NLCTigerFan07

On 11/5/2019 at 10:24 AM, Da Region said:

Penn's defense is very good. Warsaw may have to learn how to throw the ball. This game has a chance to be very low scoring, may be decided by whomever makes the fewest mistakes.

Warsaw ran 56 offensvie plays tonight... all rushing... for 417 yards.

14 hours ago, GOLDRUSH1985 said:

I would say yes , as Plymouth has already beaten 6A Warsaw this year . Pretty much the same unique offense new Prairie runs . 

12 hours ago, NPFan said:

Just for the record, other than the fact that Warsaw and New Prairie both run the ball a ton, there aren’t a whole lot of similarities between the two systems.

Exactly what I was going to respond with. I liked @GOLDRUSH1985 point about the fact that Plymouth did defeat Warsaw this season, and they did it by jumping out ahead early on the Tigers before hanging on at the end. Even though it's not exactly the same as what New Prairie does, anytime a team is as RUN heavy as both Warsaw and New Prairie are, if they get behind early, they are not only fighting the other team, but fighting the clock.

If the Warsaw/Plymouth game was another 4-6 minutes longer (like an extra half of a quarter), I firmly believe the Tigers would have comeback.

Not taking anything away from the Rockies here. They played well that entire game and made the big plays when they needed to and 100% won that game. But the key (IMO) was that they got off to a good start and had a 17-6 halftime lead and never let Warsaw get in an offensive rhythm. If they are somehow able to replicate a similar performance, no reason they can't compete and have a close game with New Prairie.

39 minutes ago, psaboy said:

I think it still needs some form of adjustment. How can Carroll be below Snider after losing by 1 point and then beating them by 11?? I would add that Penn is rated too high, other than Valpo, they didn't play anyone that really counts, maybe New Prairie??

I mean... they also played (and beat) both Elkhart Central (9-2) and Mishawaka (7-3) who square off in 5A Sectional 10 championship Friday night.

12 hours ago, gbjemler said:

Plus....Bart knows how to beat Penn.  There is no "Oh its Penn...were doomed Penn Stigma" for Coach Curtis as many teams and coaches have.  The question becomes....can he instill this thought process into his kids for 48 minutes??  

I think he can and already has honestly. Last year the Tigers held the lead over Penn at halftime last year 7-3 and battled the entire game before losing 16-7. I just hope we don't see a let down like earlier in the season heading into the Plymouth game. IMO - heads were swelled and egos boosted after the win at Michigan City, only for the Tigers to come out flat in the 1st half against the Rockies and have to playing from behind the entire game. That's difficult to do with Bart Ball, and Warsaw just ran out of time playing catch up.

1 minute ago, Bobref said:

Sagarin’s Predictor has Penn at 80.85 and Warsaw at 72.93. Home field is worth 1.16 pts. Net differential is 6.76 pts.

I show different Sagarin ratings than you do lol. I see Penn as 81.90 and Warsaw at 74.50. And in the text, it says to add an additonal 2 points to home teams. Either way, yes, Penn is slightly under a touchdown favorite.

My earlier statement still stands! I will be donating $50 to the cause, but will up it to $100 if Warsaw can claim their first ever sectional championship this Friday night against Penn!

In the class 1A tournament, Northfield's upset over Southwood was a huge shocker to me. Northfield started their season 0-4 against good competition, including a 20-6 loss to Southwood in week 4. However, since then they had rattled off 6 straight victories in impressive fashion and beat the 10-0 Knights by a score of 14-6 on Friday night. Big time upset there. I was looking forward to seeing the outcome of the sectional championship between Adams Central vs. Southwood.

3 minutes ago, Staxawax said:

Kingsmen  are not so mighty this year.

And thus why I said this could be their best opportunity to win when compared to their previous six appearences in a sectional final. Fingers crossed... but that's a huge monkey to get off their backs, and the script PENN on the side of the helmet might as well be a gorilla.

On 11/2/2019 at 8:23 PM, Bobref said:

Sagarin has Penn a 7 pt. favorite.

23 hours ago, psaboy said:

If I was a betting man, I would take the Tigers +7

I was slightly surprised to see this as well. I think it's like a 5 pt. favorite when giving the home team, Warsaw, an additional 2 points. Should be a great game IMO.

12 hours ago, Arrow95 said:

The north is just as wide open. Will Carmel's SOS push them to another state finals or will the  Merrilville / Homestead winner beat them?

With so much parity I am hoping for two non-traditional tough football programs make it to state. North-Homestead/Merrilville, Warsaw and South-anyone but MIC.

