NLCTigerFan07

Thanks for the insights @npcougar15 

I fee like I'm writing the same thing as Week 1. Warsaw was once again very fortunate to get the victory on Friday night. Still sloppy on the offensive side of the ball, but not AS bad as the first game. The ball was still on the ground way too much. And again, the defense played lights out. The front 7 are a solid group. The secondary made improvements.

"Surprises of the night"

The end score worked itself out, but I was shocked to see Goshen hang with New Prairie. The Redhawks had the lead heading into the 2nd Quarter before the Cougars went up 22-10 at halftime. The second half only went 7-0 in favor of New Prairie. After getting blown out by Fairfield in Week 1, I expected New Prairie to have a running clock in this game. Kudos to Goshen for showing some fight.

"As predicted"

Literally no other surprises to me from Friday night. NorthWood is far and away the best team in the conference. No one has defensive secondary that will be able to contain them. I'm sorry if I'm off base here Panther fans, but anything less than an undefeated regular season and Semi-State appearance at a minimum will be a disappointment.

Wasn't shocked that Penn beat Mishawaka. The Cavemen were in that game, but the Kingsmen defense made plays when they had to. Final score was not indicative of the actual game.

Fully anticipated Concord and Northridge winning their games, and had zero faith in Plymouth and Wawasee winning their games. The Warriors will have to try and pull out a victory over these next two weeks, or they will go winless.

Week 3 Pick 'Em Games:

1. Merrillville @ Crown Point

2. Franklin @ Perry Meridian 

3. Decatur Central @ Whiteland

4. Chesterton @ Michigan City

5. Wawasee @ Goshen 

6. DeKalb @ New Haven

7. Yorktown @ New Palestine

8. Lafayette Central Catholic @ Hamilton Heights

9. Forest Park @ Tell City

10. Triton Central @ Indianapolis Lutheran 

11. Cloverdale @ Brown County 

Week 2 Pick 'Em Games:

1. Cathedral @ Brownsburg

2. Homestead @ Noblesville

3. Roncalli @ Franklin Central

4. Harrison @ Plainfield 

5. LaPorte @ Lowell

6. Evansville Mater Dei @ Castle

7. Culver Academy @ Mishawaka Marian

8. Franklin County @ Connersville

9. Brownstown Central @ Charlestown

10. Owen Valley @ South Putnam

11. North Decatur @ Eastern Hancock 

Warsaw was very fortunate to get the victory last night. Very sloppy on the offensive side of the ball. I think they had 5 or 6 fumbles, and lost at least 3 of them. Cannot say enough good things about how the defense played. Their front 7 played extremely well. The secondary still has a ways to go though.

Hopefully the injuries the Tigers had (starting QB was knocked out of the game early along with some other key players) don't come back to haunt them. It seems like each of the past 3 years they have had significant injuries occur early in the season.

"Surprises of the night"

Shocked that the Pilgrims pulled off the victory. Good for them to get back into the win column.

Impressed that Northridge went to Fort Wayne and got a good win against a message board darling North Side team. Maybe after the season is finished this victory won't look as impressive, but the Legends were preseason #6 in 5A.

I can't say I was surprised that Goshen lost to Fairfield, but the final score of 29-6 made me do a bit of a double-take. I know it was mentioned on this thread that a bunch of players recently quit the team, but things do not look good in the Maple City

"As predicted"

NorthWood and Mishawaka dominating was not a surprise. They are the class of the NLC this season. I do not see the Panthers losing a game this regular season. Excited for the Cavemen matchup next week against backyard rival Penn.

Honestly - I don't know what to think about Concord this year, but I did not anticipate Elkhart being very good this season. Seeing the Minutemen pull out the victory was not much of a surprise to me. I think next week's game against the Jimmies will be more telling.

Wawasee losing to Valley wasn't a surprise at all. I anticipate the Warriors losing next week at West Noble at well, and their only 2 opportunities to win games this season will come the following weeks at Goshen then vs Plymouth. If they can't pick up a win there, they will go winless this season. It's too bad things have gotten so bleak in Syracuse.

1. FW Carroll @ Hamilton Southeastern

2. Lawrence North @ Avon

4. Warsaw @ Michigan City

5. New Palestine @ Westfield

5. Chesterton @ Hobart 

6. Leo @ Kokomo

7. Jasper @ Evansville Memorial 

8. Western @ Tri-West

9. FW Concordia @ Indianapolis Scecina

10. Perry Central @ Tell City 

11. Tecumseh @ South Spencer

7 hours ago, NRRaider2001 said:

Curious to get your take on North after tonight

Unfortunately I was not a the scrimmage tonight

Warsaw is scrimmaging at FW North

Kind of crazy that the Tigers will not play against an opponent until after Labor Day, on September 8th (week 4).

