TightEndOpenAgain

NJSP wins handily over Laville. Might start the season with 2 shutouts Pulling for our friends from Union Mills. I’m thinking they can win a tight one Taylor can hang with North Miami. Warriors seemed a little banged up. Hoping they come out on top this week. Tough time for the Cavs to catch a focused West Central ball club. Trojans handily Bremen over Triton by 3, maybe 4 scores. Interested in seeing how Triton develops through the season Game of the week in the HNAC is probably in Chalmers. I can see a 1 score game either way. I’ll say the Warriors have more points on the board at the end. Pioneer by 12-16 points over Knox. Redskins will get it figured out, but in week 2, they’re still figuring out an identity post-Myles. Glad they still wanted Pioneer on the schedule after leaving the conference. Works well for both sides

Cass 41-16 over Northfield Maconaquah 34-14 over Carroll Madison Grant 26-6 over Southwood Eastern 28-20 over Northwestern Peru 40-20 over Whitko Is this the year Rochester reclaims the bell?? I think so. Z over Vikes 28-26 Tipton over Manchester 30-22

Caston over Whitko. Light at the end of the tunnel still a ways off in South Whitley. Logansport over Peru. Could get ugly. I understand the longest series in the state thing. But does this still really have to be played? Only thing keeping the TRC from a true round robin. Maconaquah over Sheridan in a somewhat close one. Chance of rain could change that though. North Miami over Northfield. Even though NM graduated 10,000 career yards of offense and 4 OL, they remain fairly old this season. Coach/AD Grant has installed a winning mindset throughout the whole athletics program. I think it’s enough to get by NF in a tight one Northwestern over Manchester. Purple Tigers went with a lot of sophomores last year. I look for them to be much improved in year 2 in the fast paced offense Pioneer over Cass in probably the best played game on the week 1 slate. Cass should have a nice year. The program that is Pioneer is a machine. Rochester over Southwood. Zebras are just bigger, faster, and stronger. SW will probably get better as the season progresses, but power L/R won’t be quite humming along for week 1.

I have the exact same picks this week. Hoping the Cavs can pull what would be the upset

I think the HNAC will look pretty similar to the last couple seasons. I’ll go: 1) NJSP - Most production comes back 2) Pioneer - Lost a lot of yards, tackles, and points. But there’s a reason Royal Center hasn’t seen a truly disappointing season in the Pit for 30 years. They’ll be in the race week 9. 3-6) Some combination of Caston, North Miami, Triton, Winamac (listed here in alphabetical order). Caston looks to be very tough out for the middle and bottom classes of the conference this year. North Miami looks to take a step back. But still enough pieces to be competitive this fall. Winamac size will be a load to handle for most. Triton graduated a lot but will still be formidable I’d imagine. 7) Culver. But really solid group of sophomores 8:) South Central. But a really solid group of freshmen

Like I said, if it’s wet, Pioneer rolls

Rained all night in Berne and South Adams can’t move the ball

Pioneer 30-14. Going to at least be damp if not raining and on the chilly side. That will really hinder the Starfires offense South Putnam 35-13

To be fair, North Miami had a couple critical penalties taking away potential points on a couple drives. Point being it was a great game between 2 very solid teams. In football, mistakes are bound to happen both ways

If the weather clear, South Adams at home has a real chance of taking out Pioneer. If it’s rainy and/or windy, Pioneer rolls.

I’ll echo the Farmer. Maybe ND over Milan

HNAC shines this week! Give me: Jays over Laville 28-20 Panthers 48-8 over Frontier. More about Pioneer than how good Frontier is or isn’t. I think they’re getting better every week. North Miami over Southwood Triton over Fremont 34-14

Great game in Bourbon. NM loses 3 fumbles all well into Triton territory to lose it. First fumble was inside the 10 which Triton took the other way for 6

North Miami 40-14. An ugly game against Pioneer maybe woke up the Warriors. Focus and effort seem better the last couple weeks Judson 34-6. Caston’s inconsistency is confusing. They’ve seemed to play the top 4 of the conference well. This one is a tough score to predict Winamac 48-7. Heard SC has a very nice couple middle school classes Pioneer 28-14. Triton hangs tough on the road, but the Panthers are the class of the conference since its inception. 30 years of big games give enough experience to get it done. Hopefully the Trojans can enjoy some of the gas station chicken on the ride home. (Great stuff!!)

