npcougar15

Pretty good line up of games this week, NIC could flex some muscles or go quietly into the night. Lake Central at Penn - Going to go with Penn here but LC is better than there 3-6 record indicates. They got beat soundly by CP and Merrillville but the other 4 losses were all 1 possession. Could be 7-2 if the breaks went there way. Winner of this one gets to play 1 more week, and that's all they are getting when Crown Point will be waiting. Snider at Elkhart - One of the biggest games in the short Elkhart high school football history. Could really send a message by beating a pretty good FW Snider team. Or it's just the same ole' same ole' from the city with a heart. Really intriguing match-up Lafayette Jeff at Adams - LJ with a running clock New Prairie at Hobart - Hobart might be smelling blood after the cougars have embarrassed them the last 2 seasons in the playoffs. Brickyard is always a tough place to play and I think the Brickies will come out emotional. Cougars are 12-3 vs "Da Region" schools in the last handful of years. NP wins the battle on paper but it's tough to bet against a motivated Hobart squad. NorthWood at St. Joseph, - These 2 seems extremely even across the board. Like all season the STJ offense has kept the huskies from being a very good team. If Northwood can score 21 points I like their chances, but the Huskies can keep them under that I'll take STJ. Jimtown at Marian, - 2 different philosophies playing out here. You have Marian playing up in competition and coming in 5-5 and Jimtown that aligned with more like sized schools and won a share of their conference title. I think all the bumps and bruises Marian has gone through will have callused them a sectional championship game appearance

Extremely wild how Brebeuf "won" that game. There were multiple points where there had to be less than a 1% chance of winning for each team in the last minute of the game. Insane. 34D-35B, 40 seconds left. If Danville doesn't get the 2 point conversion game is over. 36D-35B, Brebeuf throws a pick 6 with 14 seconds left. If the Danville kids goes down. Game over. Hard to fault a kid for scoring there but at that point Danville had the game won. 43D-35B, 4 seconds left. Brebeuf has to 60 yards on 1 play. They have 4 laterals, one of which is even batted down by Danville and bounces perfectly to the Brebeuf player. Insane. 43D-41B, Brebeuf has to convert on the 2 point conversion. A mass of humanity takes place and the Brebeuf kid barely gets into the end zone (he did get in though) 43D-43B, Danville scores. 49D-43B. Goes for 2 but gets stuffed right at the line. 49D-43B, 4&8 Danville appears to sack the quarterback but he drops the football nearly simultaneously when his knee is about to hit (super smart). Brebeuf lineman picks it up and is immediately tackled by multiple Danville kids. Game over. Coaches shake hands. Refs meet for a few minutes. Throw a flag. VERY controversial call; move the ball up 5 yards and redo play. 4&3, Brebeuf scores. 49D-49B. Brebeuf's extra point is good. But of course there is a flag. Offsides on Danville, the penalty is "declined" refs say the game is over. But wait. The Danville coach points out that they would have to rekick. Rekick is good Brebeuf wins 50-49. Just an absolutely insane serious of events.

West Side 5-4 at New Prairie, 6-3 - NP takes this one rather easily. West Side has played one of the worst schedules in Indiana this year. NP used to always play schools from Hammond/Gary area during the post-season in the 80s-00s. This is the first match-up with a team from that area since the 2013 regional against East Chicago Central and the first with a "Gary" school since Gary Roosevelt in the 2008 sectional opener. St. Joseph 5-4 at Riley, 2-6 - I like St. Joe here. Game might have a score closer than the on field product. STJ just struggles to score and create that separation. Washington 0-9 at NorthWood,4-5 - Northwood got about the best possible draw they could possibly ask for. They take care of the Washington to set up what should be a good game with STJ next week. Calumet 5-4 at Marian, 4-5 - I think this is where the Marian schedule pays off. The knights went through the gauntlet this year Mishawaka, New Prairie, Penn, Elkhart, and 8-1 CMA squad are all respectable losses. The issue with the knights is STJ is the only team they beat that's better than average. We will see what Marian is made of in 3A I could see a nice run for them

Laporte and New Prairie: Battle for the Milk Jug

New Prairie at Washington - Don't think there will be any drama in this game as neighbors battle it out. This used to be such a great game back in the 2000s, but times have changed. Don't want to jinx it but a win here would give NP a winning season 23 of the last 27 seasons. A 5-5 record in 2020 means only 3 losing seasons in nearly 3 decades, pretty cool to see how far the program has come since the 70s, 80s, 90s. Adams at Elkhart - Congrats to Elkhart on a NIC championship. Hopefully they can stay healthy going into sectionals Riley at Marian - The knights look to be getting to some winnings ways heading into sectionals. Riley has had a rough time with the new conference realignment. On paper Marian has played the 2nd toughest schedule in 3A, Hopefully that pays off them. St. Joseph at Penn - Penn wins this one. Unfortunately STJ just doesn't have the offense to keep up. Their defense is good enough to keep them in it for a while but Penn will eventually pull away due to field position and special teams.

