npcougar15

If there was one potential playoff game I was hoping to see this year, this is it. 10-2 New Prairie travels over to take on the 10-2 Panthers. Last meeting between the 2 schools was the 2004 sectional championship where NP won 14-11. That was New Prairie's first sectional title and the start of a very good 2 decade run the cougars have been on. Despite both programs playing in the same class their entire history, being in the same area, and both with multiple deep playoff runs; this is only the 5th time they have ever met in the post season. Others years were 1987, 1996, 2003, and 2004, the programs have had a knack of avoiding each other. Northwood is coming off an exciting & emotional win over rival Northridge while the cougars took care of business against CMA. On paper everything looks pretty evenly matched despite contrasting styles. Should be another packed house, great atmosphere at Andrews Field and fantastic football game for the Michiana area!

NP 43 CMA 14

NP 29 CMA 7 Early in the 3rd CMA cannot stop the NP run. NP has around 300 yards on the ground already with about 7 runs over 40 yards

at halftime NP 21 CMA 7 Cougars get the ball after the break

after 1 quarter New Prairie 7 CMA 7

Well then don't tell me that Northwood is the smallest school in 4A and then say "don't forget that" when in fact they aren't.

Like I said NW could go on a run here and everything is forgiven. But let's not act like a loss to NR tomorrow isn't going to have people questioning things. It goes back farther than this season, it's more than losing to Warsaw or Northridge in the regular season. Northwood has 1 sectional in the last 11 seasons. Just getting some conversation going. Honestly, this might the most intriguing sectional final in the state. Looking forward to a good ole' fashioned high school football game tomorrow What does being the smallest school in the NLC have to do with anything come playoff time? and they actually aren't the smallest school in 4A, there are 13 schools smaller than them and they already beat 2 of those schools in the first 2 rounds.

Serious question for the Northwood faithful. If NW DOESN'T win tomorrow night, how much faith does the Panther community have in their coaches and program or at least the scheme they are implementing? To go from nearly a unanimous pick to make it to state for 4A north to 9-3 and not even winning a share of the conference title (where there wasn't any team head and shoulders above in the NLC) would be pretty devastating. Just trying to drum-up conversation. NW could route Northridge and easily be playing after thanksgiving and all is forgiven for the early season mishaps. This game just seems like a monster turning point for the Panther program

Warsaw at Penn - Should be a good game. Penn should come away with a win here. Their defense has essentially shut-down everyone except for Cathedral. Yes, Warsaws offense is hard to stop but I think because they are so 1 dimensional Penn can sell out on the run and shut it down. "Bart Ball" is capable of throwing in a few wrinkles and trick plays but I don't think it's enough for the stout Kingsmen defense. The Penn offense isn't good enough to run away with it either. I'm thinking 28-14 or 24-17 type game. New Prairie at Culver Academy - Well NP survived the scare that I'm not totally shocked about. Hopefully it humbled the kids and makes them not overlook the Eagles. There were a handful of time the Cougars could have put away the Kougars last week but failed to do so, instead they committed some big untimely penalties and the KV team made some unbelievable plays to keep them in it. Treat it as a learning experience and be thankful you have a chance to win a sectional this week. Predicting a methodical 34-14 final score. Glenn at Knox - Glenn has put together a pretty good campaign in Barrons 2nd season. Don't think they have enough to get past an 11-0 Radtke led team. Barron is probably getting sick of running into ole' Russ in the playoffs as he has gotten the better of him in 2013 with an 8-2 team, 2014 going into the game with an 11-0 record, and in 2019 with a 9-2 team. Is this the year that JB gets his revenge? Maybe....But the head says Knox easily. Bremen at LaVille - LaVille has been solid for a decade now and probably would have a few more trophies in the case if it wasn't for Andrean and Pioneer having generational talent on their teams. I think this is the year LaVille can make a deep run and I don't see the Lions standing in their way.

New Prairie almost blew it against an upset minded Kankakee Valley team. NP went up 21-7 with about 5 minutes left in the game. Then after several untimely NP penalties and KV big plays all the sudden it was 21-21 with about a minute to go. KV even had the ball at one point to go in for the win before throwing an interception. In overtime, NP dominated to give the cougars a scare that will hopefully be a wake up call for the rest of their post season. I will say Kankakee Valley seems like they are a sleeping giant and maybe next year is the year they finally break through. They have a hall of fame coach that knows how to win championships, they have beautiful facilities, and a good community that would rally behind them. They also have a very good junior running back (think he ended the year with 1700 yards) and a lot of good underclassmen on the line of scrimmage. I could see KV bringing home a trophy next year. Unfortunately for the Kougars, they have just had to deal with Hobart, Andrean, Lowell, and Griffith during their history to win any championship. Now they have the people in place to change the culture and start competing and winning against those programs.