For what it's worth, Merriville and Homestead will not match up with each other before facing Carmel.

Sectional 1 vs. Sectional 2
Sectional 3 vs. Sectional 4

Obviously this is hypothetical at this point, but it looks like if Carmel wins this week, they will have to travel to Fort Wayne vs. either Homestead or Carroll for their regional match-up, but I believe they would then host the semi-state game vs. the winner of Sectional 1 and Sectional 2 since they would be the regional non-host and/or higher sectional #

Obviously a homer here, but the Penn @ Warsaw game is intriguing in the sense that Warsaw is seeking its first ever sectional championship. The Tigers are 0-6 all-time in sectional championship games, and I would argue this is their best opportunity to win when compared to their previous six matchups. However, in order to do so, they will have to knock off the mighty Kingsmen. Penn is 9-0 against Warsaw all-time, but this is exactly the reason why the Tigers hired Bart Curtis two years ago. Not only to compete for an win NLC championships, but compete in the state tournament year in and year out.

Should be an exciting atmosphere with Chuck Freeby and WHME Channel 46 on hand for the game of the week broadcast!

5 hours ago, GOLDRUSH1985 said:

And the reason I like the all in Playoff format . Northwood had injuries plague them in the regular season , only to get the players back for the playoffs . 

Two other points:
- NorthWood lost to Jimtown by 4, to Concord by 3, and to Warsaw by 1 that season. One possession games that they could have easily ended up with a 6-3 regular season record.
- NLC was pretty solid that season. Concord finished 9-4 and was a 4A sectional champion that beat an 8-2 Wawasee team in the sectional semifinals and then an undefeated 11-0 Plymouth team in the sectional championship.

@Coach Nowlin - Count me in for $50. I will up it to $100 if Warsaw wins their first ever sectional title this season.

On 10/19/2019 at 7:28 PM, US31 said:

Sadly, they don't play for the Chief anymore because #feelings...

Apparently they have a new trophy (or at least a new name) - the WarHawk Trophy

http://www.inkfreenews.com/2019/10/19/football-results-oct-18/

Just a random observation:

If Plymouth beats NorthWood on Friday night (come on Panthers!! 😛), the NLC standings will finish like this:

7-0 Plymouth
6-1 Warsaw/Concord
5-2 Warsaw/Concord
4-3 NorthWood
3-4 Northridge/Memorial
2-5 Northridge/Memorial
1-6 Goshen/Wawasee
0-7 Goshen/Wawasee

Looking back through http://www.almanacsports.com/football/conference.php?conf_id=northernlakes&season , it looks like the last time this happened was in 2008, before that was 2001.

Another battle 

11 hours ago, Tommy said:

1-7 Portage hosts 1-7 La Porte on Friday night.

Another battle of 1-7 teams will be Wawasee at Goshen. Both teams won their first game of the regular season before going on their 7 game slides. Should be a good game honestly.

One name I am surprised to see that hasn't shown up is Rick Mirer from Goshen. He played for the Redskins before my time, but my dad coached against him and said there was little they could scheme up defensively that would slow him down. His senior season (1988) he threw for 3,900+ yards and 30 TDs. Definitely a name I always heard stories about while growing up in the NLC.

18 hours ago, FWfootball10 said:

Miquale Lewis was awesome but a little bit before my time.

I remember playing against him my junior season when he and Artis Chambers were seniors on Snider's squad. Both of them were just unbelievably talented.

18 hours ago, Olympian06 said:

Stevie Brown - Columbus East

I'll never forget going to a 7 on 7 tournament and seeing him play. REALLLYYYY glad we didn't match up against Columbus East because I would have thrown at least 6 INTs to him. Guarantee it.

Some others I'll add to the list - as a homer, current Merrillville HC Brad Seiss was/is arguably the best Warsaw Tiger to have ever played. He was a fantastic athlete and is mostly remembered for his career as a tailback, but he actually started Varisty as a freshman in the defensive backfield for the Tigers.

Another that I always like to add to this list is Chris Kramer from Huntington North. I feel like it always gets forgotten at how much of an athlete he was on the gridiron after he went on to play and start on the Purdue basketball team. We played against Huntington North my sophomore year in sectionals and he did everything for the Vikings. QB/Safety/Punter/Kick Returner. He literally never left the field. He was an absolute stud.

