NLCTigerFan07

Should honestly be a beautiful night of decent matchups. Concord @ Warsaw - should be a telling game for each team. The Minutemen looked good the first quarter last week, but then NorthWood turned it on and never looked back. The Tiger defense has been stout, but they haven't exactly played any offensive powerhouses so far this season. Also, crazy that tonight is the first game at home for Warsaw. I'll take the Tigers by 10 Northridge @ NorthWood - The Raiders lost a tough one last week, and the Panthers are looking like the cream of the crop for both the NLC and 4A North. Northridge has had their number in the postseason each of the last two seasons, but this is a regular season matchup. Panthers by 28 Plymouth @ Wawasee - The last time the Pilgrims won an NLC game was 9/25/2020 against the Warriors. Meanwhile, Wawasee hasn't started 2-0 in NLC play since the 2003 season. Neither team's defense is very good, which could mean a lot points are scored in this game. I will take the home team Wawasee by 6 Goshen @ Mishawaka - not much to say about this game. The Cavemen get two weeks of warm-ups before back-to-back matchups against Warsaw and NorthWood. Staying healthy is the most important goal in this one. Give me Mishawaka by 21

Remove East Noble and put Elkhart in (no disrespect to the Knights as they would likely hold their own in the conference) - but this is all hypothetical, at least for the Tigers. I do not see them leaving the NLC, maybe ever.

Week 4 Pick ‘Em Games 1. Hamilton Southeastern @ Fishers 2. New Albany @ Bedford North Lawrence 3. Anderson @ Marion 4. Greenfield-Central @ Pendleton Heights 5. Guerin Catholic @ Brebeuf Jesuit 6. Fort Wayne Luers @ Fort Wayne Wayne 7. Tri-West @ Western Boone 8. Heritage @ South Adams 9. North Judson @ Knox 10. Linton-Stockton @ Sullivan 11. Bremen @ Triton

Really looking forward to see how the Northridge vs. Mishawaka game shakes out. I think that has the potential to be a really really good game. A true measuring stick for both teams. I think NorthWood crushes Concord. The Minutemen are 2-0 this season, but I don't think Elkhart or Jimtown are going to end up being that good this year. Toilet Bowl of the Year, part 1 tonight in the Maple City. Part 2 will take place next week in Syracuse. The trilogy ends September 29th in Plymouth. Warsaw needs to make sure they play more disciplined football on the offensive side of the ball tonight. They should have no trouble with Plymouth, but if they keep putting the ball on the ground, who knows what can/will happen at that point. If they play clean, they'll win by multiple scores. If they stay sloppy, the Pilgrims just might hang around.

I had to chuckle at this - you're saying North Judson doesn't have a kicker, but you're predicting them to have 24 points? Are you thinking 3 TDs with 3 2-pt converstions?

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

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.

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.

No love for Portage or Northrop? 😆

*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

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