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4A North Semi-state - Northwood @ Leo


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 NorthWood (11-2) at Leo (11-2) 

Good semi-state matchup to decide who represents the north in 4A and earns the trip to Indy.  Northwood's last trip was 2016 and a loss to Roncalli, while Leo has never reached the state finals.  Although they did have back to back Semi-state losses in 2010-11.

Leo while tough all year, is definitely playing their best football of the season lately.  Their studs in Hurst and Schott are game changers, on both sides of the ball.  All Decker has to do is just manage the offense and get the ball in his playmakers hands.. which isn't hard for him to do.  And they have found some lightning in a bottle in De'arious Carter out of the backfield.  I think their D is what will surprise some people though.  Yeah Schott will shut down one whole side of the field but they are all solid.  Every.. single.. player... They got their work cut out for them this week though. 

Also got to give it up for Coach Doerffler and his staff.   These kids are playing tough, playing disciplined, and playing fast.  Their playbook is wide open and they always seem to have a blitz dialed up at just the right time.  

I admittedly know little of Northwood other than Tuggle, but they took care of New Prairie pretty handily which was impressive.   I think the game being at home I would have to favor Leo, but should be a good one!

 

 

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I think it really depends on what Northwood team shows up. If it’s the team that played on Friday night I don’t see them losing. NP had only lost to Penn after an odd week 1 loss to Laporte and Northwood completely dominated that game. Outside of a late pick 6 in garbage time NP scored 1 TD. 
Tuggle is the star but Joziah Edmond, committed to Michigan is almost as good and usually shuts down the opponents best receiver. Other than them it’s basically role players and a decent SR QB in Roeder. 
Defensively they’re getting better, teams usually have more success running the ball. Having 2 DBs going to play D1 will make throwing difficult but teams have had success running.

should be a good game. Good luck to both teams!

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11 hours ago, PantherPride said:

I think it really depends on what Northwood team shows up. If it’s the team that played on Friday night I don’t see them losing. NP had only lost to Penn after an odd week 1 loss to Laporte and Northwood completely dominated that game. Outside of a late pick 6 in garbage time NP scored 1 TD. 
Tuggle is the star but Joziah Edmond, committed to Michigan is almost as good and usually shuts down the opponents best receiver. Other than them it’s basically role players and a decent SR QB in Roeder. 
Defensively they’re getting better, teams usually have more success running the ball. Having 2 DBs going to play D1 will make throwing difficult but teams have had success running.

should be a good game. Good luck to both teams!

Leo’s strength is running the ball so we shall see

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This will be an interesting matchup.  I remember when these two schools were in the same sectional and had some pretty memorable finishes.  NorthWood lost by a couple of points in both games (or dare I say they lost to a couple of suspect holding calls that called back multiple touchdowns).  Those games were played before Leo switched up their offense and ran that misdirection (that I loath).  I agree with PantherPride, this will come down to which NorthWood team decides to play.  Last week, they dominated a really good New Prairie team...no one saw that coming.  It appears that Leo runs a balanced offense, so NW can not sell out to stop the run nor pass.  NorthWood has the playmakers on Defense to stop anyone's passing game, so I say it comes down to that D Line / Linebackers to with this game for NW.  If Leo gets that running game going, and NW's line doesn't make adjustments (which they have done quite well since Warsaw) it may be a long drive home for the NW fans.  Either way, I think this will be a close game that may be won with the kicking game.

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Leo will likely have the best secondary Northwood has seen this year.  Don't let the East Noble passing stats fool you, Lions played all cover 0 that game and an over zealous blitzing spree hurt Leo as the RB's out of the backfield weren't accounted for and nearly cost Leo the game.  Hoeppner and Hurst will (somewhat) keep with Edmonds and Tuggle as Zeisloft stays over the top from Safety with the help of Schott harassing Roeder as I again don't see Northwood being able to block him one on one.  I still see the Lions blitzing, as its been what they've done all year,  and getting pressure while playing with a 2 deep shell.  Northwood will have trouble getting their running game going against the Lions front line with Sheron and Roberts clogging up the middle.  The big play is where NorthWood could hurt the Lions.  

