Local High School Football Previews For Week 3

Posted Wednesday, September 3, 2025 6:00 pm

Connor A. McCann, Steve Krah & Mark A. Howe

Warsaw (1-1, 0-0 NLC) at Goshen (1-1, 0-0 NLC)
When: Friday, 7 p.m., Foreman Field, Goshen.
Series (last 40 years): Warsaw, 28-13.
John Harrell’s prediction: Warsaw, 49-14.
Last meeting: Nov. 1, 2024, Warsaw, 52-7.
About Warsaw: Coach Bart Curtis’ Indiana Football Coaches Association 5A No. 9 Tigers lost 28-14 to visiting Warren Central in Week 2 … Warsaw trailed 21-0 at halftime … Quinton Brock and Daylon Fitzpatrick scored the touchdowns in the third quarter. Wyatt Harman ran in the conversion after the first score … Brock completed 3-of-6 passes for 67 yards including two to Tucker Reed for 28 yards and one to Brody Duncan for 36 …. Rushing yardage leaders were Reed (105), Brock (64) and Duncan (41). The team finished with 259.
About Goshen: Coach Joey Heclinski’s visiting RedHawks won 38-21 at South Bend Washington in Week 2 … It snapped a 14-game losing streak dating back to 2023 … Junior Carter Diaz completed 15-of-22 passes for 188 yards and three TD’s … Sophomore Kanyn Diemer connected on 5-of-7 passes for 104 yards and one TD … Sophomore Spencer Elliott caught 11 passes for 126 yards and one TD … Senior Logan Mishler had five catches for 91 yards and two TD’s … Senior Colton Rapp had two receptions for 61 yards and one TD … Sophomore Jaxon Miller had 18 carries for 75 yards … The last time Goshen beat Warsaw in varsity football was in 2007.
Per Coach Bart Curtis:
On Goshen — They’re much, much improved. They’re very capable of moving the ball on us if we’re not playing better defensively and they’re capable of stopping us … It’s a first conference game and everybody wants to get off to great start in the conference … Every game moving forward is for some type of trophy. Everybody’s playing for a conference championship and we get going this Friday night.
Improvement needed — We’re standing up on both the offensive and defensive lines and playing catch ... I’d like to see us not stay blocked as easily (on defense) and stay on blocks better (on offense) than we’re doing … The head coach gets involved and calls a play that he thinks is going to be there and they intercept it and take it back the other way. That’s a 14-point swing because of the head coach. I will roll myself into that group that needs improvements.
On Warren Central game — Warren Central is a large, fast, physical and violent outfit without a doubt. Those kids play extremely aggressively. And even with that being said, we still had the ball in the fourth quarter with a chance to win the game with eight minutes to go and didn’t get it done … I’m proud of our willingness to come out down 21-0 at half and battle, which is something that you can’t take for granted at times. You never know until you’re in that situation like that against a superior ground of players, how your kids are going to respond. Our kids responded really well.

Tippecanoe Valley (2-0) at Hamilton Heights (0-2)

When: 7 p.m., Husky Stadium, Arcadia

Series: First ever meeting

John Harrell’s prediction: Tippecanoe Valley 21-7

About Valley: The Vikings are riding high after defeating rival Rochester 7-2 on the road in what was a defensive slugfest of a Bell Game. The now seven-game win streak in the series by Valley is a new record. The Vikings’ lone touchdown came in the first quarter on a run by Grady Moriarty. Wes Parker led the team in rushing with 60 yards. Hunter Stage completed six passes for 58 yards. Parker had 40 yards receiving. The team was outgained 243-170, but won the turnover battle 3-0. Hudson Shepherd and Owen Omondi both came up with big fourth quarter interceptions to put things on ice. For the second straight week to begin the season, the Valley defense did not allow a touchdown. The last time the team was able to accomplish that feat was in the 1976 season.

