Pigskin Preview: Week 8
The Warsaw football team achieved one of its goals last week.
The Tigers, by virtue of a 38-14 win at Wawasee, retained possession of the coveted W Trophy for at least another year.
Warsaw will look to try and put itself in position for goal number two this Friday night.
The Tigers, winners of four in a row, travel to Andrew Field in Nappanee to butt heads with undefeated power NorthWood. The Panthers, ranked No. 2 in Class 4-A, lead the conference at 5-0. Warsaw sits alone in second place at 4-1. A Tiger win and the two are tied atop the league standings with one more Northern Lakes Conference game on the schedule on Oct. 14.
The Warsaw at NorthWood game will be the WHME-TV (Channel 46) Game of the Week. The contest will be shown on tape delay at 11 p.m. Friday night and again at 9 a.m. on Saturday morning.
Speaking of BIG games.
Whitko looks to claim the North Division championship in the Three Rivers Conference with a win over Northfield Friday night in South Whitley. The Class 1-A No. 11 Norsemen lead the North at 5-0 with the Wildcats, who are ranked No. 11 in Class 2-A, sitting at 4-1. The winner earns a spot in the TRC championship game on Oct. 14.
In other action, Wawasee looks to snap a four-game losing streak at Elkhart Memorial. Tippecanoe Valley tries to make it three straight wins at home versus Wabash and Triton hopes to break into the win column by hosting Class 2-A No. 7 Knox.
Following is a quick look at the local docket for Friday night.
Warsaw (5-2, 4-1) at NorthWood (7-0, 5-0), 7 p.m.
Phil Jensen loves how his team has answered a challenge he put to them after a loss at Plymouth on Sept. 2.
The Warsaw coach knows that the challenge this week is even greater.
“NorthWood is just really, really good,” said Jensen. “Everyone talks about how good Bilinski (quarterback Trey Bilinski) is and rightfully so. But they have good running backs. good receivers and a very good coaching staff. They are so explosive offensively.”
The Panthers are averaging 43 points-per-game on the season and have topped 50 in four of their last six games. They have outscored their five NLC foes by a 204-95 count. Standout senior Trey Bilinski makes the attack go as he’s thrown 22 touchdown passes. The duo of Bronson Yoder and Payton Bear lead the NorthWood ground game, while DeAndre Smart is a big play threat at receiver.
“The thing for us is that we have to limit their big plays and try and use our kicking game to our advantage,” Jensen noted. “We have to keep getting better. It’s only going to get harder from here. It’s that time of year.
“I’ve been real pleased with our guys. It’s a great group to work with. Since the Plymouth game they have gotten better each week with their focus in practice. It just shows how much they love the game.”
Nate Andrews, a former two-sport star, is in his third season as coach of his alma mater. His father Jim, for whom the NorthWood field is named, was coach of the Panthers from 1972 until his death in a car accident in 1992. The Hall of Famer won 150 games at NorthWood, to go with five NLC championships and a pair of state runner-up finishes.
The Panthers will clinch their first outright NLC championship since 1996 with a win over the Tigers. Warsaw’s last NLC title came in 2001 during Jensen’s first tenure as coach. The Tigers have won just five of their last 20 games at NorthWood.
NorthWood plays at Plymouth and Warsaw hosts Concord to wrap up NLC action on Oct. 14.
NorthWood won 21-14 at Warsaw last year.
Wawasee (3-4, 1-4) at Elkhart Memorial (2-5, 0-5), 7 p.m.
The Warriors, despite a four-game losing streak, have shown they can play with the top dogs in the NLC.
Wawasee will look to get back into the win column against the team at the bottom of the league standings.
“We are looking at this game just like any other NLC game,” said Wawasee coach Josh Ekovich. “We’re trying to right the ship and get a win. We can’t have a letdown. It’s a trap game for us since it comes between our two rivalry games (Warsaw and Goshen).”
Wawasee has been its own worst enemy with self-inflicted damage the last month in the form of critical penalties at the worst possible times and some costly turnovers.
