TightEndOpenAgain

North Judson at Taylor - Limiting Pioneer to 6pts is certainly not nothing. Titan defense must be solid. However, too much Jays as the game wears on. 44-14 Blue Jays North Miami at South Adams - I don't know why the little ol' Warriors should even bother showing up. Ink the Starfires into next week. Beating sectional champion Sheridan was a fluke. Beating Triton in week 9 was a fluke. Beating the Trojans with 390 rushing yards three weeks later was a bigger fluke. NM hasn't had to make a long bus trip this year. This group hasn't gotten any experience on turf in the TRC the last couple years. Heck, they only have 4 backs at or over 900 yards on the ground. ... Jokes aside, if the Fighin' 'Wiches can hold onto the ball and then tackle in space on the other side of the ball, they have to like their chances. They seem to be improving every week, and they seem to like their spot under the radar. I do think a bit of a shootout is gonna take place in Berne on Friday night. Give me the all HNAC semi-state and bring your ham salad appetites! 41-35 Warriors

Laville at North Judson: The metal/rock music at Liberty Field plus the team in the home locker room are too much for the Lancers. 41-14 Blue Jays Taylor at Pioneer: Taylor has come on strong in the last few weeks. However, Pioneer is clicking and focused. Running clock sometime in the 4th Q. 49-13 Panthers Triton at North Miami: Both teams are fired up for a rematch. Both fan bases are fired up for ham salad! Last time, North Miami had their way with the Trojan defense for the first 30 min. Trojan defense had their way with the North Miami offense the last 18. Triton will have had 3 weeks to prepare by 7pm on Friday. This one comes down to situational football (3rd/4th down and redzone conversions mainly). If North Miami can take away Triton's big plays from last time, I think they win. If Triton has been able to put in some wrinkles, they will be tough to tangle with. Always hard to beat a good team twice. Unfortunate that someone has to lose this one. I'll go with the home team. 27-21 Fightin' Ham Salad Sandwiches I think it's pretty cool that there's a strong possibility of 3 HNAC schools representing the final 4 in 1A north.

North Judson @ Culver: Close game early only because it starts 0-0. NJSP early, often, around, and through. 62-6 Blue Jays Pioneer @ Carroll: If Pioneer is healthy and mistake free, we'll have ourselves a dogfight. If one or both of those isn't the case, Carroll will be too much. I'll roll with the Cougs 35-17 Southern Wells @ Three Towns: Raiders will reluctantly make the trek north and put up very little resistance. Rough several years for them...6-73 since the start of 2016. Game features schools with 2 of the best small school gyms north of Indy. I'll put the 1st half over/under at 48.5. 63-0 Trojans North Miami @ Fremont: North Miami better come off a 2 hour bus ride ready to play. Fremont's record might be a little deceiving as they've pounded teams the last couple of weeks. Were up 28-7 around halftime last week at Northfield before the Norse staged a late comeback attempt. NM has seen their fair share of seasons end in the far NE corner of the state in the last 30 years. I think the Warriors do enough in the battle of last year's baseball regional to get revenge. 35-20 Warriors

Carroll 32-14. Frontier is possibly quite solid and maybe close to being as good as Carroll. However, by the time they get past the inevitable shock of the difference in the quality of opponent, it will be too late. Not a lot Frontier can do about it, but only having to show up for 8 weeks in a row makes for an incredibly tough week 10. Falcons got the worst possible draw. As Bobby Boucher above said, Carroll's schedule isn't exactly a gauntlet, but they've had to be ready to play more weeks than not. Glad to see Frontier having a great season! Maybe they can prove us wrong.

Hypothetical: 1) North Judson 2) Maconaquah's arial assault probably too much for rest of HNAC 3) Rochester (maybe) - I think games with Pioneer, Triton, NM would be fun Have to remember the weird scheduling with the TRC. I think Pioneer, Triton, NM would all finish with same conference record as Northwestern if they played NW's TRC schedule. Saw them in a scrimmage this summer. They didn't blow me away. Long time has passed since the summer though. Winamac would have good games with Manchester, Peru, Cass this year.