Pretty much. Solid run game with a subpar passing is the cougars MO this year. With a QB that is one of the best baseball players in the state you would think it would be better than average, but it's not. Some of it has to do with the routes, it's either a homerun or nothing. No short yard chunk plays for easy completions and loosening up the defense to open up the run. But I will say the NP/Penn game was more competitive than the final score indicated. Haven't looked at the box score but I'm pretty sure the total yards, first downs, etc. were pretty darn similar. NP couldn't finish their drives while Penn put together about 2-3 good drives and got into the end zone, The pick 6 to go up 14-7 going into halftime was demoralizing and changed the game. But I do think NP has the defense to make a run in 4A. Competitive losses to Elkhart & Penn aren't going to hurt come playoff time, but that offensive performance against our Huskies was embarrassing and just looms in the back of my head....

Marian @ Elkhart- I think this is a close game for 2 maybe 3 quarters. Marian is way better than their record indicates. Competitive losses to Penn, Mishawaka, New Prairie, and a 6-1 CMA team will go a long way come post season for the knights. I look for another respectable loss tonight for the knights. Penn @ NP- This one seems more and more like a toss up the more I think about it. That St. Joe game is the only thing keeping me from not picking the cougars. This game will depend on how well NP can move and score the ball tonight. If they can get to 21 points, I'm feeling pretty good. Riley @ Adams- Fly high Eagles, fly high Washington @ St Joe- Not sure Washington scores in this game. I'm more intrigued if St. Joe can score enough to get a running clock

New Prairie 14 Marian 7 End of 1st quarter. Penalty filled game on both sides

Nothing like waiting till after kickoff to look at this weeks line-up of games. But I will say this is about the best week of games the conference can have. All should be solid games with teams that should be playing each other every season

Why is no one talking about this kicker from Northwood? hit a 60 yarder a few weeks ago. Hit a 62 yarder yesterday for an IHSAA record and had about 8 yards to spare. If this kid lines up for a 70 yard field goal, there is a chance he makes it. Crazy. NFL record is 66 yards, both field goals would have been good from that distance.

If I'm reading this right. Basically you are stating because the quarterback started his movement forward; but got spun around resulting in a backwards throw it is basically a forward pass? I know you don't make the rules and just the steward of them. But man does that seem like a VERY tough call at the high school level with no replay. Seems like it would be 100x easier and less controversial to just have the rule state: if the ball is thrown backwards; regardless of circumstance it is a live ball fumble.

Pretty much what this year is. Going to be a tough out but will lose some frustrating games (we already have). Defense had their backs against the wall all night and kept us in it. NIC title is out of the question now, which is unfortunate because we could easily be 3-0 in conference and in the drivers seat setting up a showdown with Penn later. The sectional looks pretty wide open with Hanover Central as the slight favorite. Hopefully we can stumble into sectionals with a 6-3 record and go on a nice run. I'm worried though there are still a couple losses in our regular season.

Looks like Elkhart is going to hold on to win 17-14. Defensive battle the entire game. Elkhart's punter had monster punts to trap NP inside their own 7 multiple times. Elkhart just couldn't shut the door on the Cougars and kept them in the game. It did get interesting on the last drive with NP having a few big plays to set up a last second win but penalties (on both sides) finally derailed the drive.

Don't know if it was reported yet but some kid from Northwood hit a 60 yard field goal with about 5-8 yards to spare. No wind either. Insane. probably would have been good fromm 67 which would be an NFL record

Good one brewing in Elkhart. Elkhart 17 New Prairie 14 about to start the 4th

That's how I feel after our St. Joe game. Went from "Probably enter post-season 7-2 or 8-1 and make a nice playoff run." To "Possibly enter 5-4 with majority of our wins over South Bend Schools and a struggling LaPorte and can get bounced at any time in sectionals."

