Last Game: Northridge 12, Plymouth 0; Warsaw 17, Elkhart Memorial 6
Last Year: Warsaw 34, Northridge 2
Matchup: The Warsaw Tigers have won their last three meetings with the Northridge Raiders and five of the last six. If that trend is to continue, the Tigers will have to handle an undefeated Northridge team that beat Plymouth 12-0 last week. Plymouth, a 42-7 winner over Warsaw on Sept. 1, hadn't been held scoreless in 15 years. Last week's 17-6 win at Elkhart Memorial was coach Phil Jensen's 100th with the Tigers. Only George Fisher (103) has won more games as Warsaw's coach. Senior Tristan Larsh has proven himself to be a dual-threat for the Tigers, having rushed for 230 yards and two touchdowns and thrown for 225 yards and two scores. Will McGarvey leads Warsaw's ground game with 59 carries for 284 yards and two TDs. McGarvey enters Friday's homecoming game with exactly 2,000 career rushing yards. The Tigers score an average of 13 points per game, while giving up nearly 21. Northridge has outscored its four opponents 102-36, winning each game by an average score of 26-9. The Raiders are among two undefeated teams in the NLC, the other being Concord (4-0, 3-0 NLC). Northridge's Nick Hooley has completed 22 of 46 passes for 357 yards with three TDs and one interception. Conner Graber leads the team in rushing with 474 yards and five scores, while Connor Utley is tops with eight catches for 128 yards and Brad Schwartz has six receptions for 112 yards.
Jensen: "Northridge is a very physical and fundamentally-sound football team. They are well-coached, make few mistakes and take advantage of their opportunities. Having one loss in this conference and still controlling our own destiny is huge. We need to not give up the big plays on defense and special teams, and take advantage of all scoring opportunities."
TIPPECANOE VALLEY AT WHITKO (TRC)
Kickoff: 7 p.m. Friday in South Whitley
Coaches: Steve Moriarty (Valley), Jeff Sprunger (Whitko)
Records: Valley 0-4 (0-1 TRC), Whitko 0-4 (0-1 TRC)
Last Game: Northfield 41, Valley 28; Rochester 37, Whitko 7
Last Year: Whitko 44, Valley 20
Matchup: The Tippecanoe Valley Vikings and Whitko Wildcats are in a very similar situation, as both teams enter Friday's game at Ryan Huff Memorial Field in South Whitley looking for their first win of the season. Valley has won just six of its last 36 games and needs a win to gain some momentum in the first year of the Coach Steve Moriarty era. The Vikings have lost the last four meetings with Whitko and six of the past seven, including a 44-20 setback last year. Whitko won its first five games last season under then first-year coach Jeff Sprunger, but has gone 2-8 since. The Wildcats have been outscored 189-20 in their four games this season and are looking for a breakthrough game offensively. Whitko quarterback Cade Bechtold has completed 20 of 46 passes for 180 yards with no touchdowns and four interceptions. Hunter Reed leads the team with six catches for 64 yards, while Zach Gardner is tops on the team with 64 carries for 153 yards. Reed has 101 rushing yards on 56 attempts. For Valley, Tanner Trippiedi has completed 35 of 69 pass attempts for 398 yards with three scores and six interceptions. Wes Melanson and Noah Miller lead Valley with 104 and 100 yards receiving, respectively. Miller has two receiving TDs, as does Jalen Shepherd, who is third on the team with 76 yards. Alex Morrison leads the Vikings with 177 rushing yards and one touchdown on 40 carries, while Jace Potter has 73 yards on 23 carries.
Moriarty: "This game means a lot for both teams to get on the winning side of things. We both have had the same problems with turnovers and big plays. Whitko is good at getting to the outside on quick pitches and their backs run hard. We're trying to improve our offense and get better at running the ball, and we need to work on our pass protection. We've worked hard in the offseason and during the season, and it's time to see that hard work pay off and get a win. We played four very good football teams and we learned a lot about ourselves as a team. Whitko has the same issues, having played four good teams. Whitko always comes ready to play when they face the Vikings, and we will have to play well to beat them this week."
Sprunger: "There's a lot on the line this year as both programs are looking for a win and some momentum going into the second half of the season. We both are evenly-matched and it should be a very exciting game. Valley has a disciplined defense that seems to be fairly physical. We have to be willing to continue to focus on the small details that make big differences. They have good size and speed on the team, and we have to match that by getting off the ball and attacking and not sitting back waiting to see what will happen. We are still trying to find what our team feels confident running. We are a young team that is still unsure about who we are to block and how we are to run the ball. When you are unsure about those items you tend to play slow. We are seeing improvements, however, we are not seeing them consistently yet."
Last Game: Bremen 35, Triton 10; Culver 48, West Central 0
Last Year: Culver 40, Triton 26
Matchup: Class 1A No. 13 Triton hasn't beaten the Culver Cavaliers since 2008. According to the Sagarin ratings, Culver is also the top-rated team in 1A Sectional 41 (Triton is third in the same sectional). For those reasons and more, Brown said the Trojans are looking forward to playing its first road game of 2017. Brown also said the Cavaliers have big linemen who establish their running game while containing their opponents on defense. Sophomore quarterback Ryan Tompos transferred in from Culver Academies, but his main job is to hand the ball to senior Kia Riale and sophomore Zac Ditmire. Tompos has only nine passing attempts so far, three of his four completions have gone to Riale. The Cavaliers have three shutouts to their credit, second only to Pioneer's unscored-on team in the HNAC. The Trojans kept the game close last week against Bremen. James Snyder continues to throw the ball well, completing 51 percent of his passes and averaging 18 yards a completion. Max Slusser has 50 carries for 330 yards and two touchdowns, with Ethan Berry tops on the team with three rushing TDs. Junior Delano Shumpert has 293 receiving yards, almost 20 yards per reception, and six touchdowns.
