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What's the report on Plummer this morning? If he's out for the season LaVille's hopes of a tournament run are done.

Some great games in the HNAC last night! The game for 1st was an instant Channel 46 classic! Congratulations to the Lancers for gutting out the win. Culver using a passing game to beat Pioneer!!! What's up with that? Triton spots Knox 16 points before running an offensive play, then fights back to take the lead in the 2nd. That was a fun game to watch! Caston self-destructs again in the 2nd half. A great night of football!

Wait until you see Schuh next week before you make that proclamation.

Chuck Freeby reported today that this game will be livestreamed on the IHSAA Champions network. Good news for those who can't make the game! Typically the Channel 46 games are a delayed broadcast at 11:00 pm on Friday's and 9:00 am on Saturdays. https://www.ihsaatv.org/whme46/

Here we go... Each of this week's games will likely determine the final standings for the HNAC for 2022. We know someone other than Pioneer will walk away with the trophy. Who will it be? Winamac at Caston - The cellar dweller will come from this matchup, and I have to think that's going to be the Comets. A couple of weeks ago I read an article where Coach Ulerick was publicly questioning his players' toughness and desire. At that point I knew their season was basically over. The only chance for Caston is if the turnover bug hits the Warriors again. But I don't think it'll happen this week. Winamac Warriors 27-14 Culver at Pioneer - The battle for 5th. Pioneer has played the toughest schedule of any conference team to date. And I still think they're a pretty good team! But Culver has the potential to eat up clock and make this a low possession contest. If that's the case, it'll be close into the 4th. I just think Pioneer will make a couple of big plays and probably have a special teams score. (Toloza will get one.) Culver hangs around, but comes up short in the end. Pioneer Panthers 32-22 Knox at Triton - Third place on the line. How will Triton respond after the disaster of last week? I feel like Knox has been improving weekly and they're prepping for a solid showing in Sectional 26. Triton needs to re-group and baton down the defensive hatches! Both teams are going to move the ball this week, so I think we'll see a lot of scoring and whoever wins the turnover battle will likely win this war. I want to be a homer and pick the Trojans. But my gut tells me Triton will still be a little dazed from last week and this might not be their best outing. Knox Redskins 35-28 North Judson at LaVille - For all the marbles. This one should be a dandy! Right up until last Friday I would have said LaVille is a shoe-in to win this one. Now I'm a Bluejay believer. Allen and company (or should we say Benson and company) are the real deal! While both defenses are very good, they will both face the best offense they have seen all year. LaVille can mix it up and I think that might give Judson some trouble. The Jays have a stable of good horses to ride and they'll find the one that the Lancers are having the most trouble stopping. I look for a lot of offense in this one despite the defensive numbers these teams have put up so far. Both teams would love to win a conference title, but I feel like both are looking at even loftier goals for the 2022 season. This contest will be good for both teams regardless of the outcome. North Judson Bluejays 35-31

Best group of matchups that we've had all season. All four games could be competitive.

I think LaVille's offense will be fine. They had a bit of an off night against Knox, but they've been able to score consistently against other decent defenses. Triton couldn't stop the Jays, but the Trojans had in excess of 350 yards of offense, and that was being very one-dimensional. The Lancers can chuck it and run it. I think they'll have success against Judson offensively. Personally, I think it'll be a shootout.

Bremen has a legitimate chance to finish the regular season 6-3. That's a lot better than the "glad we have Clay on the schedule or we wouldn't win a game all year" outlook after week 1! 😄

Channel 46 picked a whale of a game to highlight Northern Indiana small school football! This should be a great game!

What a great game by North Judson! They looked very good! Obviously our coaches took my advice and did not show the Jays our real defense. Ha Ha! 😂😂 Should be a great game next Friday between the Lancers and the Blue Jays!

Are you thinking they need to be off their game for you to beat them next week? Hmmm.