About Hamilton Heights: The Huskies are still searching for their first win this season after a pair of losses by multiple touchdowns. Last week, the team fell 28-13 at Triton Central. No statistics were available for that contest. In Week 1, the team dropped its home opener 23-7 to Lapel. Quarterback Drew Woodruff was 14-20 passing in the loss for 124 yards, a touchdown and an interception. Josh Getchell got a majority of carries on the ground, but was only able to turn 13 rushes into 27 yards.

Valley head coach Steve Moriarty:

On keeping the Bell - Sometimes it feels like it’s harder to keep it than it is to win it. You go into that game with everything to lose and they have nothing to lose. So it definitely felt like an uphill battle to go in there and win it. But I felt like we did a great job playing physically. We bent in a lot of spots but never broke and were able to come away with a W.

On the defense -I feel like Coach Brown has done a great job scheming, but our players have done an even better job executing. These guys have had to go up against two very different offenses in the first two weeks, and it’s a credit to them that they were able to have so much success with both.

On Hamilton Heights - It’s hard to be on the road for three straight games, but with that long drive down there I think we’ll have a lot of time to focus. They like to throw the ball and they do it well. It’ll be a challenge and I’m interested to see how the kids respond to it.

NorthWood (1-1, 0-0 NLC) at Wawasee (1-1, 0-0 NLC)
When: Friday, 7 p.m., Warrior Stadium, Syracuse.
Series (last 40 years): NorthWood, 35-10.
John Harrell’s prediction: NorthWood, 35-17.
Last meeting: Sept. 6, 2024, NorthWood, 49-14.
About NorthWood: Coach Nate Andrews’ Panthers won 51-14 at New Prairie in Week 2 … NorthWood led 30-7 at halftime … Sophomore Brady Weaver (126 yards and two TD’s), senior Jeffrey Eash (91 yards and one TD), senior Austin King (71 yards and two TDs) were the rushing leaders. The team finished with 321 yards … Sophomore Braylon Monroe was 9-of-13 for 125 yards and one TD passing … Senior Deondray Monroe had six receptions for 99 yards with a TD … Total tackle leaders were senior Hayden Lechlitner (10), Deondray Monroe (6) and junior Ethan Miller (5) … Junior Brady Blackford intercepted a pass … On the season, Braylon Monroe has connected on 26-of-35 passes for 324 yards and two TD’s … Weaver (161), King (71) and Miller (69) have the most rushing yards … Deondray Monroe (213) is tops in receiving yards … Lechlitner (18), Miller (17) and Deondray Monroe (11) have the most total tackles.
About Wawasee: Coach Matt Thacker’s Warriors lost 35-19 at West Noble in Week 2 … Wawasee trailed 21-13 at halftime … Sophomore Mark Haynes completed 6-of-8 passes for 137 yards and one touchdown — an 85-yarder to junior J’Ceon Evans and ran 25 times for 102 yards and two TD’s … Evans added 49 rushing yards … On the season, Haynes is 7-of-14 passing for 177 yards and one TD …. Haynes has 37 carries for 139 yards and two TD’s. Senior Kassidy Carter has 19 carries for 59 yards and Evans five totes for 58 … Junior Kaden Andrew has one reception for 85 yards and one TD and senior Cam Senter three catches for 58 yards … Total tackle leaders are Senter (15), Andrew (13), junior Max Pena (13) and senior Jayden Stahl (10) … Junior Luke Lehman has one interception … Andrew, Senter and junior Johnny Zachary have each recovered a fumble.
Per Coach Matt Thacker:
On NorthWood — NorthWood is always going to be NorthWood. They’re very well-coached. Coach Andrews and his staff do a great job … When you play NorthWood it is a four-quarter game and you’ve got to have a one-play 100 percent mentality. If you don’t, you’ll get run off the field … They do like to play fast. They want to score as much as possible, as fast as possible … The main thing is getting lined up correctly from play to play and things should take care of themselves.
Improvement — We’ve improved in all areas. We’ve got a bunch of juniors in their first time playing varsity football with a bunch of sophomores and we’re even playing a freshman. So experience is not on our side right now. The good thing is, kids are getting better in the weight room and what we’re doing offensively and defensively and on special teams. It’s exciting and it can be frustrating at time became we want to revert to doing things our now way instead of doing what we’re coached to do. There’s going to be a level of that when you’re trying to turn things around. We talk about being change agents, and for the most part, they’ve adhered to that.
On West Noble game — We did a lot of good things. We did a lot of bad things. We let a couple of balls over our heads on pass defense and didn’t finish a couple drives … It was definitely a lot closer than what people may have thought.

