N.I.C. Week 1 games

[BLACKGOLD2007]

Elkhart at Concord, 7 pm

Hammond Central at Washington, 8 pm

Bishop Noll at Riley, 7:30 pm

LaPorte at New Prairie, 8 pm

Mishawaka at Marian, 7 pm

Adams at Culver Academy, 7 pm

St. Joseph at Lakeland, 7 pm

Valparaiso at Penn, 7:30 pm

 

There is a lot of hype around Elkhart this year, people around the program are expecting big things from the Lions, but let's see if this crop of talent can put it together on the field. 

Can Riley take the next step after an amazing regular season last year?

LaPorte v New Prairie a stable in the Week 1 rivalries in Northern Indiana. I expect another solid season out of the Cougars and for them to avenge their Week 1 loss to LaPorte from last year.

Mishawaka v Marian, Mishawaka will take care of business, but can Marian build on their improvements from last year. 

Washington and Adams are in tough Week 1 games, I anticipate Culver Academy and Hammond Central to walk away with the wins.

St. Joe has not seen the north side of 5 wins since the 2018 season. Can Downey get the Huskies... back on track. 

Valpo v Penn there is speculation out there that this is the last game in the rivalry. With Penn looking to end it on a 3 game win streak. Penn and Valpo have been .500 with one another going back to 2016, in regular season play. 

[npcougar15]

 

Elkhart at Concord - Don't know much about either team. But there has been preseason hype around Elkhart for the last handful of seasons and not much to show. Good opening night contest

Hammond Central at Washington - Can Washington stop the downhill slide? Conference victories will be tough to come by so hopefully the Panthers can get some "W"s early in the year

Bishop Noll at Riley - Riley get's to beat up on an inferior opponent week 1. Big year for the Wildcats though. They had a good team last year but were inflated by a WEAK schedule. This team has to prove Riley can pump out a good team year in and year out or it's back to the basement in the new league

LaPorte at New Prairie - One of the better perennial opening week match-ups in the upper part of the state. I think NP takes a step back this season but will still be a tough out and could make noise in the post-season. The floor has been raised in New Carlisle. I'm thinking the Cougars will come out super focused to avenge last years disaster.

Mishawaka at Marian - This ones has been lopsided recently and I'm guessing it's going to be that way again. Mishawaka has a system that is tough to stop if you don't have the jimmy and joes and I haven't heard much about Marian this off-season.

Adams at Culver Academy - Never know what CMA brings to the table on a yearly basis but Adams has been horrible. Is there any change on the horizon for the Eagles?

St. Joseph at Lakeland - If there is one program that I can see taking a step forward it's the Indian's or Huskies or whatever they are these days. A good St. Joe is good for Michiana football

Valparaiso at Penn - Another great opening night match-up. is Penn getting back to a perennial power in the northern half? will be interesting to see their changing of the guard. Kind of cool that this is their 3rd football coach in about 549 years

[Rocket]

On 8/13/2024 at 8:52 AM, BLACKGOLD2007 said:

Elkhart at Concord, 7 pm

Hammond Central at Washington, 8 pm

Bishop Noll at Riley, 7:30 pm

LaPorte at New Prairie, 8 pm

Mishawaka at Marian, 7 pm

Adams at Culver Academy, 7 pm

St. Joseph at Lakeland, 7 pm

Valparaiso at Penn, 7:30 pm

 

There is a lot of hype around Elkhart this year, people around the program are expecting big things from the Lions, but let's see if this crop of talent can put it together on the field. 

Can Riley take the next step after an amazing regular season last year?

LaPorte v New Prairie a stable in the Week 1 rivalries in Northern Indiana. I expect another solid season out of the Cougars and for them to avenge their Week 1 loss to LaPorte from last year.

Mishawaka v Marian, Mishawaka will take care of business, but can Marian build on their improvements from last year. 

Washington and Adams are in tough Week 1 games, I anticipate Culver Academy and Hammond Central to walk away with the wins.

St. Joe has not seen the north side of 5 wins since the 2018 season. Can Downey get the Huskies... back on track. 

Valpo v Penn there is speculation out there that this is the last game in the rivalry. With Penn looking to end it on a 3 game win streak. Penn and Valpo have been .500 with one another going back to 2016, in regular season play. 

Definitely right about the Elkhart hype machine, all I’ve seen on social media this summer is people hyping them up. I’ll believe it when I see it.

I believe Riley takes a step back this year.