Offensively Leo's diversity the last few weeks has really opened the playbook and payed off.  I honestly believe to beat the Panthers Leo MUST get the ball in the hands of Hurst and Schott 15-20 times while still feeding Carter in the running game.  If the Lions can get Carter going early and make the NorthWood  safeties creep up into the box, they should be able to go over the top for a couple big plays.  If they can get NorthWood rattled early and often, they could cause the Panthers to implode with penalties out of frustration.

With all that said, it is likely there WILL be fireworks this Friday and in the end will come down to line play as always and I honestly think Leo has a slight advantage because of their D-line.

Leo 35  NorthWood 24

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NE8_Fan...I like the fireworks comment.  I am not sure if you were at the game in 2020, however, in 30ish years of following NorthWood football, that is the 1st and only time I have ever seen a police officer escort a NW fan from the field.  Not a shinning moment for a parent / fan, however, it did get interesting toward the end of that game.

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16 minutes ago, 00NWP said:

NE8_Fan...I like the fireworks comment.  I am not sure if you were at the game in 2020, however, in 30ish years of following NorthWood football, that is the 1st and only time I have ever seen a police officer escort a NW fan from the field.  Not a shinning moment for a parent / fan, however, it did get interesting toward the end of that game.

I was there....as a coach for Leo....lol.....we had quite the back to back sectional games with Northridge then NorthWood that year.....they were a headache to defend with the running QB they had that year (can't remember his name).....

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Gotta admit, I didn't think this thread would be so quiet.....lol.  I think the majority of Fort Wayne fans are focusing on Snider, per usual, and the first ever meeting between Luers and LCC.  Those two games should be good BUT I strongly believe the NorthWood/Leo game will undoubtedly have the most high level talent (Schott, Hurst, Tuggle, Edmonds).  33 hours and counting......

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1 minute ago, NE8_Fan said:

Gotta admit, I didn't think this thread would be so quiet.....lol.  I think the majority of Fort Wayne fans are focusing on Snider, per usual, and the first ever meeting between Luers and LCC.  Those two games should be good BUT I strongly believe the NorthWood/Leo game will undoubtedly have the most high level talent (Schott, Hurst, Tuggle, Edmonds).  33 hours and counting......

Leo just doesn't seem to have a presence on this forum like Snider does. In my opinion, Leo/Northwood and Luers/LCC is right there with Snider/Merrillville. I think all three games match up evenly matched teams. I think Adams Central roles in their game. 

I agree that Leo/Northwood probably has the most high level D1 talent of all the games, but Snider/Merrillville probably sports more talent across the board. 

Anyway. Not really sure what to say about this game other than we all expect it to be a good one. I've yet to see Northwood this year, but I've seen Leo twice. They were better the second time I saw them, which means they're playing their best football of the season. I said it once, I'll say it again. The Lions are well coached and are playing high caliber 5A, and mid caliber 6A football right now. That's pretty damn good for a 4A program. I wish them well in their game against Northwood and expect that they'll win the game tomorrow night. 

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This game will come down to one thing for both teams...their defenses.  NorthWood's D Line will have to come to play and Leo'd DB's will have to come to play.  Whichever defense can address those spots will take the victory.  NorthWood's D Line has played way better toward the end of the season...no one thought they would preform that well against New Prairie's 9 man front (also...I have never seen a team run a 9 man front the entire game...super odd).  NW's DBs are also their wide receivers, so I am not too concerned with defending a passing game.  Leo has a tough task defending a solid group at receiver for NW.  NorthWood seems to be focusing on their running game as of late as well...making teams prepare for more than an arena football game.  Leo seems to be an all around good team..both running and passing.  The weather looks great Friday night, so a good kicking game may too play a role.  Side note...I also very much appreciate Leo having visiting consession stands...with that hot chocolate...I think only Mishawaka does that in the NLC.

