scarab527

28 minutes ago, temptation said:

Closer than last year’s 18 point margin of victory or no?

No

I saw Price the RB for Zionsville didn’t play last week. Anyone know if he’ll be good to go for this week?

Wow…on the first play of the 2nd OT, Valpo fumbles another Philly Special attempt. Wolves recover. Kick a game winning FG on 4th. 31-28 Wolves, final, 2OT.

OT at Ames Field…

Valpo with the INT…Vikings with the ball 35 seconds left 

Valpo hits on the Philly Special. PAT good. Knotted at 21 with 1:48 to play 

Valpo with a methodical drive, and Hayden Vineyard takes it in from 1 yd out. PAT good. 21-14 City over Valpo with 6:29 left in the game 

Omarion Hatch breaks a man’s ankles and takes it in from 20 out. PAT good. 21-7 City, 2:24 left 3Q

Racion Anderson right up the gut on a 10 yard TD run. PAT good. 14-7 City, 7:32 left 3Q

City and Valpo knotted at 7 at half. Vikings to get ball to start the second half. Story of the game so far is 3 City turnovers (2 picks, 1 fumble). The Wolves are lucky to be tied. We’ll see what happens here. 

City fumbles in Valpo territory, and the Vikings drive it down to score. PAT good. 
7-7 3:04 left 2Q

Tyler Bush to Trey Simmons for a 30ish yard TD. PAT good. City 7 Valpo 0, 2:29 1Q

29 minutes ago, Gipper said:

They are playing much better thanks to Bank and Heuerer

They’re on a roll at the moment. That beatdown of Hobart was certainly a statement. The Inferno has been awfully good to the Red Devils this past month. 

RDP gets their revenge 21-14

Zionsville by 14

4 hours ago, DACNUT said:

I am excited to see this game as well. Outside of Justin Marshall from Merrillville, I don't think there is a more dynamic or explosive player with the ball than Hatch. Simmons is just as fast and dangerous on the outside. I imagine Valpo will try to do the same thing they did in the last game, and that is exploit the Wolves man to man defense all over the field. Valpo also wore down the Wolves rush defense in the last quarter. Mason has beat ever team in the conference multiple times, has a winning record against every team, but Valpo has had the Wolves number, turning them back at every turn. With Hatch in the lineup, the Wolves have four of the best athletes in the conference that on any play can take it to the house. Eliminate the penalties and turnovers and the score should be easily reversed from September. 

Hatch’s return has added a whole ‘nother dimension to this City offense. I don’t think the impact of his absence in the first game between these teams can be overstated. Kid is a threat to take the ball to the house every time he touches it. As you said, Valpo took advantage of the Wolves’ man coverage scheme in the first game, especially getting Hayden Vineyard involved in the passing game, where it looked like no one was covering him on two huge receptions for touchdowns. And City’s rush defense was definitely wobbly by the end of the game as well, with Valpo’s depth seeming to be a big advantage in that regard. How City adjusts to these from the previous game will be interesting to see. These two teams are basically oil and water; one wins by grinding opponents down and generally wants to play the game in the box, while the other wants to race past their opponents with elite perimeter athleticism. How these styles play out in this rematch will be fun to watch. 

4 minutes ago, Boilernation said:

Can't help but feel bad for Chesterton. The Trojans have never won a Sectional Title in football and it seemed like the stars aligned for this year to be the year. I know you can never look past the opponent staring you in the face, but I just don't see how Penn can beat Merrillville. I would start working in a little bit of prep for Westfield / Carroll this week if I were Merrillville.

The Trojans seemed to be looking ahead, even during the season. Thought they’d get it done this year too. Anyway, I’ll take the Pirates by 3-4 TDs. 

9 minutes ago, Boilernation said:

Sophomore RB Jaden Hart, Sophomore QB Tyler Bush, Senior WR Giovani Laurent, and Senior RB Raci'on Anderson are impressive to watch for the Wolves. Hart already has some P5 Conference Offers. They got off to a very slow start against Mishawaka with 2 INTS and a kick return for a TD that helps the Cavemen jump out to an 18-6 lead. Then the MC offense just exploded. Is Mason the offensive play caller? Man, if so, he's an impressive play caller.  Guy has 9 Sectional TItles, 5 Regional (maybe 6), 2 Semi-State, and 1 State Title since 2008. At some point (if he hasn't already) I'm assuming he'll at least flirt with an HCC or MIC job.