I don’t know what to think of the cougars this year, between the last 2 senior classes they’ve lost a ton of talent and have been less than impressive in their scrimmages so far. I don’t think they’ll show much against Michigan City on Friday. I do know the loss last year to Laporte is weighing heavy on the boys.

i believe Marian and St Joe will both be much improved over the last few years and sit close to the top of the standings by the end of the year.

penn will be Penn and take care of the conference.  would like to see them make some noise in 6a this year, the conference schedule doesn’t help them much.

good luck to all teams this season.

[Rocket]

After watching the NP vs MC scrimmage Friday a few things came to light. I believe the cougar defense will be their strong point this year with the offense way behind. Defensively it looks they’ll start 10 seniors with a couple studs returning. Offense needs a ton of work. The o-line seems pretty shaky and possibly haven’t figured out the right combo of kids yet. I’m guessing the QB will carry the load this year. They seem to be lacking a physical RB that can break tackles. I’m sure they didn’t show a lot during the scrimmage and might have a few weapons to put back there. I think by mid season they have the potential to get better and possibly make some noise.

[Coach Lou]

Looking forward to the Elkhart game. Still can't believe that neither Elkhart or Penn are ranked. Only NIC School I saw ranked was New Prairie in 4A

[BLACKGOLD2007]

Just have to win to prove everyone wrong...Problem is neither school has a hard schedule. 

[npcougar15]

New Prairie 33 LaPorte 14. Looks like a new cast of characters but same ole' Cougars. Game was not nearly as close as the score indicated. NP goes for about 400 total yards of offense compared to probably under 100 for the Slicers. LPs 2 scores came on the opening kickoff and a bad snap on a punt that they fell on in the end zone (NP had a 85 yard touchdown run called back before the punt). Cougars controlled the game all night long but 2 big plays kept laporte somewhat in it. 

Looks like a long season for LaPorte; they couldn't get or didn't have anything on offense. NP defense might be pretty good but I think LaPorte is going to struggle to score all season; especially in the DAC. 

[BLACKGOLD2007]

Results from Friday's games:

Concord 13, Elkhart 12

Culver Academy 36, Adams 14

Hammond Central 28, Washington 24

Lakeland 21, St. Joseph 20

Mishawaka 41, Marian 24

New Prairie 33, LaPorte 14

Penn 49, Valparaiso 42

Riley 35, Bishop Noll 0

 

I think the teams that won were the ones everyone was thinking were going to win. The Penn game was ugly if you are a defensive guy. Both teams offenses were unstoppable. I believe Penn's D was hurt by their O, the O was scoring fast...too fast. The D was on the field a lot, but seemed to keep fighting their hardest until the final whistle. 

New Prairie started slow it sounds like but avenged the hic-up from last year. 

Riley beat a bad team, so we learn nothing from this game, other than they won a game they were supposed to win. Unlike how they finished last season. 

Marian had the fans at Penn shocked for half the game, until Mishawaka finally flexed their muscles and pulled away. 

Lakeland has had St. Joe's number for the last two games. A tough loss for the newly branded Huskies.

Washington came close but fell short in a tough game with Hammond Central. Washington is now 1-3 against HC.

Adams was taken to the shed by CMA, making Adams 0-2 against CMA. In Adams' last 6 games they have given up 30+ points per game. Is Adams going to take over as the new Clay?

Edited August 26, 2024 by BLACKGOLD2007

[AT53]

8 hours ago, BLACKGOLD2007 said:

Results from Friday's games:

Concord 13, Elkhart 12

Culver Academy 36, Adams 14

Hammond Central 28, Washington 24

Lakeland 21, St. Joseph 20

Mishawaka 41, Marian 24

New Prairie 33, LaPorte 14

Penn 49, Valparaiso 42

Riley 35, Bishop Noll 0

 

I think the teams that won were the ones everyone was thinking were going to win. The Penn game was ugly if you are a defensive guy. Both teams offenses were unstoppable. I believe Penn's D was hurt by their O, the O was scoring fast...too fast. The D was on the field a lot, but seemed to keep fighting their hardest until the final whistle. 

New Prairie started slow it sounds like but avenged the hic-up from last year. 

Riley beat a bad team, so we learn nothing from this game, other than they won a game they were supposed to win. Unlike how they finished last season. 

Marian had the fans at Penn shocked for half the game, until Mishawaka finally flexed their muscles and pulled away. 

Lakeland has had St. Joe's number for the last two games. A tough loss for the newly branded Huskies.

