Tweeder97

Right now Eastbrook just needs to constraint on Mississinewa and Oak Hill. They're the only 2 teams left in the regular season that's capable of giving them any problems. As far as the tournament goes Tipton will not lay down even though they lost some pieces and if you come in flat they will punch you in the mouth. I don't think coming in flat to that game will be an issue for Eastbrook after last year. Luers and Andrean would take eveything Eastbrook has to get through. Both of those teams will have deeper rosters and incredible athletes. Definitely some tough November football but that's what it is supposed to be. Fortunately I don't think the team seems to be thinking that far ahead. It's all Mississinewa talk this week.

Oak Hill over Elwood 48-6. Oak Hill has had a very solid start. Will use this game to polish up before next week and will have an opportunity to rest any nagging injuries. Frankton over Blackford 21-14. Don't know much about either of these teams this year. I know Blackford has struggled with number of players the last few years and had a lot to replace from their starting lineup. Alexandria over MG 28-21. Sounds like MG is playing a lot of younger guys. They should be pretty good in a couple years but might have to take some lumps in the mean time. Eastbrook over Mississinewa 48-14. Eastbrook was able to contain a fairly quick New Haven team last week with their only score coming from a fumble return. I think Campbell and Nelson might break some big runs but don't think Mississinewa will be able to grind it out for the entire game. Eastbrook needs to clean up some fumbles and penalties form last week but if they do it will be very hard for anyone to compete with them until the tournament.

Eastern/Lapel- I think Lapel will give Eastern some problems. It will be a jump in competition and will be interesting how Eastern reacts. I'm thinking it will be a 1TD game. I'll pick the upset with Lapel winning. Tipton/Eastbrook- I think Tipton is as good as any team we could face up to Semi-State even without Lyons (Andrean is just a different animal). I've only seen a couple of their games but they look very similar to Eastbrook other than passing more than we do. The QB is a great dual threat. On defense they play similar to us. They're athletic, quick to the ball, and a lot of gang tackling. No fat boys out there. Last years game was much better than the final score. We ran off 20 unanswered in the 4th quarter. The first 3 quarters it was tied or 1TD game the whole way. I think it will be tight the entire game this time. Both teams will come in with plenty of swagger. Should be fun to watch. I'll go with Eastbrook by 1 TD.

I'd prefer to have a couple more competitive games mixed into the last part of the season but it is what it is at this point. It worries me a little bit more this year with how strong our Sectional is. I think Tipton and maybe Eastern would be as strong as anyone we could see in Regionals. When it's been a while since you've been challenged it's hard to judge how a 16-17 year old kid is going to react when the game becomes a war. On the flip side though we should be healthy and gives us a chance to rest some of those nagging injuries that a kid might normally play through if the end of the season was more challenging. As far as how we stack up against last year I'd say we're just as good if not slightly better than last year talent wise. The Seniors and Juniors have a lot of big game experience. We are mostly a Junior dominated team but those Juniors played very big roles last year as Sophomores in what was suppose to be a rebuilding year. Once the ball is kicked off though the scoreboard doesn't care what you've done in the past. This Sectional is going to have some very good games to watch.

Eastbrook @ Madison Grant MG's only goal this game is to stay healthy. Eastbrook by as much as they want. Frankton @ Alexandria I'm a toss up on this one. I'll go with Alexandria in a close one. Mississinewa @ Elwood Indians will have no problem's this Friday Oak Hill @ Blackford This game might be closer than Oak Hill would like but think they will still win by a couple TDs.

The Eastbrook vs Tipton game will definitely be one to see. The 34-7 score from last year is a little deceiving. It was a 1 TD game going into the 4th quarter. Tipton was young last year (as was Eastbrook) and everyone knew they'd be pretty stout this year. It's the kind of game Eastbrook needs though if the goal is Lucas Oil again. It's hard to see what Eastbrook needs to improve on when the last half of the schedule is so weak. A team like Tipton can show you the holes real quick. Adamson's group are great at making the needed adjustments though and the kids playing now have been to semi-state and 2 state championship games the last 3 years so they're no stranger to good competition. Should be a great game. I've only seen Eastern against Oak Hill. They look athletic and have a lot of weapons and being the first game of the season I'm sure a lot has changed. I think their schedule hurts them come tournament time. Eastbrook and Tipton both would be a pretty big jump in competition from what they see all season. I don't know much about Lapel but they're usually solid and judging by their record they are a good team again this year.

