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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!

Culver Academy at NJSP - Culver Academy has played a pretty difficult schedule to date, without much success. But they are battle tested. The Jays are prepping for a pretty difficult stretch of games to finish the season. Hopefully they aren't looking past the Eagles this week. I think it'll be a good game, but I'm taking the home team. North Judson 28-14 LaVille at Knox - I don't think Knox can stop the Lancers. And I don't think they can score enough on the Lancers to keep it close. This will end up being another running clock as LaVille will mix things up and score quickly and often. LaVille 49-8 North White at Caston - Caston has scored on every opponent they've played so far even though they've lost soundly to all of them. North White has trouble scoring against a pretty weak schedule. I think the Comets will move the ball against the Vikings and put up their first W of the season. Caston 34-21 Pioneer at Triton - Could this be the year Triton exorcises the demons for both Bremen and Pioneer? They certainly weren't rattled playing at Bremen. So I'm curious to see how they handle the mental game against a solid Pioneer team. Triton's D is legit. I think they'll hold the Panther offense in check, but I expect Pioneer to get a special teams score (or two). Triton is the better team on paper, and I think they'll get it done this week. But it won't be easy or pretty. Triton 28-16 Winamac at Culver - Maybe the game of the week in HNAC play! Triton throttled the Cav offense last week to the tune of 66 total yards. Culver will have a lot more success this week! But Winamac has played through the gauntlet of their schedule already and they're due for a strong finish to the season. I think this one comes down the last possession. I'm taking the Cavs at home. Culver 22-21

When the Northern State Conference split up, Bremen, Glenn and Jimtown should have grabbed up Valley, Rochester and Fairfield to form a new conference. It would have been a very solid northern Indiana football conference! They could have also pulled in Mishawaka Marian and Culver Academies to make it an 8 school conference if you don't mind the private schools in there. It's not too late!! Someone make it happen! 😃

Definitely some better games on the docket this week. I see LaVille and Judson winning comfortably, but the other games should be good ones.

Oh you're certainly welcome to your prediction! I just thought maybe you had seen something on film or heard something that might give Pioneer an edge that I had not considered. I think anyone who writes off Pioneer is making a mistake. There's too much history and pride in that program to think they'll take their lumps quietly! I haven't made my prediction yet. I don't see this being a blowout by any stretch, though I don't see Pioneer winning by three scores.

Pioneer by 20? What have you seen that makes you think Pioneer is that much better than Triton?

Another week in the record books. Some observations... * LaVille is really good. Up 63 at the half? Wow. How do you even do that? Nine scores in 24 minutes. I know Caston isn't good, but that's pretty incredible. * Pioneer losing by 24. Surprising for sure! I saw on Harrells discussion board that the Panthers only dressed 29 for the game last night. Injuries? Or just very low numbers? It's been 25 years since Pioneer has had a losing season. Seems possible this year, though I'm not ready to throw in the towel on them just yet. I expect a close game with Triton next week. * Knox doubling up on Glenn surprises me a little. But if you believe the Sagarin ratings you have to see that the upper half of the HNAC this year is better than the South division of the NIC. LaVille, Knox, Judson and Triton could all compete with Jimtown for that title. * Three HNAC teams in the top 100 according to Sagarin. Again, take it with a grain of salt, but still. That's pretty impressive for a small school conference in the middle of corn country. Looking forward to next Friday! Some good games on tap with LaVille/Knox, Pioneer/Triton and Culver/Winamac.

Hammond Central 46, Pioneer 22. Final. Shocked by this one!

Triton 42 Culver 0 Final Hammond Central 32 Pioneer 14 End of 3rd

Triton 42 Culver 0 Final

Triton 21 Culver 0 half

I expected LaVille to win all of their games so far. But I did not expect their average margin of victory over Bremen, Triton and Pioneer to be 41 points. So, they exceeded my expectations.

Caston at LaVille - So far I think this LaVille team has exceeded expectations! They still have some pretty good teams to play, but with the exception of about 15 minutes of the Triton game, they've dominated every minute! After disposing of Caston this week, the next three games should tell us a lot about the Lancers. But then I thought they might have their hands full in their first three games too! And they cruised through those. Anyway, this week will be a nice scrimmage. LaVille 56-0 Culver at Triton - Triton will celebrate homecoming this week by hosting the Cavs. Culver has given up a lot of points to the good teams they've played so far. That will probably be the case this week as well. Schuh is on a mission for 2,000 yards. He needs 200 a game and he'll get it again this week with some to spare (depending on how many carries Younis gives him). This shouldn't be much of a contest. Triton 42-8 Knox at Glenn - I'm not sure what to expect here. So far HNAC teams have had their way with their former NSC foes. If Knox wins this one, it will say a lot about the quality of the NIC small school division this year. And as an HNAC homer, I'd love to see the domination continue! But this is at Glenn, so I don't see a blowout. I will take the Redskins in a close one. Knox 28-24 North Judson at Winamac - If the Jays can shut out Knox, I don't know how the Warriors will score on them. This should be a rather lopsided event. So far, Judson has done a nice job of getting multiple guys some carries. Is this the week Mr. Allen sets himself apart with a big game? IF he gets the carries, he could go for a couple hundred in this one. NJSP will cruise. North Judson 52-0 Pioneer at Hammond Central - It would be easy to pick Pioneer big in this one since HC hasn't played much of a schedule, even though they are 3-1. Not so fast my friend! Sagarin's predictor rating makes Pioneer only about a 6 point favorite. So this one could be more competitive than most might be tempted to think. However... I still believe Pioneer is better than their record would indicate. Both losses are to very solid teams! Despite what Sagarin and Harrell say, I'm taking the Panthers by a good margin. Pioneer 40-14