NP 14 KV 0 about a minute left until half time

New Prairie 7 Kankakee Valley 0 Early in the 1st

To keep with the theme of the small school division dissembling here is the all-time records in that conference. New Prairie: 16-2 .888 Marian: 24-6 .800 Jimtown: 36-13 .734 Bremen: 21-22 .488 Riley: 23-26 .469 Washington: 18-31 .367 Glenn: 17-31 .354 Clay: 0-28 .000

Since it's the last year of the NIC south here is a little history: Started in 2015 with: New Prairie, Marian, Washington, Riley, Jimtown, Bremen, Glenn. 2015 champions: New Prairie (6-4), Washington (6-4) 2016 champion: Marian (11-2) 2017 champion: New Prairie (11-2) 2018 New Prairie moves up and Clay moves down 2018 champions: Bremen (11-3), Marian (8-5) 2019 champion: Marian (12-2) 2020 Marian moves up 2020 champions: Bremen (9-3), Jimtown (7-4) 2021 champion: jimtown (9-3) 2022 champion: Jimtown (9-3) 2023 champion: Riley (8-2) Only teams to never win that played in the small school division were Glenn and Clay Jimtown = 3 championships in 9 season (all championships came after NP and Marian moved on) Marian = 3 championships in 5 seasons NP = 2 championships in 3 seasons Bremen = 2 championships in 9 seasons Riley = 1 championship in 9 seasons Washington = 1 championship in 9 seasons

Elkhart (3-6) at Penn (8-1) - Game is closer than it should be, but Penn gets a methodical 3 or 4 touchdown win over the Lions. Concord (5-4) at Adams (1-8) - Concord rolls past the flailing eagles. New Prairie (8-2) at Kankakee Valley (5-5) - Everything points to a Cougar win here. Tough though to gauge the intangibles after a dominating victory over what many considered the sectional championship last week. Do they come out flat? Does KV play out of their minds? these are 16-18 year olds so you never know. Hopefully the "C"ougars roll though as they should. Washington (3-7) at NorthWood (8-2) - Running clock Fairfield (6-4) at Glenn (6-4) - This one seems like a toss-up any which way you look at it. Would be good for the JG program though to get the sectional championship Wheeler (6-3) at Bremen (5-5) - Another tight contest. I'm thinking the Bearcats get it done though

Hobart at New Prairie - Well this did not turn out like I had thought going into it. NP gets a running clock for the second straight year against the brickies, Hobart was a combined 15-5 going into the games the last 2 years; not exactly roll-overs. Field conditions played a part as it was borderline mud bowl between the hashes. Good to see the offense get back in their groove and the defense again gives up an early TD but played phenomenal the rest of the way. Washington at Plymouth - Congrats to Washington picking up a come from behind win. Not easy when you haven't had the best year and staring at the end of your football season. NorthWood at St. Joseph - Looked like this was pretty competitive for a quarter and half and then NW just went on a role. Thought the final score would be a little bit more competitive. So the questions is: Is Northwood finally living up to their pre-season hype? I don't know but maybe they caught a break playing this week on a turf field instead of the natural grass of Andrews. Riley at Wawasee - Don't know how I feel about Riley this past season. Congrats on winning a conference title, but going out round 1 to a 1-8 team has to feel like you lost a lot of momentum for your program that was built through the first 9 weeks. Anybody know what Riley has coming back and what the future looks like? Jimtown at Fairfield - Jimtown, Jimtown, Jimtown 3-9 vs sanctioned teams and their best win is against a mediocre Bremen squad. First losing season since 1979. Buago boys have lost some luster lately; maybe getting back into the "NSC" is exactly what the doctor ordered the Jimmies. Clay at Glenn - Glad Clay could sneak out 3 victories this year. Crazy that just a little over a decade ago they were a competitive program. I mean what did South Bend think was going to happen when they were titled the "performing arts" school. Marian at West Noble - Would of been a nice win for the Knights. Anyone have the details in this battle? seemed liked Marian was primed for an upset and then WN snuck it out in the end. Bremen at Bishop Noll - Not much to say about this one. Bremen should be fighting for their lives next week.

