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Awesome! Great win for North Miami!

Wow, the HNAC got beat up last night! The MWC held their ground. Triton and Pioneer got whipped. We'll see how Winamac and NM do today. Not a great week for the conference so far.

Friday, Aug. 30 North Judson at LaVille - Based on what I saw last week from LaVille and North Judson, this will be a running clock in the 4th quarter. Playing in the new INSC is going to be rough for the Lancers this year. If the over/under were 3.5 on LaVille regular season wins, I'm taking the under. Blue Jays 52-7 North White at Caston - Just picking the HNAC team in this one because that's what I'd like to see happen. I don't know anything about either team other than last week's scores. Comets 27-6 Pioneer at Knox - The Redskins will be on the warpath this week. Nothing worse than getting embarrassed by your backyard rival. Pioneer will have a great season, but they'll be outmatched this week. Redskins 34-16 Sheridan at North Miami - I can't imagine the Warriors keeping pace with Sheridan. Many people are expecting a good year from the Sheridan boys. A North Miami win would be a huge upset in my estimation. Blackhawks 35-7 South Central at Boone Grove - Boone Grove gave Glenn all they could handle last week, especially through the air. That tells me they probably have the athletes to handle the Satellites. Look for the Wolves to put up some big throwing numbers. Wolves 42-14 Triton at Bremen - This could be the only really competitive game on the docket this week. I'd like to think the Trojans are the better team here, but I don't have a lot of confidence in a road win over the Lions. Triton seldom plays their best on Bunge Field and I suspect this will be much the same. Lions 21-17 West Central at Culver - I think Culver will slug out a win against the Trojans. West Central will likely get a few more wins on the season than the Cavs, but that's a schedule thing. I'm taking Culver at home. Cavaliers 27-14 Winamac at Frontier - Another HNAC vs Midwest Conference matchup this week. I think the HNAC gets the trifecta with the Winamac win. Warriors 35-15

How about we start a thread for the HNAC for the entire season. It makes it easier to go back and see posts from a previous week's games. So we'll just keep this one going through the 2024 season. I don't believe anyone picked all 8 games correctly last week. It seems the Triton and North Miami wins tripped up a lot of forecasters. Here are the games for this week: Friday, Aug. 30 North Judson at LaVille, 7:30 pm North White at Caston, 7 pm Pioneer at Knox, 7:30 pm Sheridan at North Miami, 7 pm South Central at Boone Grove, 8 pm Triton at Bremen, 7 pm West Central at Culver, 7:30 pm Winamac at Frontier, 7 pm There should be a handful of good ones. Who will surprise us this Friday night?

Overall a nice night for the HNAC! Some scores that were a little surprising. Judson looks like they're already in playoff form. How are they going to handle cruising through the regular season and early playoffs before getting challenged? Triton looked pretty good. LaVille has some work to do. Too many mistakes that are not like a normal Lancer team. Pioneer, Culver, South Central and North Miami all with lopsided wins. And Winamac gets a much needed W. On to week 2. Pioneer at Knox and Triton at Bremen are the intriguing games on the schedule for next week. Judson won't have any trouble with LaVille.