Washington came close but fell short in a tough game with Hammond Central. Washington is now 1-3 against HC.

Adams was taken to the shed by CMA, making Adams 0-2 against CMA. In Adams' last 6 games they have given up 30+ points per game. Is Adams going to take over as the new Clay?

Im confused. Aren’t you the same @BLACKGOLD2007 that was concerned penn had a terrible offense and couldn’t “generate a fart”. Now penn is scoring too much and too quickly for your liking? SMH 

[BLACKGOLD2007]

10 hours ago, AT53 said:

Im confused. Aren’t you the same @BLACKGOLD2007 that was concerned penn had a terrible offense and couldn’t “generate a fart”. Now penn is scoring too much and too quickly for your liking? SMH 

Is it possible that teams in the past could not generate points or offensive consistent enough to help their defense. Penn teams from 2019-2021 were awful, they struggled to generate any momentum, they couldn't sustain drives and went three and out more often against top teams in the North and in 6A. 

Is it possible that I am reporting the facts because I was at the game, and giving my perspective of something we have not seen in years from the Penn offense. 

It has been since Zach Oakley that the offense has gone off so easily on a team of any significance. They scored so quickly it actually was hindering the defense. That is fact based on the events of the game against Valpo. I love the fact we scored, however it would have benefited the team more if they were able to take time off the clock. 

I think it is comical that you cant differentiate teams of the past and something that happened with a new set of players 4 days ago. 

SMH

[BSUKingsmen]

On 8/27/2024 at 7:21 AM, BLACKGOLD2007 said:

Is it possible that teams in the past could not generate points or offensive consistent enough to help their defense. Penn teams from 2019-2021 were awful, they struggled to generate any momentum, they couldn't sustain drives and went three and out more often against top teams in the North and in 6A. 

Is it possible that I am reporting the facts because I was at the game, and giving my perspective of something we have not seen in years from the Penn offense. 

It has been since Zach Oakley that the offense has gone off so easily on a team of any significance. They scored so quickly it actually was hindering the defense. That is fact based on the events of the game against Valpo. I love the fact we scored, however it would have benefited the team more if they were able to take time off the clock. 

I think it is comical that you cant differentiate teams of the past and something that happened with a new set of players 4 days ago. 

SMH

The outside linebackers were out of place often and didn't stay home. None of the linebackers or secondary tackled well at all. Corners constantly got caught peeking in and left their guy open. The safety constantly tries for highlight reel hits and doesn't wrap up as well as almost costing the game for Penn with a selfish showoff penalty at the end. If he didn't have a certain last name, he wouldn't get away with half of the stuff he does in practice.

[GOLDRUSH1985]

On 8/27/2024 at 7:21 AM, BLACKGOLD2007 said:

Is it possible that teams in the past could not generate points or offensive consistent enough to help their defense. Penn teams from 2019-2021 were awful, they struggled to generate any momentum, they couldn't sustain drives and went three and out more often against top teams in the North and in 6A. 

Is it possible that I am reporting the facts because I was at the game, and giving my perspective of something we have not seen in years from the Penn offense. 

It has been since Zach Oakley that the offense has gone off so easily on a team of any significance. They scored so quickly it actually was hindering the defense. That is fact based on the events of the game against Valpo. I love the fact we scored, however it would have benefited the team more if they were able to take time off the clock. 

I think it is comical that you cant differentiate teams of the past and something that happened with a new set of players 4 days ago. 

SMH

Spot on . In both cases the defense is left on the field to long . But , I will take this years scoring of points over the latter any day. don't think we will really see how good or bad the defense really is until the Sectional . 

[BLACKGOLD2007]

4 hours ago, BSUKingsmen said:

The outside linebackers were out of place often and didn't stay home. None of the linebackers or secondary tackled well at all. Corners constantly got caught peeking in and left their guy open. The safety constantly tries for highlight reel hits and doesn't wrap up as well as almost costing the game for Penn with a selfish showoff penalty at the end. If he didn't have a certain last name, he wouldn't get away with half of the stuff he does in practice.

Some of this can be attributed to week one issues, some of it was Valpo execution and I think the rest was being tired. 

You are on the field you give up a 7 play 80 yard td drive, just to have your Offense score in one or two plays, that is a couple minutes real time of rest to then have another 80 yard drive put on you. I think the D played pretty poorly. I think the issues they have will be masked by the weak schedule. 

Come Crown Point I think the D is in for another shoot out.