Wabash (0-2, 0-1 TRC) at Manchester (1-1, 1-0 TRC)

When: 7 p.m., Burk Field, North Manchester

Series: Manchester 15-8

John Harrell’s prediction: Manchester 42-28

Last meeting: Sep. 6, 2024, Manchester 42-26

About Manchester: The Squires are coming off of a tough loss to Bluffton in which they fell 45-6 to Bluffton. Quarterback Dallas Martin completed 3-10 passes for 84 yards, a touchdown and an interception. The team’s lone touchdown was scored in the second quarter by Cody Carroll. Martin and Reiss Gaerte each had 29 yards rushing. Gaerte as well as Logan Bean each had eight tackles on defense. Manchester will look to remain undefeated in Three Rivers Conference play with a win here, already 1-0 after defeating Northwestern in the opener.

About Wabash: The first two games of the season haven’t gone the way of the Apaches, as the team was blown out 61-20 by Maconaquah in the season opener before falling 47-14 to North Miami last Friday. Quarterback Haiden McWhirt completed seven of his 17 passes for two scores and two picks in last week’s loss. Both touchdowns went to Davon Osborn, who caught four passes for 70 yards. Jacob White led the team in rushing with 62 yards.

Manchester head coach Brian Enyeart was unavailable this week due to a personal matter.

Rochester (1-1) at Whitko (1-1)

When: 7 p.m. Friday

Coaches: Ron Shaffer, 31-12 in his 5th year at Rochester. Thomas Tyree, 1-1 in his 1st year at Whitko, 1-11 in his second year overall.

Last Outing: Rochester lost to Tippecanoe Valley 7-2; Whitko lost at Peru 32-22.

Series: Rochester 27-11.

Last Meeting: Rochester 49–12, Sept. 6, 2024.

Last Whitko Win: 28-7, Sept. 4, 2020

John Harrell prediction: Rochester, 38-7.

About Rochester: After opening the season with a 42-0 win at Southwood, the Zebra offense was held scoreless in its backyard rivalry game with Tippecanoe Valley. Rochester is going to run the ball way more often than not; senior quarterback Carson Paulik has completed just three of 11 passes for 36 yards in two games. Meanwhile, six different Zebras have carried the ball in both games this season, led by junior running back Kale Shotts with 23 carries foer 180 yards and three touchdowns this season.

About Whitko: By any measure, the Wildcats got off to a bad start Friday at Peru, falling behind 19-0 after the first quarter. Whitko outscored the Tigers 22-13 the rest of the way, but fell 32-22. Peru senior Isaiah Korba ran the ball 17 times for 195 yards and a pair of touchdowns, accounting for almost half of his teams' 406 yards of total offense. Whitko's trio of freshmen, quarterback Cooper Laukhuf and running backs Mason Hersha and Lewis Skinner helped lead the team back. Laukhuf 15 of 23 passes for 186 yards and a pair of touchdowns, both to junior receivere Jericho Boston, who had four receptions for 108 yards.

Whitko Head Coach Thomas Tyree:

On the Peru game - “We just started really bad, and with the boys having been so long since they've had any success. We were 0-8 versus Peru, and our seniors have never even been in a really competitive game until last year with Peru. It’s always been just a manhandling, so we’re still fighting that belief factor a little bit and believe in who we can be. (We) started out bad, and when it rained it poured and then it poured in the first quarter. But then after we settled in, I felt like we took over the game and won the rest of it, quarters two through four. We dug ourselves such a deep hole we couldn't get out of it.”