21 minutes ago, Slick John Picanos said:

Concord @ Plymouth (-4)

Goshen @ Northridge (-20.5)

NorthWood (-22.5) @ Memorial

Wawasee @ Warsaw (-41.5)

Concord +4 - they might even win the game outright - 8 schmeckles

Northridge -20.5 - this one feels a little risky, but counting on at least 4 Northridge TDs and only 1 Goshen TD - 3 schmeckles

Memorial +22.5 - home dog by more than 3 TDs?! I'll take Memorial - 10 schmeckles

Wawasee +41.5 - basing this on the fact that Warsaw has only won 1 game by more than 42 points. The ground and pound offense milks the clock, and once the Tigers go up by 35, that running clock will come into play. - 5 schmeckles

(I hope everyone enjoyed my Rick & Morty reference lol)

8 hours ago, Fairfield02 said:

This week's non expert predictions:

Concord 21 Plymouth 22 Double OT...my gut actually tells me that the Minutemen are going to win, but my head says,"Don't pick against Plymouth again!"

Funny enough, it's my "heart" that is pulling for Concord (so that Warsaw still has a shot at the title), but my GUT is telling me not a chance Plymouth loses this game at home. Should be a great battle! Can't wait to watch it on Channel 46

11 hours ago, LC_Bears_04 said:

I don’t understand how Elkhart Central is ranked ahead of Mishawaka even though Mishawaka won at Elkhart Central 22-17 last Saturday.

It's a poll by GIDers... no one is winning a championship based off these polls. It was also:

1) a close game
2) it was Central's first loss of the season, while Mishawaka already has 2 losses

Northridge by 21
NorthWood by 16
Warsaw by 28
Plymouth by 2

1 hour ago, Wedgebuster said:

Will Plymouth have anything for NP if those two meet up in the Sectional?   What do you NLC fans that have seen the Rockies this year think? 

I apologize if I am misspeaking, but I'm assuming New Prairie is still more of a ground and pound type offense under Coach Radtke correct? If so, much like Warsaw, that style of offense is always easier when playing from ahead. Plymouth was able to take advantage of some Tiger mistakes early in the game and Warsaw was playing catch-up the entire game. Baron can throw the ball all over the field and the Rockie defense is solid enough. Would I bet on Plymouth winning that potential match-up? No. Could they pull it off? Yes.

1 hour ago, DT said:

Contraction is a decision that is based on the future, not the past.

The negative trends that are impacting the game will become MORE negative as time goes by.  Failing programs will become more difficult to resuscitate due to dwindling resources   Alexandria was able to rebuild while football was still on a growth trajectory.  The game has peaked and is now in downsizing mode.  Shelby will have a very difficult time rebuilding in the current climate.  It then becomes a local administrative decision relative to allocation of resources.  What activities serve the greater good?  Every community is different.  

 

Can you confirm this? I apologize for putting words in your mouth, but it's hard for me to believe if this conversation/topic wasn't occurring exactly 10 years ago during the 2009 season when Alexandria was sitting around a 20+ game losing streak that you wouldn't have been talking about the tigers being on the brink of contraction. I'm not saying that wouldn't have been warranted either, but my point is things did not look so great just 10 years ago for Alexandria and they've turned it around. I would argue they were in a MUCH worse place then than Shelbyville is now (the Golden Bears had a record of 23-8 from '15-'17). This seems a lot more like a small blip than a code red contraction meltdown.

2 minutes ago, Gipper said:

To put it simply, I have a love of the game. But like so many elements in today’s society, this forum (or at least this topic) has become too political.   It’s not up to us to decide who gets to play and with whom.

Of course it's not up to us... but I for one find it a good discussion point for a message board, even if I don't always agree with @DT and his views/points.

22 minutes ago, Gipper said:

No, it’s not.  Using W-L solely for contraction is insignificant.  That's all I meant... 

100% agree with Gipper here. Maybe they are an "outlier", but one of my favorite push backs on the whole "contraction" thing is Alexandria. Take a look at their history. From the 2001 season through 2009 (current Head Coach Pete Gast's first season), the Tigers won 13 games over 9 years, including a losing streak of 31 straight games. However, in the 10+ seasons since, they have gone 46-54 overall (including seasons of 9-2, 8-4 and 7-4) and been mostly competitive in the CIC.

That's a school that I guarantee would have made @DT list of contraction opponents following the 2009 season. However, they've to the right guy at the helm that helped provide stability, increase numbers across the board, and get admin support.

I'm not in full disagreement that some schools should potentially consider the idea of contraction, however, if Alexandria can overcome a 13-79 W/L stretch to the competitive team they are now, ANY school can come back from the "brink of contraction" IMO