npcougar15

Shout out to Notre Dame for letting the cougars use their indoor practice facility to prep for tomorrows game. Can't wait for tomorrow, best weekend of the year; little bit sweeting this year!

So for those of us not to familiar with East Central at all can someone give a little history of the school, town, location, program history, any fun fact? I'll start with NP for you EC fans. The 2 towns that feed into New Prairie are NEW Carlisle and Rolling PRAIRIE. New Carlisle has a population of about 1,800 with Rolling only having close to 600 residents. There are a few other small communities (Hudson Lake, Mill Creek, Saugany Lake, and a lot of farm land) that feed into the school that make it what it is today. We are touching the Michigan border to the north and are sandwiched in-between South Bend to the east and Laporte/"Da Region" to the west. The New Carlisle community at their core is a football town and had real good history up until the NP consolidation in 1968. NP was pretty average for the first 30 years of football until hall of famer Bart Curtis took over in the late 90s, another Hall of famer in Russ Radtke elevated the program to new heights starting back in 2012 and now coach McKim in his 3rd year has continued to keep the cougars playing at a very high level (and possibly a level never reached before). One interesting fact about NP, is the town of New Carlisle is in the eastern time zone while the school and Rolling Prairie are in the central time zone. You can hear people ask "School time or town time?" with just about every event, gathering, game, etc.

Honestly can't believe NP found a way win that one last night. The football gods made up for NP giving away their trip to state last year against NR in the last 4 minutes. East Central I'm sure will be favored by every metric and person and that's fine and warranted. People have been talking about the south and New Pal, Roncalli, and EC all year that whoever represented would boat race the north. But I'll tell you what, Kokomo was a LOT tougher than I thought going in. Big, physical, and fast kids all over the place. Kind of a weird game in the sense that while Kokomo controlled the pace of the game all day, NP did have 2 blown opportunities to put 14 more points on the board. And outside of 1 real long run to start the game for Kokomo, the NP defense was able to shut down the high scoring wildkats. Honestly I think this kind of game is exactly what NP needed to get ready for this upcoming week; we haven't played a close game all year.

NP. Kokomo completes a 14.5 yard pass on 4th and 15 that sends NP to state!

kokomo with the ballsiest play to keep their season alive. unbelievable

10-9 NP 2;45 in the 4th crazy game down in kokomo

6-0 kokomo at the half New Prairie drops a TD pass in the end zone with about 20 seconds left in the half. Kokomo winning the line of scrimmage and really has some big strong boys on the field. NP to get the ball to open the second half

Kokomo 6 New Prairie 0 End of 1. Cougars with a big holding penalty to call back a TD and another false start that would of been a big play. Cougars playing not to lose.

Looks like it will be a slightly windy and a cold one down in Kokomo tonight. Don't think it will affect too many game plans as both teams like to run and with the turf that shouldn't be an issue. NP might of lucked out not having this game in New Carlisle as the frozen dirt with 4 inches of snow probably would of played in Kokomos favor. Unfortunately don't think NP will bring a great crowd, weather and ultimately the roads up north have been pretty horrible the past 2 days, probably keep a lot of people home this evening. Go Cougars!

For me 2006 Norwell @ New Prairie in the regional game. Can't remember exacts details other than it being the most miserable I've ever been in my life weather wise. But if I recall correctly it was a rainstorm the first quarter creating a incredibly muddy field with no traction; I remember watching a punt just stick in the mud, no bounce, not an ounce of movement the second it hit the ground. But then around the 2nd quarter/halftime the temperature dropped big time creating a sleet/snow mix the rest of the game. I remember players not being able to open up their lockers after the game because their fingers had no dexterity or grip.

thanks for explanation. Care to elaborate? During the NP/Hobart game Hobart scored 2 TD's in the second half against #2s; they weren't going to win the game but they definitely were going for it. NP had a couple of pre-snap penalties (offsides on defense and a couple false starts on offense). Don't think it was done on purpose as it was freshman playing in garbage time of a sectional championship, seemed more like nerves. But about 4 minutes came off the clock because the crew took 20 seconds the walk off the penalty, play clock would reset, and time kept ticking off. That's when the idea popped into my head and even the Hobart broadcast crew started to talk about that as a strategy. So is there a rule combat this? How many false starts can a team have until it's deemed on purpose?

Teams are pretty darn even on paper. If the Cougars can withstand getting pushed back on the line I like our chances in this one. If Kokomo controls the line and gets 5+ on quarterback sneaks any time they want, I think it's a toss up and it'll come down to turnovers and special teams. Should be a battle!

I think it's probably impossible and you'll never see it. Not necessarily because it would be extremely difficult to score 5+ TD's in that time (which it would). But the way the current rule works is if the team from behind mounted a comeback to get within 2 TDs then the team with the lead could literally false start or jump offsides or commit whatever penalty before the snap the rest of the game and win; because eventually the clock will run out.