"Honey get your backside off the couch! North Miami ham salad sandwiches are BACK!!! Grab the keys!" You know, I've been around Denver nearly 30 years, and I never had heard them selling ham salad sandwiches. Home crowd was getting quite a kick out of it as well! South Newton at North Judson: Ooof. 66-0 Jays South Central at Culver: Interesting result last week. Hopefully neither team is ready to turn in equipment quite yet! 27-20 Cavaliers Pioneer at Caston: Good foundation season for the Comets. Hopefully they can build on it next season! Pioneer rolls. 48-8 Panthers Taylor at Winamac: Going with the HNAC and the competition it's provided. Winamac builds off of last week's win. 2 is a streak! 35-18 Warriors Blackhawk Christian at North Miami: Quite the game last week in Denver. NM up 21-0 early 3rd before losing their edge and coming about 20 yards from blowing it completely. The (maybe/hopefully) rematch will be quite the battle! I know nothing about FWBC, but I think they're in trouble. 40-7 Warriors Southwood at Triton: Knights haven't had a year like this in a LONG time. Get the basketballs out on the way home. Side note, I like the HNAC top 5 over the TRC top 5 top to bottom this year. But I do think Southwood will be a little better than the bottom 2-3 of the HNAC. Boys of Bourbon comfortably. 41-6 Trojans

Culver @ South Central: Both teams moved the ball through the air against North Miami. Both have a couple nice playmaking receivers. Both defenses struggle at *often* times. I’ll will be happy for whoever wins! 39-20 Cavaliers North Judson @ Pioneer: Rans gets loose for 1 at the Pit. The Pit seems to be good for at least 7 points of an advantage. Judson too big, too fast, too strong, and too deep however. Running clock late 3rd/early 4th. 46-7 Blue Jays Triton @ North Miami: Game of the week in the HNAC. Margin of scores in HNAC play are very similar with NM sometimes both scoring and allowing a little more. Both had Pioneer down 14-7 at half. The most interesting battle to me will be Triton’s defensive front against the NM running game. Warriors average nearly 8 yards per carry on the season. Trojan’s front 7-8 seems to be very tough! North Miami seems to get a little more dynamic/creative each week. 2700+ yards on the ground, but nobody over 680ish yards individually can be hard to prepare for. The question remains, can NM get stops on obvious passing downs? I’ll go with a complete homer pick. 27-22 Warriors Winamac @ Caston: 2 teams who seem to be trending in the opposite directions. I was decently high on the Comets early in the year. I’m wondering if the young skill athletes are wearing down physically and mentally. Winamac continues to improve, and things are looking up. Glad the Warriors are getting healthier as week 10 and beyond approaches! 42-14 Warriors

I see 2-3 at least *somewhat* interesting games this week in the HNAC. Hoping for a repeat of last Friday's weather. BEAUTIFUL!! Caston @ North Judson: "RUTS" game of the week watch, but it won't be to the fault of NJ. Senior night at Liberty field for a talented group. They go out with a bang. 62-0 Blue Jays North Miami @ Culver: Solid win for NM last week. If anybody is competent at all in the pass game, the Warriors are in trouble. Gave up 380 yards through the air to SC. Game of pitch and catch for the Satellites with little resistance, but they struggled to finish drives. Warriors were able to run for 540 on just 35 carries albeit SC's defense has struggled all year. Timing between backs and linemen are clicking. Culver will move the ball and score a couple times, but NM will be too much over the course of 48 minutes. 34-14 Warriors Pioneer @ Triton: Definitely the game of the week in the conference. I can see this going either way. Transitively it's very close, but Pioneer's scores are just a bit better. Genuinely curious how it shakes out. Pioneer can clinch 2nd place in the HNAC with a win. If Triton can pull it out at home (and it's possible), there's a possibility of a 3way tie for 2nd. I think it stays pretty low scoring. I'll say 24-20 Panthers South Central @ Winamac: The Satellites surprised me a bit with how efficient they were offensively last Friday. But like mentioned previously, that had a good amount to do with how much NM struggles stopping a pass. The backup QB has a nice arm, and the receivers are athletic. Winamac will score easily and often. 48-8 Warriors

