NLCTigerFan07

Only because the NLC thread is LIGHT on active posters this year, figured I'd jump over here and at least make some picks: Bremen at Washington: Should be a good game. I'll take Washington in a close one. Culver Academy at Marian: I think this should be a good one as well, but can't imagine the Knights losing back to back games at home. Elkhart at Mishawaka: Whether or not Elkhart is at full strength, I think a lot of people are underestimating the Cavemen. Fisher at QB is a STUD, and in that offense... lookout Jimtown at Concord: both teams struggled offensively last week, while the defenses showed out. Give me the home team in a close one in this backyard rivalry. LaPorte at Penn: Penn has to win this game - and I think they do. Adams at Fairfield: No reason Adams should lose this game. If Goshen can beat Fairfield this year, the Eagles should win this battle of the birds. Clay at Goshen: Feel bad for Clay. We used to scrimmage them every year for a long time. Program has certainly fell off. Riley at Glenn: Glenn by a couple touchdowns St. Joseph at Northridge: Both teams put up shut-outs last week. At least one team will give up their first points of the season. I think the Raiders are the better team. Twin Lakes at New Prairie: Two teams I know next to nothing about. I'll take New Prairie at home and under the belief that their victory over LaPorte was more impressive than Twin Lake's victory over Northwestern in week 1.

Carroll at Snider - I'll take Snider in this one, especially with the news of Becker being out. Concordia at Homestead - Spartans roll North Side at Bishop Dwenger - I know North Side had a good game last week, but give me the Saints Northrop at South Side - Bruins big Wayne at Bishop Luers - read decent hype in the preseason about Wayne being a sleeper. I'm not a believer personally. I could be off here, but I swear I read somewhere that Carroll was having some COVID related issues. Did not seem to be any sort of "major" outbreak, etc., but could have unfortunately been the case here. Again, if I am wrong here I apologize and do not mean/desire to spread false information. I just can't find the tweet I swore I read to back it up.

Heard rumors last week at the game, but had it confirmed in @DT Hoosier High School Football post/interview with Warsaw Head Coach Bart Curtis yesterday. I was curious what the Tiger's out of conference schedule would look like the next two years as the Dublin Coffman game was only for 1 season. The next two years (2022 and 2023) Warsaw will face Michigan City in week 1 and then Chesterton in week 2. The series with Chesterton is just a 2-year series as the Tigers will follow that up with a 2-year series against Warren Central.

Went 5-3 last week on my Week 1 picks... chalk it up to first week lack of knowledge. Here are my quick Week 2 picks before we head into conference play the rest of the season. Elkhart (1-0) at Mishawaka (1-0): I like Mishawaka at home following their destruction of rival Marian last week. Elkhart will have to score more on offense to hang with the Cavemen, and I do not see that happening. Mishawaka by 13 Jimtown (0-1) at Concord (0-1): Both teams really struggled offensively last week, while their defenses showed out. In the 60 game history of this Cable Line Cup rivalry, the record is tied up 30-30. I will go with the home team. Concord by 7 Kokomo (1-0) at Plymouth (0-1): I was surprised to see the Rockies at least put up some points on East Noble last week while getting romped by the Knights, but Kokomo had a pretty impressive win over a strong Western program last week. I expect the WildKats to have a victorious bus ride back home down US 31. Kokomo by 14 NorthWood (1-0) at Logansport (1-0): Kudos to the Panthers and Berries for making this work on such short notice! I was looking forward to seeing how NorthWood battled against East Noble. Logansport had an impressive win over Peru in week 1 following their surprise sectional championship last year, but I expect the Panthers to make the most of this long road trip. NorthWood by 8 South Bend Clay (0-1) at Goshen (1-0): Talk about a soft non-conference schedule for Goshen. The Redskinshawks beat little brother Fairfield last week (as they should) and take on a Colonial squad that lost to Osceola Grace (who?) by 5 touchdowns last week. The Redhawks will be feeling good at 2-0 before facing a murderous row in their NLC schedule of Mishawaka-NorthWood-Concord-Warsaw-Northridge the next 5 weeks. Goshen by 31 South Bend St. Joseph (1-0) at Northridge (1-0): Both teams coming off shutouts in week 1, but the Raiders look to be the better overall team. Northridge shut out the Indians last year 42-0... can they do it again and have back-to-back shutouts to start the season? We will see. Northridge by 21 Warsaw (1-0) at Michigan City (1-0): Could be the best game on the slate this week for the conference. The Tigers were mighty impressive in their victory last week and limited Dublin Coffman's big plays after the first snap. Will that continue? Big plays are what KILLED Warsaw in last year's game against Michigan City. The Wolves dismantled a down South Bend Riley program. Playing up at Ames Field will also make a difference. Michigan City by 3 Wawasee (0-1) at West Noble (0-1): A complete dud by the Warriors last week against a Tippy Valley squad that I do not believe is 5 touchdowns better than them. Wawasee will have to fix the mistakes this week if they want to avoid being embarrassed by backyard 3A neighbor West Noble. I am not sure they will. West Noble by 6

Having Michigan City as a 4.5 underdog at home against the Tigers??? While I was impressed with Warsaw's win last week, if anything this would be a pick 'em game to me.