It's always fun to take a wild guess at these games! I have no idea how many of these I've gotten right through the year, but I just enjoy throwing an opinion out there. We need something to talk about on here! Caston at Culver - The Cavaliers will have absolutely no trouble with the Comets. This is likely the biggest blowout of the night in the conference. Shuman ought to have a big night. Culver Cavaliers 48-8 Glenn at LaVille - I suspect LaVille is a little annoyed that they didn't win a little more comfortably last week at Knox. The D will be fired up and on point this week! And the offense will likely be running like clockwork. I'm looking for a shutout and a comfortable win this week against their St. Joe County rivals. Saturday begins prep for the big matchup with North Judson which will likely determine the conference champ (possibly with Triton's championship hopes in the balance). LaVille Lancers 42-0 Pioneer at Knox - What a great effort by Knox last Friday! I was truly impressed they were able to slow down the Lancer offense and score enough on their defense to make it that close! Will there be a letdown this week? I don't think so. Knox has three winnable games to finish out the season and head into sectional play with some momentum. And Sectional 26 is not the loaded 3A sectional it has been in previous years. Knox has a chance to make some noise this year. As I've said before, Pioneer is not that bad of a team. They are definitely a step above the HNAC bottom-feeders. But the top of the HNAC is pretty good this year! In many other years this Pioneer team would still be a top 3 conference team. Just not this year. Having said that, I don't think they have the depth to hang around with Knox. They ran out of steam in the 4th at Triton last week, and Knox's numbers will wear down the Panthers again this week. It might be tight for a while, but Knox runs away in the second half. Knox Redskins 35-16 Triton at North Judson - This could be the game of the week. It should be one of the premier games in 1A! And it showcases (arguably of course) the two best backs in the conference in Allen and Schuh. According to Sagarin, these two teams have played the weakest schedules to date of any HNAC team - by far. So this will definitely be a test for both squads! The HNAC title is still within reach for both teams if the Jays can upset LaVille next week. So there is a trophy hanging out there as motivation. Liberty Field is a tough place to play. I'm giving Judson the edge at home. Hope I'm wrong! But... North Judson-San Pierre Blue Jays 21-17 West Central at Winamac - The Trojan's only loss has been at the hands of Culver, who squeaked by the Warriors last week. Winamac has definitely played the tougher schedule and should enter this contest battle tested and ready to take out some frustration on the Midwest Conference foe. West Central will get another taste of HNAC hard-nosed football this week. I think the Warriors get win #2 over another Midwest team and the HNAC cements it's place as the MWC's nemesis. Winamac Warriors 27-14

If I'm not mistaken, Indiana now allows players 6 quarters per week so playing the JV players for 2 quarters on Friday night would not create the scenario described above. However my beef is when the better team complains about the losing team keeping their varsity players in the game after the leading team subs out their starters. If the teams are really that lopsided in talent, wouldn't the better teams subs be a good matchup with the losing team's starters? Why not let those groups get some time against each other? The JV teams are going to play on Saturday or Monday. Why should they play a couple of quarters against each other on Friday night too? In my mind that just doesn't make sense.

That must be why I’m not a coach. 😂

If North Judson is going to give Adams Central a challenge to represent the north at LOS, they can prove themselves in the next three weeks. Arguably, they will play the two best teams on their schedule in the last three weeks of the regular season. A nice way to head into sectional play if they can take care of business! They'll have some good momentum going into the tourney. Of course a loss to either Triton or Pioneer could really play with their heads.

Ok, I think we can scratch that prediction from the Matchup Tool. I believe the factor used for Triton has been mixed up with (2A) Triton Central. When that gets corrected I would expect Triton to be the underdog. The tool uses Sagarin's predictor rating, and Judson's rating is about 8 points higher than Triton. That makes more sense to me.

I know you play the game on the field. But I find it interesting that @hhpatriot04 prediction tool has Triton a 7 point favorite in this game. Harrell has Judson winning by 11, 35-24. So far, the only team Judson has played that could have given them a challenge was Knox. And the Jays won that one comfortably. I think Triton will give Judson a good game and I don't think it will be a blowout. Triton's defense is pretty good (LaVille game the blemish on the stat line). So we'll see how it goes. But as I've said before, this one is not the one that will define either team's season. It's the potential sectional matchup that matters.

Going with the upsets! That's bold!

Some interesting matchups this week. I was shocked by how close Knox played the Lancers. I tend to think that was a letdown by LaVille, but who knows? Maybe they are more vulnerable than I thought. I don't think they'll have any trouble with Glenn this week. Before last Friday's outcome, I would have given Pioneer a decent chance to beat Knox. But now I don't know. Pioneer is still a pretty good team! They are disciplined and well-coached like always! But they may not have the athletes to hang with Knox for 48 minutes. Triton and Judson should be a good one! Obviously you want to win every game, but I wouldn't worry too much about winning this Friday night. I'd be more concerned about trying to discover Judson's weaknesses and areas of vulnerability. If a conference title were on the line, then I'd do everything possible to win the game. But I'd much rather win the rematch in October/November than win this one. I would definitely be trying out stuff to see what might work on both sides of the ball. Culver should win easily. Winamac will have their hands full with West Central.

I know everyone thinks that LaVille / Judson game is for the conference title, but I would advise the Judson faithful not to overlook the Trojans this Friday.

Wow! Did not see that one being close! Too bad the Redskins couldn't pull it out! Could have opened up the HNAC title race.

Anyone with a LaVille Knox score? Last I saw it was 14-7 LaVille.

Triton 35, Pioneer 12 Final

Triton 35, Pioneer 12 Final

Triton 7, Pioneer 0 half Both defenses playing well!