Final Triton 27 LaVille 6

Triton 7 LaVille 6 halftime

These early season picks are just a crap shoot. I have no idea what some of these teams are going to bring this year. So here we go... Attica at Culver - Unless Attica has really turned things around, this should be a solid Culver win. Cavaliers 29-6 Bowman at South Central - I can't imagine Bowman beating South Central. The Satellites need to get off to a good start if they have hopes of making a splash in the HNAC. Satellites 35-14 Caston at Carroll - Caston ended last season with a 49-6 loss Carroll. My guess is that it will be a bit closer, but still a Comet loss. Cougars 42-14 Knox at North Judson - This one should live up to the hype! It's a great rivalry matchup to start the season! I'm taking Knox. It appears Radtke is putting Knox's career rushing leader behind center and getting the ball in his hands on every play (see Pioneer / Kiser playbook). I can't see many defenses handling that pressure. Judson is going to have a great year, but they start with an L. Redskins 28-21 LaVille at Triton - This should also be a great game! I'm thrilled that LaVille and Bremen are Triton's non-conference games. It's great to see those rivalries continue. I think Triton might be a little better than some think. (Zero votes in the 1A coaches poll.) With the Lancers moving to the new INSC they could really use this win to kickstart the season. Additional wins might be hard to come by! But I'm taking Triton at home. Trojans 20-14 Northfield at North Miami - I don't know anything about either team. I know the Norsemen always played Triton strong when they were on the schedule. I'm taking Northfield. Norsemen 33-21 Pioneer at Cass - I look for Pioneer and Triton to contend for 2nd place in the HNAC this year. They'll beat Cass to start the season. Panthers 24-14 West Central at Winamac - West Central will probably win plenty of games with the schedule they play. But not this one. Warriors 19-6

Week one for the new-look HNAC. What do you think? Should be some highly competitive games this week. Three HNAC teams in the top eleven of pre-season 1A poll. We'll see how it shakes out. Friday, Aug. 23 Attica at Culver, 7:30 pm Bowman at South Central, 8 pm Caston at Carroll, 7 pm Knox at North Judson, 8 pm LaVille at Triton, 7 pm Northfield at North Miami, 7 pm Pioneer at Cass, 7 pm West Central at Winamac, 7 pm

Should be an interesting year for the new conference! I'm excited to see how it goes. I would think Knox is the favorite. I'm really curious about Glenn and what Coach Brown can do with the Falcons. And I'm wondering if LaVille will become the conference punching bag. I think they can compete most years, but we'll see.

Very disappointing news. Those guys were the best! A tremendous loss for Northern Indiana high school athletics. I loved how they did games for some of the smaller area schools. It was always a thrill when they came down to Bourbon to broadcast from the Trojan Trench.

North Judson is the team to beat from the North this year.

Congratulations to Coach! He had a tremendous impact on my sons as an assistant and head coach at Triton. He's a coach that gets a lot from his players because he puts their well-being first. The kids will love playing for Coach Brown!

I was thinking the same... If LaVille falls to 1A, they would challenge North Judson in the 1A North.

Definitely a great year for the HNAC! There seemed to be a lot of balance in the top half with many close contests deciding the final conference standings. Congrats to Knox, LaVille and Judson. Great seasons for all of them! In the 1A contest, I'm not sure either defense will be able to stop the opposing offenses. This one will likely come down to ball security and costly penalties. Should be a fun game for spectators! LaVille slayed one parochial giant. Can they take care of another one in the same season? I don't think the Hoosier was as tough of a conference this year as it has been in years past. But I would lean toward LCC at home. This may be where Knox's strength of schedule catches up to them. At this point they've played the weakest schedule of the remaining 3A teams. On the road at West Lafayette will be a challenge. Too bad they can't play the 2A and 3A games in the Lafayette area with a double-header on Saturday! They would likely get a great following from Marshall, St. Joe and Stark counties!

Congrats to the Bluejays! They played a good, clean game Friday night. No damaging turnovers or bad penalties. Just a solid game. And they controlled the line of scrimmage! To my eye, they did nothing different than they did in the first meeting. They just played this one without mistakes. Good luck to all the HNAC teams this week!

Week 3 Games: 1. Warsaw @ Penn 2. Fishers @ Hamilton Southeastern 3. Westfield @ Noblesville 4. Cathedral @ Lawrence North 5. Mishawaka @ Concord 6. Harrison @ Decatur Central 7. Whiteland @ Terre Haute South 8. Evansville North @ Castle 9. NorthWood @ Northridge 10. Mississinewa @ Kokomo 11. Brebeuf Jesuit @ Mooresville 12. Evansville Reitz @ Evansville Memorial 13. Hanover Central @ West Lafayette 14. Tri-West @ Monrovia 15. Gibson Southern @ Vincennes Lincoln 16. Batesville @ Indian Creek 17. Bremen @ LaVille 18. Eastern (Greentown) @ Bluffton 19. Southmont @ Linton-Stockton 20. Winchester @ Eastern Hancock 21. North Judson @ Triton 22. Park Tudor @ North Vermilion 23. North Decatur @ Milan 24. Springs Valley @ Providence