Alexandria @ Oak Hill Oak Hill by 3 TD's. Oak Hills defense has been really good this year. Alexandria will want to get in a shootout but don't think that will happen. Blackford @ Mississinewa Mississinewa by 3TD's. Indians are too athletic for the Bruins. Might be tight for a quarter or 2. Elwood @ Eastbrook Fantastic win for Elwood last week. The fact that they were down by a couple touchdowns at one point and kept fighting says a lot. Might not look huge on paper but would say they've made some great strides this year. It will be a little bit of a reality check this week. I'll go Eastbrook by 50 Madison Grant @ Frankton Will be interesting how Madison Grant comes out this week. The loss to Elwood will either refocus them on getting better or make them start looking forward to basketball season. I'll pick MG by 1 TD.

Alexandria @ Mississinewa Alexandria's defense is really bad. Eastbrook scored 43 1st quarter points. Not near enough team speed and poor tackling will let Campbell run wild if Mississinewa feeds him. Ole Miss by 50. Half that if Mississinewa decides to pass 50% of the time. Blackford @ Eastbrook Eastbrook will exhaust Blackford with shear number of players if nothing else. It should be the typical fast start for Eastbrook and let the JV clean up the second half. Eastbrook by 35. Frankton @ Oak Hill Oak hill isn't a real explosive offense but their defense is very solid. No threat from Frankton. Oak Hill by 35 Madison Grant @ Elwood I do think Elwood is slightly better this year but believe they missed their opportunity for a win against Frankton. Madison Grant should be able to win by at least 14..

Eastbrook @ Alex Eastbrook jumps out quick and stays there. Elwood @ Blackford Not sure if Blackford is 100% healthy but shouldn't be an issue if they are. Elwood has been showing more fight this year though. Mississinewa @ Frankton Mississinewa will work out some frustrations on Frankton. Being 1-4 I could see them piling it on a little extra tonight. Oak Hill @ Madison Grant Oak Hill would have to come in completely flat to lose any of their remaining games. I don't think any of the games this week will be close. Basically the top half of the conference against the bottom half.

Alexandria @ Elwood Picking Alexandria by at least 2 TD's. Not sure what is driving the decision to start the Freshman QB for Alex but this should be a good game to break him in. Frankton @ Eastbrook Adamson didn't seem pleased after the Oak Hill game based on his comments. Seems like the team is kind of on cruise control with nothing much to push them the rest of the regular season. Not a good scenario for a deep tournament run. Delta was really the only team on the schedule that was the caliber we'll see deeper in the tournament. They'll finish Frankton quickly Friday but there is still a lot of work to do in Eastbrook land. Madison Grant @ Blackford I think this will be a very even game. I'll give it to Blackford coming in with a little momentum and playing at home. Oak Hill @ Mississinewa Another even game. Campbell is very explosive for Mississinewa and the Hayes kid really impressed me for Oak Hill. After playing them both I'd say Mississinewa is a little more athletic but Oak Hill is more disciplined. I'll pick Oak Hill in a coin toss. I'll have the tribe tv up on my phone though to watch how it plays out.