Teams ranked/receiving votes in polls after Week 1: 6A: Warsaw (RV - 13th AP / RV - 12th Coaches) 5A: Mishawaka (Ranked - 7th AP / Ranked - 9th Coaches) 4A: Northridge (Ranked - 9th AP / RV - 17th Coaches) NorthWood (RV - 18th AP only)

I may have mentioned that I was not sure what to expect from Warsaw this year due to the impact graduations had on the team. A lot of production on offense and multi-year starters/players was lost on both sides of the ball. But I will admit I really did not believe Warsaw would have won the game Friday night. Because of Bart Ball, Warsaw will always be in most games. Rarely have/will they get blown out. But I definitely underestimated their performance. Only 1 week, and hopefully the kids are not letting it get to their heads. But I was extremely impressed by the Tigers Friday night and believe the term "upset" is appropriate.

@DT is correct with his labeling, and I concur. Historically, Dublin Coffman is one of the top Division 1 programs from Columbus, as well as the entire state of Ohio. They have qualified for the playoffs 20 times in their history, including the last 12 seasons. Last year they finished the regular season ranked #8 in the Division 1 poll, and earned the #1 seed in the Division 1 - Region 2 bracket. They won their first two games of the playoffs before losing in the "Sweet 16" round by a score of 18-15. Coffman would fit right in with the HCC or MIC here in Indiana. I liken them to a school/community like Westfield, with the history of a program like Carmel (without the state championships). They consistently have D1 kids year in and year out, something Warsaw has only seen at the kicker position the last 15 years.

Finally getting a chance to post some reactions: Obviously - first in my mind is the Warsaw game. What an impressive win for the Tigers. After giving up a 65 yd TD run on the very first play of scrimmage, I thought "oh boy, here we go again" after having deja vu from last year that saw the Warsaw defense give up big play after big play. But after that, they settled down well on that side of the ball and had a number of times where they stopped Coffman once they were inside the 35 yard line. Obviously the 500+ yards of rushing was impressive for the Tigers, but I was extremely happy to see the defense play well. Speaking of defense... the Raiders left off right where they have always been under Coach Wogoman with a stout unit on that side of the ball. I do not know much about Adams, but starting off the season with a shutout on the road is a good statement. Then there were some barn burners with NorthWood winning 7-6 and Concord losing 12-7. I am a little surprised with both of those scores. I especially thought the Elkhart/Concord game would be a little more high scoring. It will be interesting to see how long it potentially takes those two teams to get going offensively. I expected Mishawaka to win the game against Marian and honestly was not very surprised by the final score. I think the Cavemen are the team to beat in the conference this year behind Fisher at QB. Obviously Marian lost a lot from a talented squad last season. Excited to see how they perform this week against Elkhart. Good on Goshen beating little brother Fairfield down the road. The Falcons lost a ton of production from last year's team that went 9-1, so this win is not as impressive as I think some others might think. The Redhawks should never lose to Fairfield IMO. Plymouth and Wawasee... not much to say here. Impressed that the Rockies at least were able to put up some points against East Noble. I think Tippy Valley will have a decent squad this year, but the Warriors losing 42-7 at home against the Vikings??? This week's game against West Noble might be their only chance to win a game this season.

I would say without KNOWING much about what Warsaw was going to do this year after losing a lot of talented seniors from last season AND just the historical perspective about how good Dublin Coffman (OH) program is... I really do not know if it was an "upset", but I am a Tiger supporter that was STUNNED to see Warsaw win the game, especially after giving up a 65 yard TD run on the very first play of scrimmage by Coffman.

Warsaw at Michigan City should be a good game up here in northern Indiana.

So I have done this the last two years and wanted to throw it out at the beginning of the year to see if anyone else wanted to make a similar type pledge. Dollar amounts do not have to be the same, and you can base it off whatever goals/expectations you would like. I am in for $30 to the GID this year (sending soon), however, I will up my donation to the following amounts based on how my beloved Warsaw Tigers finish up this season. In addition to my initial $30: $30 if Warsaw wins at least a share of the Northern Lakes Conference title $30 if Warsaw wins a Sectional Championship $60 if Warsaw wins a Regional Championship I am making this pledge public to all to see and to hold me to it! If Warsaw wins all three (a conference, sectional, and regional championship) my total donation to the GID this year will be $150. If anyone else wants to make similar pledges, feel free to do so here in this thread! Some ideas could be if your team beats their rival, if your team wins a certain amount of games, etc etc.