NP 42 Hobart 7 running clock

With 4 minutes left in the half it was NP 21 Hobart 7. Hobart has the ball at the NP 10 looking to score with 1st and 10 and making it a 1 score game. Then a disastrous end to the half for the Bricks leave the score at 34-7 halftime. Cougars get the ball coming out of the break

NP 34 Hobart 7

NP 28 Hobart 7 2nd quarter. turning into a mud pit. slipping and sliding every play

New Prairie 21 Hobart 7 End of 1st

Hobart at New Prairie - Opening round championship game. By far the 2 best teams going at it, probably one of the most lopsided sectionals as the top 4 teams are on one side and bottom 4 all paired with one another (gotta love the blind draw). Hobart and NP are nearly identical on paper but I think the edge will go to the cougars as they are playing at home. Hobart surely has the beatdown NP gave them last year in the sectional final in the forefronts of their mind so motivation will be high for the Brickies. While the NP offense has been sputtering lately the defense has done a hell of job the last 4 weeks. Shutout against Adams. Held Riley in check, except for a 74 yard pass on the first play. Only gave up 15 points to a Penn team when the defense was on the field ALL NIGHT inside their own territory. And finally only gave up 6 to Elkhart last week; besides a 80 yard touchdown pass on the 2nd play of the game, elkhart only had 50 yards the rest of the evening. If the Cougar defense can keep playing like this they will be a tough out this post season regardless of their offense. Washington at Plymouth - 2-7 vs 2-7. eh, someone will survive another week. Would be nice to see the Panthers win for the NIC NorthWood at St. Joseph - Has Northwood righted the ship? After some early stumbling the Panthers finished strong highlighted by a win over Mishawaka. St. Joe limped into the sectionals but played some solid competition in that span. I think St. Joe is a better team than there 4-5 record indicated, and will be a tough game to open up with. But Panthers get it done here. Although St. Joe has a knack of entering sectionals under .500 then going on a deep post season run. Riley at Wawasee - Is Wawasee the best 1-8 team out there? They have an argument; close loses to 9-0 Tippy valley and West Noble teams, along with playing Warsaw, Northridge, and Northwood all to the final minutes is pretty intriguing. While Riley is vying to be the darkhorse that could come away with the sectional 18 crown. Wildcats get by the warriors. Jimtown at Fairfield - Jimmies could have their first losing season in....forever. This will be a close one Clay at Glenn - Last football game in Clay history. Glad they got 3 wins in a row Marian at West Noble - hhmmmm. Marian has played a killer schedule. West Noble is 9-0. I like the knights in here, they've been playing better and their schedule is top notch for a 3A. Bremen at Bishop Noll - Bremen rolls in the opening round

Don't know what happened to the New Prairie offense but the have been absolutely DREADFUL the last 2 games. 3 first downs in 6 quarters

Bremen JV at Clay - Hey lets make it 3 in a row Colonials Bremen at Tippecanoe Valley - TV should win easily. Bbbuuutttt they have a monster matchup round 1 of sectionals as a distraction. Think they still get it done but maybe a little closer than it should be. Jimtown at Riley - Riley completes the 8-1 season and outright Championships of the NIC small schools Glenn at Washington - Glenn gets back in the "W" column before sectionals start Marian at St. Joseph - Most intriguing matchup - I would of though ST. Joe takes this game easily but last weeks Marian win over Elkhart was a little surprising. Still think the Indians come out on top but the game is going to be a close one. New Prairie at Elkhart - NP run game has done NOTHING the past 2 weeks. The stud QB was in the hospital hooked up to IVs this past week leading up to Penn; Penn still would of won but maybe that played some role in NP having 9 yards of total offense. Yes, You read that right. But if the NP defense competes like they did last week they will be a tough out going forward. The loss to Marian last week leads me to believe NP wins. Adams at Penn - Penn should be able to name their score, they probably won't though. Can't imagine Adams scoring; Adams has scored 13 points this conference season and Penn has only given up 13 points this conference season. final score will be 35-0, just depends when Penn wants to get there.

Well for starters there is a 3-5 FW North team currently playing for a sectional championship without snapping the ball. What about the gauntlet that is Sectional 14; best record 5-3 and combined records of 13-19 Hopefully Snider doesn't have an issue against 2-6 Anderson and 3-5 North to win a championship. Mishawaka has a mediocre Concord team between them and hoisting a trophy Thank the lord Merrillville has 18 D1 players to get by Morton or Hammond Central 5A is a joke