NRRaider2001

Agree on all points here. Northridge could have had their second shut out to start the season, but a costly penalty when they had Adams stopped early in the first half and then JV playing in the 4th quarter gave up a garbage time score at the end. We have some dudes on offense this year that are some serious playmakers as well. I'd put this defense up with some of the best of them going back to 14. I think Mishawaka is still the obvious favorites this year and believe they will make a deep run in November.

I think I went 4-4 last week, haven't had time to write much up this week due to ongoing server issues but here goes my predictions. Elkhart (1-0) at Mishawaka (1-0): I think Mishawaka is the team to beat in our area this year, followed by Elkhart and Warsaw in 5/6A. Mishawaka by 10 Jimtown (0-1) at Concord (0-1): I think Jimtown will be decent this year, but Concord should be another 5A school in the conversation this year for people to keep an eye on. Concord by 13 Kokomo (1-0) at Plymouth (0-1): I don't know anything about the Wildcats this year, but I do know about Plymouth. Kokomo by 18 NorthWood (1-0) at Logansport (1-0): I don't know much about Logansport other than they put are a good tournament host in basketball typically. . NorthWood by 12 South Bend Clay (0-1) at Goshen (1-0): Looking for Goshen to start 2-0 after tonight, so when I go out with my Redskin wife and her 2 Redskin friends for dinner tomorrow night I will get to hear how this is their year. Goshen by 21 South Bend St. Joseph (1-0) at Northridge (1-0): Raiders played an amazing first half last week then sputtered in the second half. Both teams had a penalty called nearly every play. Look for us to clean things up and get another shut out tonight as well as double Coach Eppleys career win total. Northridge by 28 Warsaw (1-0) at Michigan City (1-0): Great win last week down in the Lake City, but hearing Dublin Coffman isn't their normal powerhouse this year, still very impressive win. Don't know much about the Wolves since we stopped playing them at the start of the season, but they're always a contender in that part of the state. Tigers by 8 Wawasee (0-1) at West Noble (0-1): After hearing some kind words about the Wawasee program before the season started , last week showed that may have been a little bit optimistic. West Noble by 14

NLC week 1 final scores: Elkhart 12 Concord 7 Warsaw 48 Dublin Coffman (OH) 23 East Noble 56 Plymouth 33 Goshen 21 Fairfield 10 Northwood 7 Jimtown 6 Mishawaka 43 Mishawaka Marian 16 Northridge 21 South Bend Adams 0 Tippecanoe Valley 42 Wawasee 7

Elkhart had an incredible first year post merger last year, but lost 18ish of those starters from a year ago, plus arguably their top 2 skill players this season. Seems to be a lot of hype around Concord as they have some studs of their own, and return much of last year's team. Coach Koehler battled some major health issues this off season and the team really seems to have bonded well. Should be a really good game and tell us just how good Concord is going to be. Elkhart by 3 Dublin Coffman (OH) at Warsaw: Great job by Coach Curtis by strengthening the Tigers schedule up, I really don't know much about DC other than they are a perennial powerhouse and went 8-1 last year with their 1 loss by only 3 points. Even if the Tigers come up short here, I think they're easily a top 3 NLC team this year and should have another great season. Dublin Coffman by 20 East Noble at Plymouth: hearing that Plymouth will struggle this year, East Noble is always a tough program and along with Leo, should be favored to win the NE8 this season. East Noble by 30 Goshen at Fairfield: I think Goshen struggles again this year, but should be a little better. Coach Thacker has things rolling on the south side of town after an NECC Big School title and undefeated regular season. Goshen has 1 win each of the last 3 seasons and questions at qb this year, but I look for it to be a great game. Falcons by 3 Jimtown at NorthWood: Northwood went 4-4 last season and is always a competitor, but I don't see them at the top of the conference this year. Jimtown should be pretty decent and I think it will be close throughout. Jimtown by 3 Mishawaka at Marian: should be another great rivalry game, but I think Mishawaka will be a tough out this year. With Fisher at qb, I'd say they're favorites to win the NLC this year, but a lot can change in a season. Marian is always a tough team so I think it will be another battle. Cavemen by 6 Northridge at Adams: I've been hearing a lot of hype about Adams huge o-line and their great passing game, also in the NIC thread a lot of people seem pretty excited about the Eagles this year. I heard they worked Plymouth at the jamboree pretty easily. Coach Eppley has picked up right where Wogomon left off and there is a lot of excitement in Middlebury. We lost some key guys last year, but have some guys that will be doing great things this year. Lost our top 3-4 running backs and qb, but I like where we're headed. Northridge by 10 Tippecanoe Valley at Wawasee: Don't know much about either team this year, but have heard that Wawasee is trending in the right direction. They have gone 5-15 in their last 2 seasons but should be better this year under year 3 of good coaching. Wawasee by 7

Elkhart lost another crucial player in our scrimmage, hoping for his sake it isn't a long term deal.

Good stuff, I'm very confident that Coach Eppley will continue our success and grow our program even further.

Good stuff as always, I'll try to leave all of my predictions tomorrow. Here's a couple of thoughts. I'm not as sold on Concord just yet but obviously could be wrong. They should have a chance week 1 with arguably Elkharts 2 best players out for significant time if not the season. I think Plymouth knocks Goshen/ Wawasee off this year as the worst record in the NLC. I think early favorites to win the conference should be Mishawaka/ Warsaw but I think Northridge may surprise a few people under our new guy this year.