On the Rochester game Friday -“They're pretty big, and they're physical. They're pretty black and white, like ‘what you see is what you get’ and not doing a whole lot of trickery. They’re gonna play big-boy football and that matches their head coach’s personality. He has those boys believing in that and that's what they stand on. So we’re going to have to match that physicality for four quarters.”
On having “Wildcubs” in key positions -“They're coming along. They’re presenting themselves early on that they were gonna be Friday-night worthy and so they've continued to push the envelope. I’m super proud of those boys that they show up and a lot of times you wouldn't know they were freshman if I didn’t tell you.

“I think our youth system is getting better now I think we're making strides this year to try to prepare our kids better for high school, but that that group of freshman led by those three, they just really want it and they have great parents. They have great parents that push their kids and hold them accountable and in the right ways. They ensure that they're doing what the coaches are asking to do and they make sure that they’re supportive in all aspects. I told the coaches the other day ‘I believe that when our kids are at the dinner table or in the car, our parents are supporting us.’ I think that goes a long way, because when your mom and dad are saying ‘hey, the coaches are doing was best for you. They’re putting you guys in the best positions and they’ve got you guys being competitive and they have you playing above your talent level,’ I think that goes a long way with young men. It makes those young men take to the things you're saying and help believing (the coaches) a little bit more.Outside of those great parents, I just think they're great kids that want to be successful.”

Triton (1-1, 0-0 HNAC) at Culver Community (1-1, 0-0 HNAC)
When: Friday, 7 p.m., Cavalier Field, Culver.
Series (last 40 years): Culver, 24-22.
John Harrell’s prediction: Triton, 28-3.
Last meeting: Sept. 6, 2024, Triton, 49-8.
About Triton: Coach Andy Barker’s Trojans won 14-0 against visiting Bremen in Week 2 … On the season, senior Gage Riffle is 8-of-25 passing for 69 yards … It was just the sixth time in 60 meetings since 1965 that Triton beat the Lions in varsity football … Rushing leaders are Jayden Overmyer (44 carries for 147 yards) and Riffle (23 carries for 86 yards and one TD) … Ryder Gayheart has caught two passes for 24 yards, senior Isaac Quintana two for 14 and senior Maddox Dennie one for 12 … Total tackle leaders are senior Colton Reynolds (21), senior Vinnie Prater (16), junior Preston Brookins (14) and Quintana (13) … Quintana, Riffle and senior Cam Callahan have one interception each … Riffle has recovered one fumble.
About Culver Community: Coach Austin Foust’s Cavaliers lost 32-6 at West Central in Week 2 … Culver has been using senior Jonas McCuen at quarterback with McCuen and sophomore John Carr doing much of the rushing … The Cavaliers won 26-7 at Attica in Week 1.
Per Coach Andy Barker:
On Culver Community — They’re on their way up. What I see is a younger coach over there working his butt off, trying to get a group better. In my eyes, they’re getting better every year … I told the boys, you need to be cautious. You have all the tools to win it, but you’re coming off a big win over Bremen and you’re going to need to stay focused and not let Culver shock you.
Improvement — We’ve moved people around and our offensive line (Brookins at center, Prater and Reynolds at guards, senior Brady Schuh and sophomore Charlie Worsham at tackles and Dennie at tight end) has started to improve. They’ve found who they are. Defensively, it’s the same way (with Overmyer and Prater at ends and Schuh and someone else at tackles). Anytime you’re able to establish the trench, that’s the most important part of a game within a game.
On Bremen game — I think we found our identity — both on offense and defense … (Quarterback) Gage (Riffle) is a special athlete. The area is figuring out I’m an RPO (run-pass option) guy. With that in mind, I’m also a read option guy. We’ll have a little of both in our (offensive) package from now on.

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