCHESTER AT WABASH (TRC) Kickoff: 7 p.m. Friday in Wabash Coaches: Brandon Baker (Manchester), Floyd McWhirt (Wabash) Records: Manchester 2-5 (2-3 TRC), Wabash 0-7 (0-5 TRC) Last Week: Manchester 30, Southwood 27; Northfield 33, Wabash 25 Last Year: Manchester 51, Wabash 34 Matchup: The Manchester Squires will look to make it back-to-back wins for the first time this season Friday at 0-7 Wabash. After defeating Southwood 30-27 last Friday, the Squires will take on a Wabash team that hasn’t won a Three Rivers Conference game since downing Southwood 14-13 on Oct. 12, 2007, a span of 33 games. This season, Wabash is getting outscored 37-9 on average, so Manchester will look to utilize its running game, led by Jacob Casper. On the year, Casper is leading the Squires with 654 rushing yards, followed by Evan Milam’s 240 and quarterback Jim Sainsbury’s 231. While the Wabash Apaches have struggled to score, quarterback Kodi Clemons has been their main threat, throwing for 371 yards and five touchdowns, while rushing for 406 yards as well. Baker: "We kept it interesting in our last game. I thought we played hard the whole game. We finally got our offense going and had the defense let down a little bit. We need to work on our pass defense for this week because Wabash will exploit that. I was happy for our guys that we could finally put together a game and come out on top. We are playing for a county championship now and have to prepare hard every day if we want to take that home with us."
KNOX AT TRITON (NSC) Kickoff: 7:30 p.m. Friday in Bourbon Coaches: Chris McGowen (Knox), Rodney Younis (Triton) Records: Knox 1-6 (1-4 NSC), Triton 1-6 (1-4 NSC) Last Week: Bremen 21, Knox 14; Triton 21, LaVille 10 Last Year: Triton 21, Knox 13 Matchup: The Triton Trojans got their first win of the year last week at LaVille, and they’d like to keep the good times rolling Friday at home against 1-6 Knox. Going into the Northern State Conference contest, both teams have defeated LaVille, with Knox winning 41-0 on Sept. 14 and Triton getting the 21-10 win last week. In seven games, Triton quarterback Bryson Mosier is averaging 116.9 passing yards per game, as well as 55.2 rushing yards. With Mosier passing well, Cody Shively has had success on the ground, rushing for 444 yards this season, averaging 5.3 yards per carry. Shively also continues to do it on defense, leading the Trojans with 83 solo tackles and 21 assists. Shively’s defense at linebacker may come in handy this week, as Knox attempts to run the ball, despite garnering just 97 yards on 33 attempts in last week’s loss at Bremen, although Knox quarterback Nevin Miller did passes for 191 yards and two scores in the 21-14 loss. Younis: “Knox is very balanced on offense. Right down the line, with the run and the pass. They have a good quarterback in Nevin Miller. He’s a good athlete. When there’s nothing available, he’ll look to tuck the ball and run. So, we need to spy on him and keep him under control. I know their record is 1-6, but like us, I think we’re both better than our records. Knox has size on the front line and talent at the skill positions. It’s going to be a tough matchup for us. Like last week, we need to have balance. We need to have ball control, bleed the clock and have good, long drives.”