Ditto toward Plymouth. I still despise them to this day. Probably had a lot to due with the fact that I do not think we ever beat them from 7th grade through high school when I played them, and ever since before then, whenever going to a game at Plymouth - 1) we ALWAYS had to fight the Blueberry Festival traffic/parking and 2) that darn PA announcer yelling out "First Down... RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRROCKIES!" As far as admire, being from a bigger school, I think I always admired the smaller school programs that have historically been successful. Same thing comes to mind with Jimtown and NorthWood. I will also add East Noble to that list.

Just to add some more stuff to the thread - teams ranked/receiving votes in polls: 6A: Warsaw (RV - 14th AP / RV - 16th Coaches) 5A: Mishawaka (RV - 11th AP / Ranked - 10th Coaches) Concord (RV - 15th AP / RV - 14th Coaches) 4A: Northridge (RV - 13th AP only) NorthWood (RV - 22nd AP only) Without a doubt the top 5 teams in the conference this year. If all could win Week 1 that would be a huge boost not only for each of these programs, but the NLC as a whole!

Yeah I truly believe it's Mishawaka .... THEN any one of Warsaw, Northridge and Concord as that group right behind them that could also win the conference depending how things go. ANY OTHER NLCers OUT HERE who can give some insight into how their programs are looking? Have not heard a thing about many of the other schools heading into this week.

As was discussed on a previous thread: The Lapel vs. Elwood game was cancelled due to COVID issues with Elwood. It looks like they have rescheduled with Wabash, who's game with Maconaquah (a conference opponent) was cancelled as due to COVID issues with Maconaquah. The Oldenburg Academy vs. Rock Creek Academy game was cancelled due to COVID issues with Rock Creek Academy. Unfortunately for the Twisters, it does not appear Oldenburg has found another opponent to play this week. Anderson Prep Academy... honestly who knows. I am doubtful they will even have a program in the near future. They have gone 3-31 over their last 4 seasons and did not play a single game last year. In 2019, they only played 4 games and got outscored 0-44, 6-54, 0-56, and 8-42.

I am from Warsaw originally and graduated from there and still have close ties to the school. I now work and live in Dublin, Ohio - so I am very excited to head back home for this one. Will be interesting to say the least! Food wise - while it is certainly hard to be Noa Noa, some of my other local favorites are Cerulean (especially out on the beer garden), Rua (the Farmer's Cheese is an unbelievable appetizer), and OAK & ALLEY (best burgers around with a lot of good beer/drink options).

Well who knows how many NLCers we'll get this year on the forum - but here we are ready for Week 1 Concord at Elkhart: I think this could/should be a close game. Elkhart is probably the pick to win the NIC big division this year, but have some areas to fill from last year's Sectional Championship team. I think Concord has some good playmakers and I think they are in the conversation with Warsaw and Mishawaka as to who will win the conference this year. I will go with Elkhart by 6 Dublin Coffman (OH) at Warsaw: I love that the Tigers are stepping it up in the scheduling department... but man oh man this is a STEP UP. Dublin Coffman plays in what I would equivalate to the MIC conference in the largest division of Ohio football. They consistently have NCAA D1 signees, and in northern Indiana, the name most recognizable for you all would be Brady Quinn. I will say - it is interesting that this game was agreed to as a 1-year deal and I heard it was made with Coffman's previous coach. That coach (Mark Crabtree) ended up retiring in January of this year, after the agreement was made. So at the very least - the Tigers have a chance in the sense that it is a new coaching staff for the Shamrocks. However, I still think Coffman will just be the more talented team. Dublin Coffman by 14 East Noble at Plymouth: The Knights have had an impressive 3-year run, and each of those past 3 seasons has started with a win over the Rockies. Plymouth got bit by the Covid bug last year with their last 3 games of the regular season being cancelled enroute to possibly the worst regular season in Coach Barron's tenure. I believe the Rockies will be a little better this year, but not in the fist week. East Noble by 17 Goshen at Fairfield: A good old-fashioned backyard contest to start the season. Will be interesting to see how the Redhawks perform. Goshen has only won 3 games the past 3 seasons, and 2 of those were against the Falcons. I firmly believe Fairfield would have beaten Goshen last year had they played, but that week 1 game was cancelled due to Covid. This year - I am not sure. Fairfield lost a number of key playmakers from last year's undefeated regular season team. This should be a good game, and one that Goshen NEEDS to win. I will go with Goshen by 7 Jimtown at NorthWood: Another local favorite that was cancelled last year. Jimtown had a solid first season under Coach Stoner, while NorthWood had a very up and down .500 season. I think this will be a good measuring stick game for both of these programs. The Panthers are riding a 7 game winning streak in the series... I think the Jimmies break that on Friday. Jimtown by 7 Mishawaka at Marian: Yet another local rivalry game to start the season. The Cavemen are my preseason pick to win the NLC this year behind their stud QB. He will be a PROBLEM for NLC defenses this season. Last year, Marian won for the first time over Mishawaka since the 2011 season in a barnburner of a game on their way to a second consecutive semistate appearance in class 3A. The only two teams to beat the Knights the last two years are Mishawaka and Chatard. I think the Cavemen win this one. Mishawaka by 2 Northridge at Adams: This has been a good week 1 matchup the last 10 years. The Eagles started last year 3-0 against inferior opponents before finishing 1-6. The Raiders welcome a new head coach in 8 seasons after the retirement of Coach Wogomon and without a doubt their best era of football in school history. Can Coach Eppley continue to maintain and progress the program moving forward? A win in week 1 would be a good start. I think the Raiders are right there as a bit of a "darkhorse" behind Mishawaka, Warsaw and Concord this season in the NLC race. They could certainly end up on top of the conference. Northridge by 14 Tippecanoe Valley at Wawasee: A Kosciusko County matchup between teams that have no met a single time in the last 35 years! I think the two teams would benefit from keeping this one on the schedule moving forward. The Vikings really got it going in the middle of their season last year, while the Warriors started out hot before getting into NLC play. I would love to see Wawasee take another step forward in their 3rd season under Coach Reutebuch after winning 2 games his first seasons and 3 last year. Getting Tippecanoe Valley at home, I'll give them the nod here. Wawasee by 3