Agreed on all fronts. I’m sure they’ll try to combine SW and NF again soon. If/when that happens, it would help football. Big Coach T at Northwestern has a solid young core. Would love to see Cass get back to their 2000s days. Seagraves, Bowser, Mannerings, O’Brien were some TOUGH squads

Rochester 42-13 Manchester 28-14 Northwestern 33-12 Mac 57-whatever Mac wants the Peru score to be Wabash 21-20 TRC sure has been in a steady decline from 80s-2000s. About 30 years in there where 4-5 teams played some really good football on any given year and several deep postseason runs/state titles. Downturn started with the Oak Hill/Wabash flip in the fall of 06.

Comets comfortably Jays by a lot Trojans by a lot Really good game at North Miami last week. Unfortunate someone had to lose that one. Both teams tied exactly for total yards. Not sure I’ve ever seen that. A 65yd TD drive in under 2min by the Jays to tie it at 16 right before the half and a goal line stand with less than 2 minutes left were the difference. Hopefully another good one with Pioneer at North Miami on Friday

Pioneer over Caston easily. 7 NM fumbles (3 lost) kept the Comets in it. Was impressed with the physicality the boys in Fulton played with. Caston will be very solid in 2026! But Pioneer will roll this week. North Miami will have to play better/cleaner to have a shot this week. Trojans can pick the score Give me the Maxinkuckee Madmen over Winamac in a close one this week. No particular rhyme or reason why. Just a feeling down in the gut. Side note… Last North Miami home game (week 2) the farm ground to the north had a fresh layer of manure spread on it that day. Don’t foresee any in the forecast this week!

Pioneer has to feel snubbed

Hopefully a visitors locker room! No more mile and a half hike for visiting teams🎉

Had to cut (not drastic) to get to 215. Kid takes lifting/diet very seriously

Top 4 from last year remain at the top. Can't quite put my finger on an order yet. Jays lose a lot but the cupboard has no shortage. Pioneer returns a lot from a very solid team. Whooping Carroll then turning around and getting cold-cocked by Taylor still racks my brain. Rans will be the fastest/quickest/shiftiest player in the conference Triton at this point in the calendar year is probably my pick to be 4th. Very interested to see/hear of any movement into/out of Bourbon. Ham Salad Sandwiches WILL be back unless there are unforeseen circumstances. The 2025 red and black Warriors look to be solid. All 5 OL are back in front of over 3000 returning rushing yards. Only offensive loss due to graduation was the FB who was probably the least dynamic toter of the pigskin of the 4. Hoover, the QB was a wrestling state qualifier at 215 and will probably beef up for the fall. Defensively, it seems that they return 7 of their front 8. Weakness will again be defending the air. Both corners from 2024 are set to graduate in May. Pretty confident Winamac is 5th (could see them sneaking into the top 4). Caston looks to be improved, but will still out of the top 5. 7th will be decided week 9 in Culver when they play the Satellites I wouldn't be shocked to see 1A north once again be represented in Lucas Oil by the HNAC

Is it true that Maconaquah can't use a drone on their home field because of being close to Grissom Air Force Base?

South Adams at North Judson: After seeing both teams in person, I don't see NJSP having much problem this week. Well over 2 hour trip for SA to what I think will be a very fired up Liberty Field. Weather forecast looks cold and windy. SA only really stopped North Miami 1 time inside the 5 yard line early. NM stopped a lot of their own drives with turnovers and penalties putting them well behind schedule. NJ will have a physicality advantage. SA team speed is very solid, but so of course are the Jays'. Interested to see which poison the Starfires choose. You can gameplan to take away either 48, 7, or 5. Incredibly tough to take away 2 of them. And I don't see any 1A team in Indiana having enough horsepower to take away all 3. NJ defense will be tested in a way it hasn't been this year. But I'm confident in saying they'll pass the test. 48-20 Boys in Blue

I was saying if the Warriors held onto the ball (4 turnovers) and tackled well in space (they did not), they had to like their chances. 10 penalties and 4 turnovers don’t win a regional. Didn’t play well. Such is life!