Three rematches with sectional titles on the line this week for HNAC teams. Like they say, it's hard to beat a good team twice! Having said that, I'm taking the previous winners in each matchup this week... Glenn at Knox - The Redskins found out last week that regular season success won't translate to 3A playoff success! They are a great team with some excellent weapons, but they'll have to take it to another level to win these tournament games. The HNAC is a good conference, but it didn't prepare the Redskins for what they'll see if they go deep in the 3A tourney! But Radtke will have them focused this week and Knox will get another Sectional 26 title. Redskins 30-14 Bremen at LaVille - I think Coach Kaiser sat his guys down after the Triton game and had them all eat a Snickers bar, 'cause through those first two games, they were not themselves! I was not impressed with the Lancers after two games, but they righted the ship and they're playing some good football at this point! I don't think they'll have any trouble taking care of the Lions this week. Lancers 31-7 North Judson at Triton - Forget about it! That game on September 29 means nothing. Notta. Zilch. The Trojans could do no wrong that night. It was the best game I've seen a Triton team play since 2018. Everything clicked. This one will be different. Judson will be prepared to defend Triton's passing game by applying pressure to Shively and not letting guys beat them deep. Triton will need to be able to move the ball on the ground this time around. The Jays will ground and pound all night long. This game will be won in the trenches. I'm expecting a lower scoring affair. Triton's kicking game makes the difference. Trojans 17-14

This game with NJ is going to be a slobberknocker! Look at what Judson has done... They've lost 4 games and three of those by less than a touchdown to 4A, 3A and 2A schools which are each playing for a sectional title tomorrow night. Yes, Triton humiliated the Jays a few weeks back. But that was by far the best game the Trojans played all year. And the Judson kids will be looking to avenge that embarrassment. I just don't see Triton dominating this game. I'm not saying they won't win, but it won't be easy.

Don't be fooled by the score of the first meeting! It was a fluke. Triton played an almost flawless game with everything falling together like clockwork. It was by far the best game Triton has played all year. Judson moved the ball well against the Trojan D, but turned it over several times. This game will be much different!!

Glad to see Knox pull it out Friday night. They were tested for sure! A WN receiver had one slip through his hands in the last minute. Catching that would have put them in field goal range. That was a nail-biter for sure! I expected more offense from both sides in that one. Not surprised at any of the other outcomes Friday night. Shutout performances by LaVille, Judson and Triton. Should be some fun games this week! I would love to see LaVille move their game to Plymouth! Surely Bremen would be okay with that considering they like to sling it around. But LaVille is probably okay with playing in the mud. If Wilcox is out Friday that's not good for the Jays. Will Triton have anyone in street clothes this week? I would love to see Reichert back. Any chance of that? The HNAC is favored to have 3 regional representatives! We know there'll be one. And I think LaVille will roll the Lions. I haven't decided how I feel about the Knox / Glenn game yet.

Chuck Freeby's poll on X. Makes me wonder if I'm a little overconfident!

The Knox / West Noble game is the only one that should have any drama. Interesting that we're all picking Knox. Is that because we're all HNAC homers? Or is Knox really that much of a favorite?

You can dance until the cows come home in Starke County if you want to. We don't care one bit if it's raining over there!! We just want it dry in Bourbon! 😉 Ha! I don't think the Trojans have played a wet home game yet this year. The field is in great shape for late October!

Shively is a very good athlete! But he's not a guy who can single-handedly win a game against a quality opponent. He's great when the team is great! And he'd be the first to tell you that. If the line doesn't show up, his numbers show it. (See the Knox and LaVille stat lines.) Great athlete! Great kid! Just not Superman. Exactly!