“Stop killing ourselves,” responded Ekovich of his message to his team. “Our guys have had great practices all year. They have worked hard and our morale is good. It’s just when we get into games we have the self-inflicted wounds at the worst times.
“Memorial has speed and athleticism and their quarterback throws it pretty well. They are kind of like us in some ways. They are a capable team.”
Memorial dropped a 52-21 final at NorthWood last week. The Crimson Chargers have been outscored 210-65 in their five conference losses.
Wawasee beat Memorial 31-21 in Syracuse last year. The Warriors have won five in a row versus the Crimson Chargers.
Northfield (6-1, 5-0) at Whitko (6-1, 4-1), 7 p.m.
Something to prove.
That’s the feeling around the Whitko camp this week.
“Our goal was to get to the TRC championship game and we know we have to win this week to do that,” said first-year Whitko boss Jeff Sprunger. “We’re hungry. There’s a lot of excitement and desire from our guys this week.
“I think they feel, in the back of their minds, that they have something to prove. We were in the TRC title game last year and I think some people thought that we didn’t deserve to be there. This game comes down to how much you want it.”
Whitko bounced back from its first loss to top Manchester 31-20 last week. Northfield beat Maconaquah 53-7 for its fifth straight win. The Norsemen have outscored their five TRC foes 262-52.
“They are a good football team,” said Sprunger. “The key for us is to play disciplined football defensively. They have a strong running attack and we need to play downhill. We also need to attack them with our speed offensively.”
This one could be over in an hour as both teams love to run the football. Each squad has rushed for over 2,400 yards on the season thus far. Garrett Elder leads the Wildcats rushing attack with 1,258 yards on just 86 carries with 17 touchdowns. Hunter Reed, who had a huge game last week, has 149 carries for 896 yards and 13 touchdowns.
Whitko beat Northfield 19-7 a year ago. The Wildcats have won 18 of their last 20 games versus the Norsemen.
Wabash (4-3, 2-3) at Tippecanoe Valley (2-5, 2-3), 7 p.m.
The Vikings have overcome more than their fair share of adversity so far this season.
Their character will be tested again on Friday night.
The Vikings are expected to be shorthanded when a much-improved Wabash team pays a visit to Death Valley.
“We’ve got a couple of guys that may be out due to illness and injury,” said Valley co-coach Jeff Shriver. “It’s a difficult situation, but there’s no excuses. It’s next man up and we will be ready to play.”
Standout Dakota Prater is one player expected to be sidelined for a while due to mono. Quarterback Alec Craig gutted it out last week despite suffering an injured ankle playing basketball.
The Vikings have back-to-back wins over Manchester and rival Rochester after an 0-5 start.
“Our kids are extremely excited and happy to get a couple of wins,” noted Shriver, who along with Aaron Norris took over after Darin Holsopple resigned back on Sept. 5. “It’s been awesome to see their desire to improve. The big thing has been improving on our conditioning and on fundamentals.”
Wabash has dropped its last three games. The Apaches went 7-3 a year ago for their first winning season since 1996.
“Wabash has a very physical offensive and defensive line,” said Shriver. “Their running back (Proctor) hurt us last year. We just need to continue to play hard.”
Wabash beat Valley twice last season, 39-15 and then 13-6 in a TRC playoff game.
Knox (5-2, 4-2) at Triton (0-7, 0-6), 7:30 p.m.
Stay the course.
That’s what the Trojans are looking to do in terms of the big picture.
“Our focus, as it has been all season, is on us and what we can do to get better this week,” said second-year Triton coach Ron Brown. “We have improved this season. We continue to tell our kids that if they have faith in what we are doing that good things will happen for us.”
Brown is looking for his team to try and put together a complete game on Friday night.
“If you look at our stats, we have had areas each week that we have done well in,” Brown stated. “We just have not done everything well all in one game.”
Knox lost 48-6 to powerhouse Pioneer last week, while Triton fell 38-12 to North Judson.
“Knox has a big physical line,” said Brown. “They are a team I would put in the top half of our conference. A team that could win a sectional.”
Knox beat Triton 40-14 in 2015.