Shocking that schools like Fairfield and Angola can field freshman teams this year, yet Plymouth and Goshen cannot. Very unfortunate to see

Fair enough - but yes - that is a different discussion altogether. So your view is that instead of moving class 6A to 24 teams and seeding the tournament - you would rather keep the 32 team set up currently, but then only allow the top 16 to qualify for the tournament? I guess if that's the case - I would just rather see 5A and 6A be combined again and have the top 32 teams of that 64 team class qualify for the tournament.

As opposed to a qualifier that gives the ~top 8 teams only a bye? Like you realize there would be a pool of 16 other teams that could theoretically win a state championship playing 5 games. Why remove (punish) 16 teams completely from participating as opposed to rewarding 8 teams and letting everyone still play in the tournament?

I think the same thing @Footballking16 - but that is why I can ONLY get behind the idea if the tournament was seeded. If it is not seeded, I agree that a team only having to win 4 games to be crowned a state champion is tough for me to get behind. However, I would have no issues seeing the top 2 schools in each 4, 6-team regionals be awarded a bye and the opportunity to host the sectional championship game. I think that rewards the teams who have successful regular seasons, which would also take care of @Bash Riprock point of having "to win all season" to get to that point. Want the opportunity to have a bye and host the sectional championship? Win your regular season games. Interesting that @Footballking16 you would rather see 6A go to a 16 team tournament as opposed to this 24 team option. Especially since 16 team tournament would equal only having to win 4 games to be crowned as a state champion... which you said you could not get on board with. 🤔 Again - to reiterate my stance - only way I am on board with any sort of restructuring/reduction of class 6A is if the tournament is seeded. If not - there is no point.

I know I am kind of talking to myself here, but I could get on board with a 24 team class 6A as long as the tournament was seeded. Otherwise, I just cannot get behind the proposal knowing a team could go 0-9 or 1-8 and host a sectional championship. I provided a bracket earlier showing how last year's 6A tournament with 24 teams could have been arranged by taking two pods of 12 teams (North/South). Here are all three of the potential brackets depending on how you would want to split them up. Seeding determined by Sagarin ratings at the end of last years tournament because I cannot find what the ratings were after the regular season. In my opinion, 3 team sectionals are not great at all when it comes to matchups. I either like the potential for 4, 6-team Regionals or my previously shown 2, 12-team North/South split.

I had heard this rumored earlier in the summer but never saw anything officially. Earlier this week the Warsaw Times-Union confirmed it. Phil Jensen has retired from Whitko after 2 seasons and Chip Coldiron has been hired to replace him. https://timesuniononline.com/Content/Local-News/Sports/Article/Jensen-Retires-For-Real-/2/226/134590

Here is one issue I have with the proposal of potentially moving 6A to a class of 24 teams... No matter WHO the teams are, a 24 team bracket means you would have 8, 3-team sectionals with 1 team in each sectional having a bye directly into the sectional championship. The ONLY way I would even get remotely on board with something like this is if the sectionals were seeded, allowing the top team to have that bye and be guaranteed the home game for sectional championship. As well, the second highest team would host the first round game. At least give some reward to the teams who have a better seasons. You could even do 4, 6-team regionals and seed them appropriately. I know this isn't the best model per se - but who says no to this tournament example? (using Sagarin ratings from the end of the tournament - I couldn't find the ratings from the end of the regular season. Obviously, you could use some other sort of ranking system)