Away for their scrimmage, and away the first 3 weeks of the regular season. SHEESH

A good site for all that information is http://www.almanacsports.com/football/

Very cool thing they do at Northridge! Love that picture for the K-12 kids in the entire program!

Everything I've seen and heard says it is a three-way race between Carroll, Snider, and North. Is that correct? What do Homestead and Dwenger have coming back? Any chance for Concordia, Wayne or Northrop to be competitive?

What does Columbia City have coming back this year after arguably their best season in football ever*?

*they went 9-0 in 1966 and won their only other sectional in 1993 when they went 9-3. 2010 they went 10-2 with a 3 point loss to Homestead in the regular season before getting drubbed by Dwenger (state runner-ups) in the sectional semi-finals.

1 hour ago, Punttheball said:

I could not imagine what this guys typical day looks like.  I am sure he has many assistant AD's, but he still must be a very organized man.

Actually, any of these guys doing both are very busy and organized men.  

Per the Warren Central Athletics website, they have 2 Assistant AD's, which is pretty substantial these days. I'd be curious to see how many 6A schools have an AD and 2 Asst. ADs. My best guess would be those large schools (Carmel, Penn, North Central, Ben Davis, Fishers, HSE) as the likeliest candidates, but shoot, up until like 6 years or so ago, Warsaw only had a single AD.

Warren Central's Mike Kirschner is also their Athletic Director

That Northridge QB looked pretty good! I like their offensive scheme they are running.

Did NorthWood really lose that much from last year? They are the team I have the highest expectations for this season, but maybe I assumed they had more coming back than what is actually the case.

Not too many NLCers around here anymore it feels like, but starting a thread for this upcoming season.

Personally, I am interested to see how the Tigers perform this year. They lose a number of impact players from last year (especially on defense), but the best thing about Bart Ball is "next man up". As well, the kids who are seniors this year have now been running this offense since 7th grade.

As well, due to some funky shifts in the schedule with non-conference opponents the last few years and then the conference schedule shift/change to rotating matchups, Warsaw starts the season with 3 straight road games and won't play at home until after Labor Day. I have no doubt Coach Curtis and his staff will be able to keep the Tigers focused, just very interesting to see.

As for other schools:

Will NorthWood and Mishawaka continue to be the class of the conference? The Panthers sure seem to be primed for another NLC crown and potential post-season run.

Can Northridge turn their post-season success into regular season victories? The Raiders have gone 5-4 each of the last two regular seasons before turning it on come Sectional time.

Will Concord continue their "odd" year dominance? The Minutemen have won the NLC in 6 of the last 8 "odd" years since 2007, including 2019 and 2021. In the Craig Koelher era, starting in 2015, their records have been 8-3, 6-4, 10-2, 6-6, 8-2, 4-4, 9-2, 5-6. Must be something in the water every two years in Dunlap!

What can Goshen do in year 2 under Wogomon? The Redhawks were competetive last year early before injuries caught up to them, especially on the offensive side of the ball.

Can Wawasee ever be competitive in the conference again? In the last 5 years, the Warriors are 5-5 against fellow bottom-dwellers Goshen and Plymouth, and 0-25 against the rest of the NLC (not counting post-season matchups). Wawasee hasn't had a winning season in 8 years, and was last in contention for an NLC crown in 2011 when they went 6-1. Only loss being to Concord (who went 7-0) by a score of 15-12.

Will Plymouth win a game? Hard to believe after the Pilgrims won a share of the NLC title in 2019, they have since gone 2-26 the past 3 seasons, including a 21 game losing streak currently. They start the season vs. Calumet (9-2 last year) and Columbia City (11-2 last year) and Warsaw (who beat them 70-0 last season). Their best shot will come week 4 on the road against the previously mentioned Wawasee Warriors.

4 hours ago, Gipper said:

Again, this is where my Norther Indiana Football Alliance mumbo-jumbo comes into play: all of the 6A schools in one league: Crown Point, Lake Central, Penn, Elkhart, Warsaw, Carroll, Homestead (and another FW school I may have missed as our Lafayette Jeff Broncho {with a H} friends are still reminiscing about basketball).

No love for Portage or Northrop? 😆

21 hours ago, BTF said:

9.     Warsaw doesn't have a single 6A team on their schedule this year. That could mean trouble once the tournament gets here. Playing top notch competition in the regular season isn't the end all be all (see Penn in the 90's), but having some good teams on your schedule definitely prepares you. Mishawaka and Northwood are formidable foes, but not enough to prepare them for Carroll or Homestead*. 

*as an FYI - Warsaw currently would not see Homestead until semi-state at the earliest

There are only so many 6A programs available in the area, and 3 of them are IN their sectional (Penn, Elkhart, Carroll). As well, I feel like it is rare to see teams schedule sectional opponents who are out-of-conference opponents.