Brown: "They're the No. 1 team in our sectional, and our guys are looking forward to playing those guys. That's always a good challenge to go in and play those guys. A lot of our kids know guys over there, and I'd say this is more of a rivalry game than Bremen is. Culver has a very big offensive line, and similarly talented kids to us. They have a few linemen that are being looked at from some big schools around the country, and their quarterback is very tall, very agile and does a lot for them. They have a pretty fast running back, and (Lance) Keller is a good wide receiver who played quarterback last year. So they have some weapons on the field, and they're power team that runs the "I" (formation), very similar to Bremen, so it's good we get to play those types of offenses two times in two weeks. And they're defensive line is very good; it'll be a challenge to get a nice push to be able to run the ball. We'll probably have to hit the edges and throw over the top, and for us that's not going to be an issue."
WAWASEE AT NORTHWOOD (NLC)
Kickoff: 7 p.m. Friday in Nappanee
Coaches: Mike Eshbach (Wawasee), Nate Andrews (NorthWood)
Last Game: Concord 51, Wawasee 29; NorthWood 19, Goshen 10
Last Year: NorthWood 53, Wawasee 30
Matchup: The No. 5-ranked (4A) Panthers might throw the ball more than any other NLC team. Senior QB Landen Gessinger has thrown 60 passes, completing 39 and averaging 13.6 yards per completion. But make no mistake, the Panthers are a run-first team; Gessinger has 76 rushing attempts, and teammate Brayton Yoder has 46 carries. Both players are halfway to 1,000-yard seasons, and they have all seven Panther rushing touchdowns. Three receivers, Deandre Smart, Terrell Pratcher and Bronson Yoder, average better than 10 yards a reception, with Smart catching three of four Panther touchdown passes. In other words, business as usual in Nappanee. Defensively, the Panthers are giving up six points a game, with a pair of shutouts in non-conference games. Meanwhile, Wawasee comes in banged up; sophomore quarterback Evan Eshbach had season-ending surgery for a broken bone in his elbow suffered during the West Noble game, and junior Aaron Evans' had a knee injury against Concord. His playing status for Friday's game won't be determined until later today at the earliest. If Evans can't go, the job may fall to freshman Parker Young, whose name wasn't on the preseason varsity roster. Alex Rosbrugh is getting stronger week-by-week, but still isn't 100 percent.
Eshbach: "Aaron is rehabbing it this week, and we're working on a 'Plan B,' just in case. In Alec's case, when you miss 3-4 weeks it's a matter of just getting your legs underneath you, and trying to get in game shape, and we're still working through some of that. We're going to play more than one running back on Friday, and try to reduce the total number of snaps for alec; that'll be better for us all around. "Obviously (NorthWood's) a well-coached team. They're aggressive in what they do, they're going to come after you with a lot of stunts and blitzes. We have to make sure we follow our rules and we communicate, and a huge part is to play well up front. On the other side, we have to continue to work hard and do the little things necessary to get off the field on third down."
NORTHFIELD AT MANCHESTER (TRC)
Kickoff: 7 p.m. Friday in North Manchester
Coaches: Brandon Baker (Northfield); Greg Miller (Manchester)
Records: Northfield 3-1 (1-0 TRC); Manchester 1-3 (0-0 TRC)
Last Game: Northfield 41, Tippecanoe Valley 28; Peru 41, Manchester 40
Last Year: Northfield 27, Manchester 7
Matchup: The Norsemen come in ranked No. 18 in class 1A, and their triple-option offense has produced four runners who have at least 100 yards on the ground this season. Matt Coe leads the pack with 358 yards and is averaging more than 10 yards a carry. John Schuler is right behind at 9.8 yards per attempt. Kyle Reed has twice the number of carries as Schuler, and still averages five yards a pop. Sophomore signal caller Levi Fulkerson has exactly the same number of pass attempts as carries, and 350 passing yards to date. So the 18th-ranked Norsemen have a solid run/pass combination that will keep the Squires anticipating. Manchester has become a balanced offense as well. Manchester trailed Peru 41-20 before mounting a comeback that left the Squires one point short. Hayes Sturtsman has 95 passing attempts to the Squires' 99 carries as a team so far this season. Manchester has 616 yards passing and 563 yards rushing to date. Eight of the Squires' 13 TDs have come by the pass. It's also Homecoming Week for the Squires.
Miller: "You hate moral victories at this point, but to be down 21 with under eight minutes left, to keep fighting and come back, I'm proud of our young men. They had the pride and determination to keep playing. It speaks to the quality of kids we have. Coach Baker does a nice job, they run the triple option year-in, year-out and we're going to have to be disciplined and play good, hard-nosed defense this week. All week in practice we've working on making sure we're in the right spot, knowing we're going to see a lot of runs. We have to read our keys, because we know they will throw the ball and we don't want it to be a surprise for us. We have to make sure we maintain focus and understand what they do on each play."
