It’s been an emotional and tough week for the football programs at both Tippecanoe Valley and Warsaw.

The Vikings and the Tigers both felt the personal loss as the tragic deaths of Charlie Smith, Scott Smith and Scott Bibler hit close to home. The three men, along with Sprint Car driver Tony Elliott, passed away last Friday in a plane crash in South Carolina en route to the Notre Dame at Clemson football game.

Bibler, who played on Valley’s 1979 state championship team coached by Charlie Smith, coached the Vikings last year and spent 25 years at Valley before leaving in June to take a job with CrossWinds, an in-house family counseling company. Bibler was also the Valley head coach from 1990-2005 and then was an assistant coach after stepping down as head coach to spend more time with his family, including his two beloved daughters Chelsea and Megan.

“The guys loved coach Bibler a lot and it’s been hard for all of us,” said first-year Valley coach Darin Holsopple. “He left an imprint here on so many people. I met Scott twice, but it was easy to tell who he was and why he impacted so many lives here at Valley like he did. I aspire to be the kind of man that coach Bibler was.

“I told our players that we can honor him by going out this Friday night and getting after it. He will be on our minds for sure. I know that there will be a lot of emotion Friday night, but part of the healing process is doing what you love. We talked about it and Scott would want us to play football.”

Warsaw has two of Charlie Smith’s grandsons playing in coach Phil Jensen’s program. The elder Smith, who was piloting the plane, was a Warsaw city councilman and former highly-respected banker. His son Scott was an attorney in Warsaw and former basketball player at Valley.

Both the Vikings and the Tigers will try to keep composure and focus come Friday night as the regular season hits week number eight.

Valley hits the road at Wabash and Warsaw hosts NorthWood in conference matchups.

Pairings for the state tournament, which begins with first-round sectional games on Oct. 23, will be drawn Sunday night at 5 p.m. by the IHSAA.

Following is a quick look at local games this Friday night.

NorthWood (4-3, 2-3) at Warsaw (4-3, 3-2), 7 p.m.

A three-game winning streak has helped cure a lot of the ills for the Tigers.

So has getting healthy.

“Things are going good and we want to keep it going,” said coach Jensen. “The guys are having fun and just going out and playing now. We just have to keep getting better.”

Warsaw has outscored its three foes 70-14 in the winning streak. They have won four of the last five versus the Panthers, but did lost 42-28 last year in Nappanee.

“NorthWood is very athletic on defense and they have Tanner Cleveland in the backfield and a good quarterback in Trey Bilinski. They will spread you out and then run the ball down your throat.

“This is one of those years in the NLC where anyone can win or lose to anyone on a given night. You’ve seen that every week.”

Elkhart Memorial (2-5, 1-4) at Wawasee (2-5, 0-5), 7 p.m.

The Warriors will look to snap a five-game losing streak against an improved Memorial squad.

“Our kids deserve a win,” said Wawasee coach Josh Ekovich. “They have put the work in. We’ve been close, but have had self-inflicted things like turnovers and penalties hurt us. We’ve also lost to some good teams.”

The Warriors lost 21-0 to Warsaw, while Memorial dropped a 14-6 final to NorthWood last week.

“Memorial is athletic like always, but the biggest thing you see on film with them this year is more consistency,” Ekovich stated. “They have big play potential and we have to contain that.”

Wawasee beat the Crimson Chagers 20-7 last season.

Tippecanoe Valley (2-5, 2-3) at Wabash (5-2, 3-2), 7 p.m.

The Vikings will look to get back into the win column against an improved Wabash team.

“I told our guys Monday that I understood that there would be tough times this week,” said Holsopple. “I also told them that I was going to push them. Tuesday night was probably the best offensive practice we’ve had this season.

“I just want our guys to go out Friday night and have fun and play hard.”

Valley’s lone win a year ago was a 31-20 decision over Wabash.

Whitko (3-4, 2-3) at Northfield (7-0, 5-0), 7 p.m.

The Wildcats will face a huge challenge on the road at Class 1-A No. 8 Northfield.

“Northfield is playing well and with a lot of momentum,” said Whitko coach Josh Mohr of the unbeaten Norsemen. “They are a physical football team. They are scoring a lot of points and coach Baker is doing a great job down there.”

Northfield has outscored its seven opponents 302-76 and its five TRC foes 226-32.

Whitko has won six of the last seven meetings with the Norsemen, including 27-7 a year ago.

“This late in the season you want to be peaking,” Mohr said. “I’ve been very proud of how our guys have come back each week and kept pushing to get better and stay focused.

“We have to match the intensity and physicality of Northfield. We have to control what we can control. We have to play with determination and effort and control the lines.”

Triton (1-6, 1-5) at Knox (2-5, 2-4), 7:30 p.m.

The Trojans hope to have a few more players in uniform this week.

Triton coach Ron Brown is hopeful that several players are cleared to return to action. The Trojans have had about 10 players sidelined due to concussions the past couple of weeks.

“We’ve had a lot of young guys have to play and that’s good for the future,” noted Brown, whose team has lost six in a row. “Our kids believe they can beat Knox.”

Triton lost 62-6 to North Judson and Knox dropped a 49-8 final to Pioneer last week.

“We need to come out and be aggressive,” said Brown.

Triton topped Knox 35-15 in 2014.

Area Conference Standings

Northern Lakes Conference: Concord 5-0, Plymouth 4-1, Warsaw 3-2, Northridge 3-2, Goshen 2-3, NorthWood 2-3, Elkhart Memorial 1-4 and Wawasee 0-5.

Three Rivers Conference
North Division:Northfield 5-0, Rochester 3-2, Whitko 2-3, Tippecanoe Valley 2-3 and Manchester 0-5. South Division: Peru 4-1, Maconaquah 3-2, Wabash 3-2, Southwood 3-2 and North Miami 0-5.

Hoosier North Athletic Conference: Pioneer 6-0. LaVille 5-1, North Judson 5-1, Winamac 5-2, Culver 3-3, Knox 2-4, Caston 1-5, Triton 1-5, West Central 0-7.