Two 12-1 teams with no previous history (at least to my knowledge), no common opponents, and what appears to be different styles battle it out for a trip to Indy. New Prairie: NP has been on a complete rampage the last 5 weeks. Including 42-6, 49-14, and 48-0 halftime scores against Lowell, Hobart, and Northridge. To say they are firing on all cylinders might be an understatement as the Cougars have entered a different level play since their 21-0 loss to 6A Penn. This is NPs second semi-state in a row and you can bet the players will be laser focused after last years let down. NP's bread and butter is a very good run game that likes to spread you out and gash you but the "Air Cougars" have shown that they can beat you through the pass game if they need too. Defense has been solid all season long with a lot of athletes all over the field. Kokomo: Don't know much about the Kats but it looks like they'd want to play in a phone booth. Only hiccup is to 6A sectional champ Laf Jeff. Quarterback appears to be 5'10 250 and 42 years old - and I mean that as a compliment. They can run QB sneak at any point on the field and in any situation and be successful with the push of their offensive line. Would love to hear from the Kokomo faithful on more info on their team. Both teams have quietly taken care of business in 4A with Roncalli and New Palestine stealing the headline all year and Northwood in the North. Looking forward to a battle for a trip to Indy on the line!

Looks like 38 degrees with an 11 mph wind for kick off tomorrow.

Asking some honest questions here. How has Northridge shown they can shut down the running game? They gave up 28 to Elkhart, 45 to Mishawaka (granted in 2 OTs), 35 to Warsaw, and 24 to Logansport, I would consider those squads good teams with run heavy offenses. And wasn't Northwood without their starting QB?

Honestly, I've been critical for the past 2.5 years of how conservative and the lack of creativity NP has been on the gridiron. We have been lucky to just have better players than the other team (majority of the time) to pull out victories. But a few times it has caught up to us in critical moments and bit us in the ass; Marian and Northridge last year and Penn this year. The last 4 games the coaches have opened up the play book, got more players involved, added more wrinkles, etc. and it has completely revitalized the team. We have a lot of different players that can make plays in different ways. We beat Lowell a completely different way than Hobart. This is arguably the most complete team NP has ever had, it's really been a treat to watch the last 4 weeks. I just hope we keep it going this Friday and don't get too tense and scared to make mistakes.

Where is all the Northridge faithful?

Too be quite honest the only year where you had regular season success and no post season success was 2018. Now this year will also be added to that category, but obviously some unforeseen circumstances happened that may or may not of effected the outcome. But even in 2018 you lost by 1 point to a 12-1 Angola team in the sectional championship. Not exactly crapping the bed. Since Titus has graduated your regular seasons have been 4-5, 4-5, 5-4, 6-3, 9-0, 6-3, 9-0, 6-3, 3-3, 5-4, 9-0. I would say 2 sectionals with a run to state seems about right with all things considered.

Did Northridge just get back their top RB from injury?

Not a lot of local flavor making it to the regional rounds this season but here are the matchups none-the-less. 5A #1 Snider (10-1) @ #4 Mishawaka (10-1): Battle between 2 teams that have occupied the top spot in 5A at some point this season. Snider comes in with a lot of momentum taking care of business against a real good North team. Mishawaka did what they were suppose to do in a pretty weak sectional. Gotta give Snider the love in this one as their SOS and resume' FAR exceeds that of the Cavemen. 4A Northridge (8-4) @ #6 New Prairie (11-1): Rematch of lasts years semi-state battle. Another crazy story line brewing in Middlebury as the Raiders take down an undefeated 2 years in a row. Where-as NP has DOMINATED in their march to a sectional title that many thought would be closer. Does Northridge have what it takes to get by a red hot Cougar squad with revenge on their minds? Lots of story lines coming out of this one and I honestly have no idea what to expect. But after seeing the way NP has handled it's last 4 opponents it's tough to bet against the Cougars at this point....But their appears to be some magic left in those Raiders... 3A #1 West Lafayette (12-0) @ Knox (9-3): Radtke gets a sectional title at a 5th different school, but his prize is a red devil juggernaut coming to Community Field. Knox has put together a solid campaign in 2022; the kind that was expected when Russ took over 3 years ago. But I cannot see the Redskins getting past this one. WL has been one of the best mid-sized publics the last 15 years. 1A #4 North Judson (11-1) @ Park Tudor (9-3): NJ is darn close to being 12-0 in a TOUGH HNAC. Park Tudor comes in with an offense that can put points on the board but also gives up a ton on the other side of the ball. The Blue Jays shouldn't have a problem with the Panthers as they rolled through their sectional to get to this point. NJ should score on about every possession one would think.

New Prairie (10-1) @ Hobart (8-3) - Wow, NP having arguably the best stretch of games in program history. 42-6 at the inferno and 49-14 at the brickyard IN THE FIRST HALF against teams that tied for the NCC championship this year; crazy. Offense is absolutely firing on all cylinders. Defense has been solid (they have been all year) with athletes all over the field. Would of been an awesome showdown against a 12-0 Northwood team in New Carlisle this Friday, but I think every NP player as well as fan will happily take on Northridge. Congrats to the Cougars! Knox (-3) @ Jimtown (9-2) - Kind of what I expected. Jimtown was a decent team in a bad conference this year where-as Knox was a good team in a good conference. Andrean (7-3) @ Bremen (7-4) - No surprises

6 minutes left in the half 28-7 New Prairie halftime score 49-14 New Prairie NP had an easy pick 6 dropped with 15 seconds left that would of finished an insane 6 minute span. NP to get the ball to start the 2nd half with a running clock. 2nd time NP has a running clock at halftime against a NCC champion.

NP: 49 Hobart 14 20 seconds left in the half

NP with an interception with 55 seconds left in the half