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Bringing this back as it is always a good way to drive engagement ahead of the first week of the season. As a reminder, these are completely hypothetical point spreads created by me. For those unfamiliar with spreads, I'll post an example(s) below. Example: Ben Davis @ Warren Central (-3.5) indicates Warren Central is a 3 point favorite. Alternatively, this could be written as Ben Davis (+3.5) @ Warren Central. If you were to pick a side on this game, you would say Ben Davis +3.5 indicating you think BD loses by 3.5 or less or wins outright. Alternatively, WC -3.5 indicates you think WC will win by 3.5 or more. PK (pick'em) indicates the line is "even" and neither team is deemed to be favored. As aways, a lot is unknown in the off-season and it is impossible for me to stay on top of every team in the state, so feel free to let me know where I am way off or any big games I missed for this week. Week 1: Garrett @ Adams Central (-2) Ben Davis @ Cathedral (-15.5) Andrean @ Merrilville (-24) Carmel @ Fishers (-5.5) Center Grove (-14.5) @ Warren Central Danville @ Gibson Southern (-11) FW Carroll @ HSE (-19.5) Concord (-6.5) @ Elkhart Decatur Central (-12.5) @ Avon Evansville North @ Castle (-12) FW Luers @ Leo (Pick'em) Lafayette Jeff @ Chatard (-8) Lawrence Central @ Lawrence North (-28.5) Mishawaka Marian @ Mishawaka (-27) Mooresville @ Bloomington North (-7.5) New Pal (-43.5) @ Kokomo Noblesville (-23) @ Mount Vernon Penn (-6) @ Valpo Pike (-9.5) @ Zionsville South Putnam @ North Putnam (-1.5) Spalding (Maryland) (-26.5) @ Brownsburg Warsaw @ FW Snider (-7.5) West Lafayette @ Harrison (WL) (-6) Whiteland @ Columbus North (-18.5)

Yes, they’ll be streaming games. A couple changes, though. One is that they’re producing it in-house - rather than in partnership with Indiana SRN. Hopefully they’ve got all the resources they need to do it reliably. The other change is that they’re supposed to be adding a 2nd camera. That should help create better coverage when the ball is in either red zone.

From what I’ve heard, things went good during the scrimmage. What does that exactly mean, not sure as was a brief convo that I overheard and I was not there to see for myself. I have heard the player turnout has been better than years past and the new offense has brought some additional athletes that wouldn't have come out with the previous regime. I say all of this but the season still may be rough. Also, anyone know if Memorial is streaming their games this year? Thought they have in the past. Go Cats!

Drayk Bowen named 1 of 6 Irish captains this fall.

Unfortunately - looks like I'm the last of the Mohicans in this thread. Somewhat speaks to the state of affairs in the NLC. When I was playing 2 decades ago, every team had a full Freshmen, JV, and Varsity rosters. In many of the past seasons, Freshmen and JV schedules included teams who weren't on the Varsity schedule out of necessity to fill games. I realize Facebook gets a lot of the traffic now, but I miss the days of seeing this thread with posters from every school. Anyway - I'll do my best to do writes ups before each week. I was good about those for a few years and fell off last season. Columbia City at NorthWood: I mentioned this previously, but I love this new matchup to start the year. It was good Warsaw finally got away from starting the season with Columbia City for strength of schedule purposes, but the Eagles have turned into a strong 4A program in northeast Indiana the last few years. It will be weird not seeing the Panthers take on Jimtown, but this is definitely an upgrade for them. I expect this game to be tight... NorthWood by 6 Concord at Elkhart: Going into year 5 of this series and it's split 2-2 with 3 of the games being low scoring slugfest. I think this is an excellent week 1 matchup and hope it sticks around for many years. It will be interesting to see how the Minutemen start the season after last year's "disappointment" of a regular season that didn't amount to any postseason hardware, along with not playing any games on their homefield this season. Elkhart has had a lot of noise this offseason with high expectations, but I'll stick to conference allegiants for now... Concord by 3 Goshen at Fairfield: A backyard brawl that the Redhawks should always dominate has not been the case since it started 9 seasons ago. Fairfield has beaten up on big brother the last 2 years, outscoring Goshen 84-23. The boys from the Maple City need to show some fight and discipline in week 1 if things are ever going to get turned around for that storied program. Finding a way to win 2 games this year will be considered positive momentum, but I'm not sure it happens... Fairfield by 14 Jimtown at Wawasee: With the Panthers kicking the Jimmies off their schedule, they head a little further east on US 6 to find a new opponent in Wawasee in apparently the first ever gridiron meeting between Jimtown and Wawasee. The Warriors start year 2 under Coach Thacker, who has brought a "Bart Ball" style of offense to Syracuse, hoping to put more points up on the scoreboard after being held to 7 points or fewer in 6 of their 10 games last year. I'm hopeful the disciplined style of play will start to show dividends for our Kosciusko brethren. I want to give them the nod playing at home, but will settle for at least a few TDs instead... Jimtown by 15 Marian at Mishawaka: Another backyard rivalry to kick things off, but this one has been dominated by big brother. The Cavemen have won 12 of 13 against Marian, with the only Knights victory coming in their 2020 Semi-State appearance season by a score of 44-43. I anticipate much of the same here before Mishawaka faces quite the back-to-back weeks challenge at Penn then hosting Concord, but they can't overlook little brother wanting to play spoiler... Mishawaka by 21 Northridge at FW North: The rubber match of this series where, interestingly enough, the visiting team has snagged each of the first 2 matchups. The Raiders saw their first losing season since 2019, which is a testament to the program Coach Wogomon created and Coach Eppley has maintained. I haven't seen much news out of the SAC this year, save for some Snider talk. I'll be a conference homer with this pick... Northridge by 4 Tippecanoe Valley at Plymouth: Another local matchup that has apparently never been played before, which is shocking considering their proximity and the fact that they play each other in almost every other sport. The Pilgrims Rockies (earned this right from me after beating Warsaw last year) had their first winning season since 2019, the complete opposite of what occurred in Middlebury. They've progressively gotten better each year under Coach Handley; could this be a year where they are a sneaky darkhorse pick for NLC Champs? I won't go quite that far yet, but like them in their season opener... Plymouth by 13 Warsaw at FW Snider: As stated before, the Tigers have quite the start to their schedule this season, starting with a trip to Fort Wayne to take on perennial power Snider. Unfortunately, this won't be at the Panther's new stadium (opens in 2026). Warsaw lost a bunch from last year's 5A Runner-Up squad, but their starting QB Brock did get some experience under center last season while Sullivan was injured the back half of the regular season. "Bart Ball" starts with the QB, so that will be helpful. However, losing so much in the trenches on both sides of the ball will be tough early against Snider (and Warren Central)... FW Snider by 21

Now almost on week 2 with an expired certificate. Good thing this site isn't part of a larger IT organization.