 

Yes, Mason does call the plays. Did so at Andrean too, at least when I was there. Add in WRs Trey Simmons and Omarion Hatch to that mix. The collection of skill players City has is very impressive. Mason has said it’s probably his best ever. 

Big Duneland rematch for a regional championship. Valpo took the first game 49-28, but as we’ve seen throughout the tournament, the first matchup means next to nothing in the playoffs, and it’s worth noting City was without some key pieces in that game. City has been on a roll lately, winning 6 straight after a tough 3 game skid early in Duneland Conference play. During this win streak, the Wolves have put up at least 39 points in every game. Their performance starting the last drive of the first half last week vs Mishawaka was very impressive. After being down 18-6, they surged to score 30 unanswered points, with the Cavemen having no answer for the Wolves’ skill players. Valpo has been the thorn in City’s side for a long time, and according to Harrell’s website, the Vikings own a 25-3 all time record against the Wolves. City has not defeated Valpo under Coach Mason. Valpo seemed to wear down City up front in the teams’ first matchup this year, so it’ll be interesting to see how the battle in the trenches plays out on Friday. Harrell is taking City to win 31-30. If City plays disciplined, and limits mistakes, I think they’ve got a good chance of winning this game. I’ll take City to finally get the green monkeys off their backs, 35-28. 

Lowell beat the brakes off of Hobart tonight 38-10. The Red Devils look like they’re peaking at the perfect time. They get another chance at revenge vs New Prairie this week. 

Penn 10 - Chesterton 7

Thought this would be year the Trojans finally got over the hump, but they stumbled down the stretch. I saw in the paper their coach was talking about beating Merrillville in the regional after they beat LC, then they lost to CP and got the brakes beat off of them by Merrillville, and just lost in what has to be considered a big let down. Big congratulations to Penn for gutting out a sectional in a year filled with a lot of adversity. Huge win for them. 

Michigan City 30 - Mishawaka 18 

5:57 left 3Q.

Mishawaka took an 18-6 lead midway thru the 2nd but it’s been all City since then 

5 hours ago, GOLDRUSH1985 said:

Motivation is only a factor when teams are close in talent or not far apart as you put it . Lets look at common opponents of Chesterton and Penn. 

(Valpo 35 Penn 7) - (Valpo 10 Chesterton 7) , (LaPorte 21  Penn 14), ( Chesterton 42  LaPorte 6). Looking at these scores ,why in the world would you think Penn and Chesterton aren't that far apart ? To me , it looks like they are very far apart . That is why any such motivation or (who want's it more ) by either team won't matter . Chesterton wins because of more talent , athletes etc , and that usually always trumps motivation . 

Don’t know how much stock I’d put into those common opponents. I mean Portage beat LaPorte by 21 a couple weeks ago, but I’m almost 100% sure Penn would beat Portage by a couple scores. Penn started rough but seemed to play better down the stretch. Chesterton, on the other hand, has been struggling lately and their best player/ engine of their offense is hobbled coming into this matchup. The Sagarin ratings have these teams pretty evenly matched, and Harrell is taking Chesterton 21-17. I don’t think these teams are nearly as far apart as you think they are, but we shall see. 

1 hour ago, GOLDRUSH1985 said:

Don't think motivation will be a factor , as Penn will be motivated to not have the first losing season in 50 years . I think Chesterton wins because they are the better football team . 

Eh, motivation is always a factor, especially when the two teams aren’t super far apart in terms of talent. The old “who wants it more?” cliche is a cliche for a reason. I think Chesterton is the better team too, but I think this game will be a lot closer than I would’ve guessed had I been asked a month ago. I didn’t mean to insinuate Penn won’t be highly motivated coming in as well, I’m sure they will be. My comment was more about how I believe Chesterton will be very motivated and hence focused and therefore not have a let down game. 

Chesterton’s defense is legit. I’d be absolutely shocked if Penn put up 24 points on them. The big question in this game is the health of Chesterton QB Chris Mullen. He got hurt vs Merrillville and they seemed to go with a very run heavy game plan against Portage last week (not sure if this was just because of the weather or not). If he’s not 100% the Chesterton offense might struggle to score points themselves. Still, I think Chesterton is better and will be highly motivated to get their first sectional championship. I’ll go Chesterton 14-0.