St Joe also dropped due to no team, we're adding Marian in their place. Still looking for week 2 though.

Looking for a week 2 freshman opponent now as South Bend Adams will not have a freshman team.

Plymouth and Goshen do not have freshman teams this year and Northwood barely does. Northridge plays the following, in this order: Mishawaka SB Adams SB St Joseph Wawasee Fairfield Warsaw NorthWood Angola Concord

Sadly Elkhart will be without another key player for at least a little while after getting hurt in their scrimmage Friday night. Prayers for a speedy recovery.

Since I keep reading stories on here about the NLC schools dwindling in numbers for football, thought I'd share a picture from last night at Northridge. 300+ k-12 kids in our program showed up in force, and I know of a couple dozen off the top of my head that couldn't make it out last night. Some serious enthusiasm for football in Middlebury.

Elkhart at Northridge

NLC guy here, but was heartbroken for Jaiven Sharp last week, great kid and he's going to make a huge comeback at some point. Looking forward to our scrimmage with Elkhart coming up.

https://www.wfft.com/content/sports/2021-Countdown-to-Kickoff-Wawasee-Warriors-574933021.html WAWASEE, Ind. (WFFT) - Jon Reutebuch's Wawasee Warriors close out our coverage of the Northern Lakes Conference in this year's FOX 55 Countdown to Kickoff. It's been tough going for the Warriors as of late. They finished just 3-7 in 2020, and haven't had a .500 or better season since 2013 when they went 5-5. RELATED: 2021 Countdown to Kickoff: Warsaw Tigers However, in the first two years under Reutebuch, Wawasee has seen their win total increase each year. And they say they've adopted the mantra "the time is now" as they look to take the next step forward in 2021. Wawasee will open its season at home against Tippecanoe Valley on Aug. 20 at 7 p.m.

https://www.wfft.com/templates/AMP?contentID=574932971&__twitter_impression=true WARSAW, Ind. (WFFT) - The Warsaw Tigers kick off our 2021 FOX 55 Countdown to Kickoff as we get set for the 2021 Indiana High School football season. The Tigers went 8-3 in year three under Bart Curtis, winning the Northern Lakes Conference championship for the first time since 2001, and appeared in their second straight sectional championship game where they lost to Homestead 30-22. RELATED: 2021 Countdown to Kickoff: Wawasee Warriors In three seasons under Curtis, the Tigers are 24-9 with a conference and sectional championship. They graduate a good chunk of their production on offense, including their starting quarterback, tailback and fullback, but make no mistake, this team plans to keep on winning. Warsaw will open their season Aug. 20 at home against Dublin Coffman (OH) at 7:30 p.m.

I mean, Warsaw didn't even win the NLC outright last year, so might want to pump the brakes a bit. Yes, Bart has changed the Warsaw football culture in a couple of short years, but I don't see them bailing on the NLC 60 years of membership and all the rivalries/ relationships they have built with the rest of us member schools. Outside of Wawasee and Goshen, the rest of the schools may have had a down year or two, but in general are right there competing with any other conference in this part of the state in all sports. Even those two schools have a history of football success, Northwood isn't too far removed from a state title game, Northridge has a young new coach, some of the newest and best facilities in the state, Mishawaka shared the title last year and looks be just as good this year, Concord is almost always a contender in 5a North. Aside from all of those facts, there are more sports than just football, and while Warsaw is consistently competitive for the overall NLC All Sports Awards, Northridge has dominated this in recent years.

Warsaw had their media day with WANE out of Fort Wayne. Look for them to have another very successful season. https://youtu.be/PiB793uE1Q0

Northridge will be scrimmaging Elkhart, the week before the season opener against Adams.

So far I've been told Plymouth and Goshen will not have freshman teams this year, and Northwood is having to play a lot of underclassmen up to jv/ varsity this year. If anyone else has heard any news on the NLC Freshman front, I'd be interested in hearing numbers for sure, we will be looking to pick up a couple of teams to replace at least those 2.

Exciting times as football is right around the corner. Northridge is at Trine this week with scrimmages against Dekalb and New Haven. Crown Point and Angola are also there. I saw Coach Curtis said Warsaw had 97 kids show up at Lucerne Park this morning! I believe Concord scrimmages Laporte this week and Adams/Marian at Plymouth in a couple of weeks. Curious about what are other NLC members up to and how are numbers looking this year for NLC Freshman teams?

One of the best in our area no doubt, really like what he has done in Elkhart and was surrounded by some great assistants that have been rewarded this year by being given hc jobs themselves now. I hope they keep building on their success this last fall, adding Carmel is a good start!

Been good seeing Coach Wog out there with the kids still this off-season and watching our kids really buy in to Coach Eppley as the head of our program in Middlebury. I think we will finish a game or 2 over .500 this season, but the future is looking bright in the next few years. We have some good upper classmen but I'm most excited to see our youngsters grow and learn, a few studs to watch these next 4 years for sure.

I'm still here, but no longer have a job that I can spend hours online debating high school sports for hours on end. I'll probably be more active as travel baseball comes to an end down in Warsaw here in a few weeks and football starts ramping back up. Our freshman class this year, Coach Epp taking over the reins, and our new facilities all give reason for excitement in Middlebury for the future of our program. I see a similar varsity year as last year but we have some good pieces that could make things interesting this year. As for the less traffic, much of it has to do with social media being the primary method of online communication and the message board model being a dieing breed. Also seeing every thread become hijacked is a turn off for many, including myself.

Raiders got our guy!