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On 11/12/2023 at 12:11 AM, PantherPride said:

I think it really depends on what Northwood team shows up. If it’s the team that played on Friday night I don’t see them losing. NP had only lost to Penn after an odd week 1 loss to Laporte and Northwood completely dominated that game. Outside of a late pick 6 in garbage time NP scored 1 TD. 
Tuggle is the star but Joziah Edmond, committed to Michigan is almost as good and usually shuts down the opponents best receiver. Other than them it’s basically role players and a decent SR QB in Roeder. 
Defensively they’re getting better, teams usually have more success running the ball. Having 2 DBs going to play D1 will make throwing difficult but teams have had success running.

should be a good game. Good luck to both teams!

So Northwood has at least 4 D1 players??

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3 minutes ago, psaboy said:

So Northwood has at least 4 D1 players??

I assume he's referring to Edmonds and Tuggle as DB's and they both also are their top WR's, both being D1 committed players.  Also heard around that Edmonds might be trying to swing Tuggle to Michigan....any truths to that?

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Yes Tuggle and Edmond are the DBs on defense now. 
As far as any Michigan rumors Nitro and Joziah are good friends. That’s mostly why Joziah transferred to Northwood. So I would guess he’s trying to get Nitro to go to Michigan but I haven’t heard anything about Nitro not signing with Georgia. I know he just visited there a couple weeks back and hasn’t visited anywhere else, so as far as I’ve seen he’s pretty solid to the Bulldogs. 

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On 11/13/2023 at 8:14 AM, NE8_Fan said:

With all that said, it is likely there WILL be fireworks this Friday and in the end will come down to line play as always and I honestly think Leo has a slight advantage because of their D-line.

Leo 35  NorthWood 24

I can attest, there were NOT, in fact, fireworks. Kudos to Leo for a great season and prayers to Hurst. NW very well controlled the game. First quarter NW couldn’t catch the ball and had a missed field goal. Blatant missed call on the 4th and goal Leo ended up scoring on… WR false started, sideline ref on Leo’s side saw it and began to call it, but ended up letting go. Baffling. Thankfully it wasn’t the deciding factor in the game. NW’s kicker nailed a 55 yarder that had another 5 yards to spare! Good luck to my Panthers as they take on East Central next week. 

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1 hour ago, NLCfan2005 said:

I can attest, there were NOT, in fact, fireworks. Kudos to Leo for a great season and prayers to Hurst. NW very well controlled the game. First quarter NW couldn’t catch the ball and had a missed field goal. Blatant missed call on the 4th and goal Leo ended up scoring on… WR false started, sideline ref on Leo’s side saw it and began to call it, but ended up letting go. Baffling. Thankfully it wasn’t the deciding factor in the game. NW’s kicker nailed a 55 yarder that had another 5 yards to spare! Good luck to my Panthers as they take on East Central next week. 

If you're being objective, do you think someone on the Leo sideline could say, "what if this didn't happen or that didn't happen."

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For the most part I thought the officiating was pretty good and I didn’t see the particular play referenced.  However, there was 1 play where the Leo WR obviously came down out of bounds and the ref looking right at the play calling it a catch was terrible. I was watching on tv and the 46 crew said something like “that wasn’t even close”.  There was a penalty on Edmond for holding so they were still going to get some yards but got about 15 more than it should’ve been. 

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I thought the game was well played by both teams.  How it played out wasn’t at all how I expected it to go. Northwood dominated the ground game and the Leo defensive line. Leo moved the ball at ease through the air.  I think if you had been given odds on those things happening beforehand you’d have not taken them.  For our reward as Panther fans we get possibly the best 4A team ever, at least that’s how people talk about EC.  Great win! 1 more week. 

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