Eastbrook at Oak Hill- Eastbrook by 3 TDs. I think it will be more than that at halftime but Oak Hill might gain a little in the 2nd half against the JV/freshmen like Mississinewa did last week. Blackford at Alexandria- Blackford by 2 TD's. Blackford does a better job running an offense that controls the game. I'm assuming Alexandria still hasn't figured out that throwing 75% of the time doesn't usually work at this level. Elwood at Frankton- Frankton by 2 TD's. I don't think Frankton is Elwood bad yet. Mississinewa at MG- Mississinewa should win and I'll pick them by 2 TDs. I don't think MG has the team speed to stop Campbell. Mississinewa did a terrible job getting it to Campbell last week though. He had 1 carry for -2 yards and they instantly gave up on it and tried to throw to him the rest of the game. In the past even bad Mississinewa teams acted like they were the best team in the world. At least until kickoff. I saw no confidence in the group that was on the field Friday. MG will be disciplined and will fight. If 1A MG is ahead or even close to the 4A Indians at halftime the spectators will get one of the best fireworks shows of the year on the Mississinewa sidelines.

Blackford@Eastern- Going to be a rough go for Blackford. Eastern by 4 TD's. Unfortunately Blackford won't have enough to put in a second string so the starters will continue to get beat up for the full game. This might make their numbers decrease further as the year goes on. Delta@Eastbrook- This will be Eastbrook's most challenging regular season game. Delta returns almost everyone from a dominating performance last year. Last year Eastbrook was in a similar boat as Mississinewa is this year. Talented but young and still trying to figure it all out. It was also maybe the least amount of heart I'd seen an Eastbrook team play with in years. That all got corrected and should come in ready to fight this year. With us being at home I'll pick Eastbrook by 1 TD. Lapel@Frankton- Lapel has been consistent the last several years. Lapel by 3 TD's Oak Hill@Southwood- Oak Hill was shutout last week but Eastern is a pretty decent team. We'll see if they got anything figured out offensively this week. Defense must be fairly good to hold Eastern to 13. Still taking Southwood by 1TD. Tipton@Elwood- Tipton will be tough this year and wins by as much as they want. Wabash@Alexandria- Don't know much about Wabash but really want to pick a CIC team so Alexandria by 1TD Mississinewa@New Haven- I think Mississinewa will still be trying to figure things out this week. New Haven by 2 TD's. A couple games against good competition should help a lot. Big week next week.

Eastbrook looked very strong Friday. Marion isn't the team they were last year but still a ton of athlete's with big play ability and the game never looked in question. They definitely came out of week 1 as the team to beat in the CIC. I think the toughest game of the year is this week against Delta. Delta is mostly seniors with a D1 QB. Them not being in the top 10 in 4A preseason rankings shows you how useless the preseason rankings are and I'm looking forward to seeing how we react to that caliber of competition. As far as the rest of the CIC I can't imagine a scenario where Mississinewa doesn't finish .500. They have talent and while I don't know a lot about their new coach his resume shows he knows football. They're going to get better all year and I think finish 2nd in CIC as long as Eastbrook treats the week 3 matchup with the respect it deserves. Oak Hill I keep expecting to get back on track but they've definitely struggled the last few years. Guessing that they'll land a little better than .500 and in the upper half of the CIC. Alexandria will probably be real similar to Oak Hill landing in that 3rd or 4th spot. Madison Grant has some talent but their overall numbers are going to hurt them. They can win some games this year but I worry about the future of football at that school. The last several years they've only been able to put together a combined JR high team which doesn't scream that the numbers are going to pick up any time soon. They need to win get some excitement around the program. Blackford is in the same boat as Madison Grant if not a little more desperate for numbers. Watching them last year they were vastly better but seeing what they were loosing and knowing what their feeder numbers were I knew they'd be in trouble this year. If it doesn't change immediately the CIC will be short a team in football. Frankton I really haven't heard much about. If they stay basic and run the ball they might be able to compete. If they want to spread it out and try to run offenses they see on Saturday and Sunday they'll struggle all year. Elwood was so young last year it's hard to say what they will look like until they play. It has to be incredibly frustrating though with new coaches all the time and just the long term lack of success. Last year I just felt they were trying way to much with that young of a group. The kind of offenses some of these teams are trying to implement take years to get put in place not weeks. Even then running something you don't have the personnel for makes no sense to me. Overall I just hope we all get our games in. I think the kids need football more than ever right now.