Pretty solid list! Only bad thing about NJ is the visiting locker room seems like it’s on the other side of town. I love Caston’s field without a track around it. Pioneers upgrades are awesome. Press box is VERY nice Haven’t been to Culver in several years, but no complaints I’ve never seen a game at Winamac nor South Central. Looking forward to visiting. Noticed SC doesn’t have stands on the “visitors” side North Miami playing surface is really nice, and the grounds crew puts a lot of time and effort into it. The crown has to be the worst in the state. If you’re not used to it, simple flat/out routes become very challenging because if you don’t aim for the feet, you’re going to sail it onto the track. Amount of seating is a bit embarrassing. Concessions are amazing though. Best meat/cheese dog around. They’ve actually won an award for concessions on hickory husker

I don't see many close games this week for the HNAC. Culver @ Pioneer: Pioneer scores early and often. Running clock starts early 3rd. Culver might score late. 48-8 Panthers South Central (Union Mills) @ North Miami: Very solid win for North Miami last week. Winamac is a nice team with a bright future. NM ran for 420+ in the rain while utilizing several different toters of the pigskin. South Central will be able to throw the ball on the Warrior defense as they haven't consistently stopped a forward pass for nearly 30 years. I don't think the score gets out of hand as NM has been methodical with a lot of drives chewing up a good amount of clock. 34-14 Warriors Triton @ Caston: The Comet streak comes to an end in Fulton on Friday. Triton defensive front dominates from the start. 48-0 Trojans Winamac @ North Judson: Worst time of the year for the Warriors to be short-handed. I think they can score late, but I'm not a betting man. 58-0 Blue Jays roll on.

Ehh maybe, maybe not? Who knows? They remain one tough machine and a great look for the HNAC!

New Sagarin has NJ 24th overall and a touchdown better than anyone in 2A. After 6 weeks, it gets “fairly” accurate. Jays are one tough machine! Didn’t know they only gave up 15 yards of Trojan offense last week

My list was 1A only. Sorry for any confusion

Caston at Culver: Good to see the Comets get a win on Friday. A bunch of good kids who play HARD!! 2 is a streak and think they start one on Friday. Possibly the closest game of the week. Culver chews up clock but falls short. 28-12 Comets North Judson at Triton: I’ll clear up some comments I had about NJSP below. I think they’re really good. Triton is very solid too and will be able to move the ball. How many drives can they finish? I’ll say 44-7 Blue Jays Pioneer at South Central (Union Mills): Rans is seriously quick and was too much over the course of 48 minutes for NM on Friday. The black and yellow overcome the travel and walk away victors. SCUM scores late. 55-7 Panthers Winamac at North Miami: Team speed in and around the greater Denver area is okay. However, NM has no threat to strike from distance. KO/Punt coverage has been very suspect through 5 weeks. It was good to see Silas Freeman back in the trenches last week. I think North Miami grinds out what could possibly be the closest game of the week if it’s not Caston/Culver. The 1st annual “Warrior Bowl” goes to North Miami. However, Winamac athletes get loose a little bit. 33-20 N. Miami Warriors **After getting a little pushback against what I said about the Blue Jays last week, I want to (hopefully) clear things up a little bit. I said NJ is one of about the top 5-10 1A teams I’VE SEEN. I did not say I think they are a top 5-10 1A team of all-time. Also, I said I’d be INTRIGUED to see them lineup against the Kiser/Lewellen Panther teams. I don’t think the Jays win, but I’d be INTRIGUED to see how the overall size/strength/speed matches up. We’ll never know! It did get me to thinking about the the top 10 1A teams I’ve had the pleasure to watch. So I’ll list them (my very humble opinion): 1) 2009 LCC 2) 2007 Sheridan 3) 2022 Indy Lutheran 4) 2018 Pioneer 5) 2015 LCC 6) 2016 Linton-Stockton 7) 2017 Pioneer 😎 2022 Adams Central 9) 2024 North Judson 10) 2003 Seeger 11) 2017 Southwood 11) 2003 Adams Central 12) 1993 North Miami 13) 2005 Adams Central 14) 2016 Pioneer 15) 1994 North Miami (Homer pick who shouldn’t have lost) There’s a lot of VERY good teams not on the list, but these are the teams I’ve gotten to see in-person. Obviously LCC, AC, Pioneer, Linton, Sheridan, Lutheran, Ritter etc have had really strong teams through the years of which many I did not see. Feel free to tear my list apart! Also I’d be curious to see your lists as well!