That leaves Crown Point, Lake Central, Portage, Homestead and Northrop as the only remaining 5 6A schools in "northern" Indiana. Up until recently, the SAC schools weren't an option to schedule OOC because of their closed, round-robin schedule.

Over the last decade or so, Michigan City, Chesterton (who was 6A when this matchup was initially annouced 2+ years ago), Mishawaka and NorthWood are all strong programs.

I would argue those 4 schools are all better than the 3 other Region 6A schools, with Crown Point being the only program over the last decade you could argue for.

Sure - you can argue playing in the NLC does not prepare the Tigers for the tournament. But I do not believe their OOC opponents in weeks 1 and 2 will be any indication as to whether or not Warsaw will see "trouble" come touranment time.

FWIW - this changes in a BIG way for the 2024 and 2025 seasons. Warsaw plays Warren Central in week 2 of both those seasons

On 5/25/2023 at 2:21 PM, oldtimeqb said:

The SAC and SIAC have no games against outside opponents.

FWIW - this is changing effective this year for the SAC. They have some sort of yearly rotating schedule in the SAC I believe, and Weeks 1 and 2 are open for non-conference opponents. The "Big 4" of the SAC have some impressive non-conference matchus this year (below) and scheduled for future years.

Carroll - at HSE, vs. Warren Central
Homestead - vs. Carmel, at Noblesville
Snider - at Warren Central, at East Noble
Dwenger - vs. Brownsburg, at Cincinnati Moeller

On 5/19/2023 at 4:28 PM, npcougar15 said:

I said it before and I'll say it again, but this is the most balanced/stable conference's the michiana schools could create:

Penn, Elkhart, Warsaw, Mishawaka, Goshen, Adams, Riley, Washington

Northridge, Northwood, New Prairie, Plymouth, Concord, St. Joe, Marian, Jimtown (or if CMA wants to play)

Bremen, Glenn, LaVille, Wawasee, Tippy Valley, Knox, Rochester, Fairfield

Not that I think it would happen anyway, but if you flipped Northridge and Concord for Riley and Washington in this above scenario... I could MAYBE see it working. But like others have said, I do not believe the NLC is in any hurry to basically blow up it's current structure just to fix the disparities the NIC has. Like @US31 said - it's not up to the NLC to fix the NIC's problems. I would think as thing currently sit, the NLC is pretty happy/content currently.

1 hour ago, Justafan said:

The TRC would not have to scramble. Since it was a ten team league with one non-conference game everybody did not play one school this. Right now with 9, still have one non-conference game and move around others so everybody plays each other in the remaining 8 weeks. 

Hmmm... I'm just not sure it's that easy. But maybe it is and I'm just not that smart. If EVERYONE in the TRC had their out-of-conference game scheduled in the same week, it would be easier. But I think that's where it gets tricky.

3 teams play out-of-conference games in Week 1
6 teams play out-of-conference games in Week 2

Example

Whitko currently plays Tippy Valley during Week 6, and they don't play Southwood. Southwood already has a conference game against Manchester that week. But also, Whitko's OOC game is Week 1, and Southwood's OOC game is Week 2.

I'm sure there are smarter people (or a computer program) that can figure it out. But I do not think it's quite as "easy" as it seems.

22 hours ago, Punttheball said:

As I understand it, Valley will need to fill their Fall 2023 football schedule for a year.  

1 hour ago, Punttheball said:

That game is going to take place.  It will likely be moved to week 2.  This would look like Rochester would have week 5 open.  I believe it is already in the works to play another team already.

Are we sure about this? I can't imagine all 8 TRC ADs for the teams that were already on Valley's schedule would want to scramble to fill the void in their schedule this year. Seems silly to me that this would be the action they take. Kick them out of the conference early, but keep the games scheduled as non-conference. Especially since the TRC already plays an 8-game, round robin type schedule for football. Imagine any of the teams between weeks 3-9 trying to find another opponent that's nearby who could play when most area conferences are full-in conference play during those times.

FWIW - I believe this year's Warsaw senior class is fairly small and their incoming freshman class next year is larger. It will be interesting to see where they end up as I expect their overall enrollment in the count that COUNTS next year will be more than 2,096 number here. How much more will be the question, and how much others gain/lose obviously.

For fun, if this was 5A next go around, here is what I would have as the sectional assignments

Sectional 9: Hammond Central, Hammond Morton, Merrillville, Munster
Sectional 10: Chesterton, LaPorte, Michigan City, Valparaiso
Sectional 11: Concord, Goshen, Mishawaka, SB Adams
Sectional 12: Anderson, FW North, FW Snider, Warsaw

Sectional 13: Decatur Central, Kokomo, McCutcheon, Plainfield
Sectional 14: Bloomington North, Bloomington South, Franklin, Whiteland
Sectional 15: Columbus East, Floyd Central, New Albany, Seymour
Sectional 16: Castle, Evansville North, TH North, TH South