Friday, Sep. 20 Marian at Penn: Intrigued by this one. Marian appears to be a lot better as the season goes on. Penn seems to be more human as the season goes on. Still think Penn wins this one by 2-3 touchdowns but it'll be competitive. Wouldn't be completely shocked to see an upset either New Prairie at Elkhart: Another good game in the conference (we haven't had many of those). My head tells me the Elkhart Dline is going give the cougars fits. If NP does the standard plays it'll be a long night. But if they throw a few wrinkles in there to keep the lions on the heels it'll be a good one. NP defense has been pretty damn good all season (only 2 offensive touchdowns). How's the Elkhart offense? haven't heard much about them this year Adams at St. Joseph : To help with my sanity please win this one convincingly huskies. Riley at Washington: Can't imagine there is anyone worse than Washington. Riley big

Can you do an entire conference? NIC winners through 2 weeks: 306 NIC losers through 2 weeks: 29 Most competitive game: St. Joe: 7 New Prairie: 0 2nd most competitive game: Marian: 27 St. Joe: 0 This conference is cooked

New Prairie 21 South Bend Adams 6 About midway through the 2nd

Still here. Seemed like the GID was down during Friday night and Saturday as nothing would load for me. Anyways Congrats to STJ they were 100% the better team Friday night. They came in with a game plan and executed to perfection. NP offense was pretty horrid. STJ should be a tough out going forward if their defense plays like that the rest of the season. Fun stat on the season is New Prairie has given up 7 points on defense this season and are 2-1. 🙃 NP came into the game completely unprepared and didn't make any meaningful adjustments. I've said it multiple times but NP struggles when they play a team with athletes and a coaching staff with a game plan. STJ was begging NP to throw the ball, so what does NP do? throw the ball 30-40 yards down field 100% of the time with a defensive line pressuring the QB all night long. Why not throw quick hitters, like 5 yard outs and slants? Pop passes to the tight end when there are 8 guys in the box looking run. I mean STJs Corners were playing 12 yards off the receivers and NP ran go routes the entire night; just insane. No counters, no screen passes, no nothing to deceive STJ. Very frustrating

We kick things off with the first week of the new NIC; in all honesty not many story lines or intrigue this week but here we go anyway. Marian at Adams - CMA is the common opponent here. Marian hung closer but not much of a difference. I'm thinking the Knights offense will carry them to victory in this battle of teams looking for their first "W" of the season. Marian 28 Eagles 13 Penn at Riley © - Sports Michiana game of the week? yuk. What happened last week with Riley? heard they were losing 14-7 at halftime, game got postponed, Wayne tried to reschedule it; even offering to come to South Bend Saturday morning to get it in, and Riley declines? I know there are logistic issues to these things but that's not a good look for a program wanting respect. Anybody have any information on that. But this week probably won't go well for the Wildcats as the Kingsmen look to put last week in the review mirror. Penn 42 Riley 7 St. Joseph at New Prairie NP has dominated this series the last 2 decades, Cougars are 11-1 since the turn of the century vs STJ. NP has beaten up on 2 5A schools that just weren't great quality. STJ disposed of a pretty bad South team. NP has yet to give up a defensive touchdown this season and there offense has looked pretty good. NP 41 STJ 10 Washington at Elkhart Elkhart was able to get a win against NRidge. Washington is coming off a loss vs those southerns in New Albany. Elkhart has the athletes to run away with this one rather easily. Elkhart 45 Washington 6

- NP 56 Goshen 0. Goshen wasn't very good at all. I do hear they have a nice freshman class but last night was rough. About time the cougars start looking for a different opponent for week 2. - Was pretty shocked by the Penn/Waka game. I watched the second half, outside of a real nice fullback (they always have one) the cavemen didn't seem too impressive on the offensive side. Defense looked pretty tough, but Mishawaka has a real nice culture going on over there; really play as a team. What was going on with Penn? - Saw Elkhart got some things going in the 2nd half to defeat Northridge. I saw 1 post about the game and it looked like the defense carried the Lions. Curious about the complexion of this one. - STJ got a win against a struggling FW South program. Next week is a big one for the Huskies - Adams; what else can you say about the eagles?

NP 28 Goshen 0 End of 1st NP probably has 200+ yards too Goshens 2

Well only a couple plays in and you can see Goshen is going to struggle tonight.

Crazy to do that just for athletic purposes. Go from a school that you have played at with your friends for a handful of years, great community support, has a legit shot of winning a conference championship and making some post-season noise in a winnable sectional and beyond. But you go to a school with just promises and will have a very difficult time winning a conference championship (with Penn in the way) and then go to a 4 team sectional with Carroll and Snider