Very good game in the Panther Pit tonight. North Miami up 14-7 at half. Maybe the Warriors took naps at halftime. Kickoff and punt coverage will have to be addressed at NM going forward. It’s burned the Warriors several times through 5 games. Best of luck to both teams in the back half of their seasons!

North Judson at Culver: North Judson is a top 5-10 1A team I've ever seen granted I haven't seen 'em all. Would love to see the hypothetical matchups between them and the Kisers' Panthers teams. "They are big, fast, strong, mean, and they're fast." North Judson will score as much as they want. Culver will score as much as North Judson wants them to. Hoping everyone stays healthy on both sides. 55-0 Blue Jays. North Miami at Pioneer: Warrior's lack of size was apparent early and exploited all night last week. They were able to move the ball fairly decent between the 20s. But taking on NJ down your 2 best linemen and rolling out a pair of 160lb offensive tackles is a recipe for disaster at Liberty Field. I believe this to be the best game of the week in the HNAC. Once more, can NM finish drives against good competition being so small? Only 5 guys on the roster over 200lbs, 2 of them sidelined, and one being the QB. Panthers at home, 35-15. South Central (Union Mills) at Caston: Long trip for the Satellites. Caston's playmakers make a few more plays throughout. Can they defend the pass? I think just enough. 30-20 Comets Triton at Winamac: Winamac has some bright spots. There's even better days ahead for the Warriors, but one of them is not this coming Friday night. I still think Triton might be 2nd best in the conference. They roll this week. 40-14 Trojans

Really fun to look through Harrell's site and count. Way more than I thought I'd seen! I came up with 95 schools. I was hoping for 60 or so. Thanks for the question!

I don't think either Caston nor North Miami would feel great coming out of last week's game. The turnover bug bit the Comets, and they gave NM several short fields. North Miami committed 10-plus penalties with most being of the 10-15 yard varieties. Both teams will have to fix those issues moving forward. Caston has several nice young athletes. The future is bright in Fulton. It was good to see Bowyer back with 25 carries on Friday. Week 3 predictions: Culver at Winamac: Could be a good game at Roudebush Field on Friday night. I think Winamac has a few more dudes on both sides of the ball who will prevail as the game wears on. 27-14 Warriors North Miami at North Judson: The game will be close early as it starts out 0-0. North Miami is 3-0, but their wins are against a combined 1-8. Rumors are that NM lost yet another lineman. Can anything slow down the Jays this year? I'm thinking no. Look for NJ to keep rolling this week. 41-10 Blue Jays Pioneer at Caston: The Panthers have me a bit perplexed. I know Knox is quite the animal this year, but the score of that game doesn't make sense comparatively/transitively. My gut likes Pioneer easily. However, my brain wants to say Caston might be able to make it a game. But my brain plays tricks on me a lot as it's smarter than I am. As Hondo mentioned, Bowyer being healthy definitely makes the Comets better. Toughest projection of the week for me. 35-13 Panthers Triton at South Central (Union Mills): Not a lot I am able to speak on about this matchup. I think Triton handles their business this week. 48-8 Trojans

Sheridan certainly isn't "Sheridan" like they were last year, 5 years ago, 15 years ago. But after seeing NM, they're not bad. Several 2-3 year starters who have taken their lumps. The junior QB is a good athlete who started his 23rd game last week, so there's not much that will rattle him at this point. Team speed is okay, and they gang tackled well. A few guys came out for football this year that did not in the past. They're still missing their best lineman on both sides of the ball who had surgery 2 weeks before official practice started. Heard he might be back late in the year. It's good to see the Warriors have some success. I'll stick with 39-13 North Miami tonight. Looking forward to seeing all the conference/area results tonight!

Knowledge of the 2024 versions of these teams is very limited at this point. However, let's give it a shot. Caston @ North Miami: Scrappy Comets keep it close for awhile. North Miami pulls away late. 39-13 Warriors Culver @ Triton: Hope the Trojan QB is healthy. If he is, 41-12 Triton North Judson @ South Central (Union Mills): Running clock early. 56-6 NJSP Winamac @ Pioneer: I'll go 42-8 Panthers

Final from Denver: North Miami 27 Sheridan 17

North Miami has a strong junior class. The boys are already banged up after some non-football related injuries in the summer, and a couple key losses in the scrimmage. **Brand new here, will add username later**