Pigskin Preview: Week 10
The second season has arrived.
It’s time to win and advance or lose and put away the pads and helmets for another year for area high school football team starting Friday night.
The 44th annual state tournament series kicks-off around the state in earnest will first-round sectional games in five of the six classes.
The week 10 slate of the 2016 season will find a quartet of local teams in action. Warsaw, as is the case with all Class 6-A teams, has a bye this week. The Tigers, who are 5-4, open postseason play on Oct. 28 by hosting Carroll (6-3).
The local docket features a pair of rematches from the regular season. Wawasee will face conference foe Northridge for the second time and Triton will take on Caston, who they played in the season opener.
Tippecanoe Valley will welcome West Noble to Death Valley and Whitko will load the bus and head to Albion to face Central Noble.
Sectional championship games are set for Nov. 4. Regionals are Nov. 11 with semistate games Nov. 18 and the State Finals Nov. 25-26 at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis.
Following is a look at local contests slated for Friday night.
Class 4-A Sectional 19
Wawasee (4-5) at Northridge (2-7), 7 p.m.
“Win.”
Wawasee coach Josh Ekovich boils down Friday night to the simplest of terms as his Warriors will trek to Middlebury to face Northern Lakes Conference foe Northridge for the second time this season.
“I told our kids that what happened before does not matter now,” said Ekovich. “I think that the team who comes out and plays with the most passion on Friday night will win. I have a lot of confidence in my kids. I know that they want to continue the season.”
The Warriors beat the Raiders 21-20 in double overtime when the two teams met in Syracuse back on Sept. 2 in week three. Wawasee quarterback Tyler Smith rushed for 211 yards and accounted for all three of his team’s scores in the victory.
“I think that it does help our confidence that we won that first game,” noted Ekovich. “But, both teams are different now from when we played the first time. Northridge has solid players and it’s never easy to play a team twice in a season. We just need to hit reset and attack this game like it’s August.”
Wawasee has been close all season, despite losing five of their final six games after a 3-0 start. The young Raiders, who have been hurt by injuries, own wins over Plymouth (22-14) and Elkhart Memorial (22-8), the latter coming last week.
“We just have to use everything from the year as a learning experience,” noted Ekovich. “It’s no different for us this week. We can not have self-inflicted wounds. We need to win the turnover battle. And we need to play with more passion and emotion than Northridge does.”
The Wawasee at Northridge game will be the Game of the Week on WHME-TV (Channel 46). The game will be shown Friday night at 11 p.m. and again on Saturday at 9 a.m.
The Wawasee-Northridge winner will face the winner of No. 2 NorthWood (9-0) and Columbia City (3-6).
Class 3-A Sectional 26
West Noble (3-6) at Tippecanoe Valley (3-6), 7:30 p.m.
In a season full of its fair share of ups and downs, the Vikings have a great opportunity at home.
“This is a huge opportunity for our kids and we have talked about that,” said Valley co-coach Jeff Shriver. “I believe this would be our first home sectional win since 2002. We’ve talked with the kids about making a mark and leaving a legacy. A win Friday night would be huge for them and huge for our program.”
The Vikings have won three of their last four games, while the Chargers have lost three of their last four. West Noble did beat Prairie Heights 42-8 last week. Valley dropped a 49-29 shootout to Southwood.
“West Noble looks to be very physical up front and their backs run it well,” Shriver noted. “We want to be blockers and tacklers Friday night. It will be about physicality and fundamentals. When we have played physical this year, we have played well. We want to control the ball.”
Valley, which started the season 0-5, is averaging 16 points-per-contest. The Chargers are allowing 33 points-per-game.
“The thing is that we have played some pretty good football 15 of the last 16 quarters,” commented Shriver. “Our kids have been resilient and have worked hard. This is the second season now. We want to still be playing after Friday night. That’s what it comes down to.”
The winner of the Valley-West Noble game will move on to face the winner of the Heritage (3-6) versus Jimtown (5-4) contest.
Class 2-A Sectional 35
Whitko (6-3) at Central Noble (2-7), 7 p.m.
A strong start.
That’s what Whitko coach Jeff Sprunger wants to see as his team, at least on paper, is a prohibitive favorite.
“We have to come out to play right away,” said Sprunger. “Our kids know that it’s going to be a dogfight. Their record may not show it, but this is a scary game. Coach Moe is a great coach and they can play power and spread the field too.”
Whitko, after a 5-0 start, has dropped three of its last four games. The Wildcats lost 35-32 to Peru last week. The Cougars have lost four in a row and own wins over winless Prairie Heights (24-0) and Fremont (34-20).
“I told our players last Friday night that was one of the best games that we have played,” Sprunger related. “There were a lot of positives to take from it. We knew that our toughest games of the season were at the end.”
The Wildcats are led by tailbacks Garrett Elder and Hunter Reed. Elder ran for 173 yards and four touchdowns last week and now has 1,526 yards on the season on just 124 carries with 23 touchdowns. Reed has rushed for 1,008 yards on 172 carries with 13 scores. Whitko has rushed for 2,923 yards this season as a team.
“We need to use our offense to take the pressure off our defense,” said Sprunger. “Our offense has been a strong suit with our mutual-pronged run game.”
The winner of the Whitko-Central Noble game advances to play the winner of the No. 10 Eastside (6-3) versus No. 13 Churubusco (7-2) game.
Class 1-A Sectional 43
Triton (1-8) at Caston (2-7), 7 p.m.
Revenge.
Triton coach Ron Brown makes no bones about the motivation for his team.
“Our motivation is simple,” said Brown. “Revenge. We did not feel like we played our best the first time against Caston. This is the game that our kids wanted. They want to show that we have improved.”
Triton lost a 6-0 final at Caston way back on Aug. 19 in the season opener.
The Trojans picked up their first win last week, a 41-14 rout of West Central. Rigo Butler led a balanced offense in the win that piled up 406 total yards. Butler rushed for 132 yards and two touchdowns and quarterback Bo Snyder passed for 174 yards and three scores.
Triton has scored 74 points in their last two games. Caston has lost six straight games. The Comets, who beat Triton and a one-win West Central team (20-0), are averaging just 5.1 points-per-game.
“The win last week was really great for our kids, but we have a lot at stake and a lot to prove this week,” Brown remarked. “We want to limit their possessions and just run the ball on them. Our gameplan is simple. We want to shove it down their throat.”
The Triton-Caston winner moves on to play No. 8 Northfield (8-1) or Southwood (6-3) next week.