NLC - 2024 Season

[Coach Lou]

Redskins7391 sounds like a good plan. I would think with the need for teachers #2 shouldn't be a problem.

I know we have some of the same issues here in Elkhart. Got to recruit and why his recruiting back ground should help.

[WawaseeFan22]

On 1/22/2024 at 6:58 AM, Coach Lou said:

3 Reported IHSAA sideline issues is very concerning. 

Does sound like the new coach has a re-build project on his hands.

With his college experience I wonder if he will use any of those contacts to put together a coaching staff.

Any word on the Wawasee job?

 

I believe they are down the final 2-3 people.  Should be announced in the next week or two

[WCHS Tiger Fan]

9 hours ago, Coach Lou said:

Redskins7391 sounds like a good plan. I would think with the need for teachers #2 shouldn't be a problem.

I know we have some of the same issues here in Elkhart. Got to recruit and why his recruiting back ground should help.

the IHSAA is going to try and stop Recruiting from town to town in Sports

[US31]

11 hours ago, WCHS Tiger Fan said:

the IHSAA is going to try and stop Recruiting from town to town in Sports

I beleive the issue at Goshen is actually recruiting your own kids to come out/or to not move elsewhere.

But to answer your question, not likely.  In the Indy metro area, kids are switching schools so often you'd think there is a transfer portal in high school sports.

[NRRaider2001]

[Coach Lou]

It is something to see how far the Northridge program has come in the last 12 years.

Coach Wogomon got things started and Coach Eppley has kept it rising to new levels.

[cdcotton]

https://gridirondigest.net/profile/2600-wawaseefan22/

Commenting on rumors about two schools while applying to keep an assistant coaching job under a new coach isn't a great look. I'd reconsider your approach here if you'd like to keep coaching.

I've coached at both places being mentioned. Most recently at the school where you allege there were 3 IHSAA write-ups. This forum is the first place I have heard mention of these complaints. So, one of two things is true here. The AD didn't do his job and address it with this staff - and given the level of enmity he had for us I find that unlikely. Or, the complaints never happened. I honestly can't say which. But I will ask if you've ever seen that particular AD work the officials and table help in the sport he has coached. Actions speak volumes. And I will let my sideline/dugout demeanor over my 2-1/2 decades of coaching speak for itself.

I care only about what my former players have to say about me. I only logged in here because so many people were texting me about the allegations. Best of luck in your coaching job search WawaseeFan22.

[Coach Lou]

If this IHSAA write ups at Goshen really happened wouldn't you be able to look it up with the IHSAA?

Is this possibly why Coach Wogomon stepped down or was he asked to resign?

[Bobref]

50 minutes ago, Coach Lou said:

If this IHSAA write ups at Goshen really happened wouldn't you be able to look it up with the IHSAA?

Only if there is formal action taken, as reflected in the minutes of a meeting.

Anytime there is unsportsmanlike behavior on the part of a member of the coaching staff, the game officials must report it to the IHSAA. This usually leads to a conversation between the coach, his AD, and Asst. Commissioner Faulkens. My understanding is that Mr. Faulkens does almost all of the talking in that conversation.

[Coach Lou]

So these write ups would be filed by the game officials and not the schools AD?

[Bobref]

21 minutes ago, Coach Lou said:

So these write ups would be filed by the game officials and not the schools AD?

If they were reports of unsportsmanlike conduct on the part of staff members, they would come from the crew chief. The officials have no discretion here. If there’s an unsportsmanlike act that goes unreported, the officials have been told they will be disqualified from tournament participation.

[cdcotton]

9 hours ago, Coach Lou said:

If this IHSAA write ups at Goshen really happened wouldn't you be able to look it up with the IHSAA?

Is this possibly why Coach Wogomon stepped down or was he asked to resign?

No. Resignation was tendered in early September. 

[Coach Lou]

Wow I didn't realize Coach Wogomon resigned well before the season was over!!

 

Matt Thacker moving from Fairfield to be named new head coach at Wawasee. 

Great hire for Wawasee!! NLC Defensive Coordinators better be ready to defend the option with Warsaw, Mishawaka, and now Wawasee being option offenses in 2024.

[NLCTigerFan07]

Interesting changes coming next year to the 2 of the "largest" schools in the conference will be bumping down classes.

Warsaw drops 2 spots from 30th to 32nd largest high school in the state, but thanks to FW Snider and Cathedral playing up in 6A due to Success Factor points, they will move to 5A.

Meanwhile, Mishawaka saw a decent drop going from 56th to 66th, and will be playing in class 4A. Will be interesting to see how they group together 4A North and how many NLC schools will be in the same sectional.

Rank / Previous Rank / Enrollment / Class / School
32 / 30 / 2,108 / 5A / Warsaw
38 / 36 / 2,006 / 5A / Goshen
49 / 52 / 1,730 / 5A / Concord
66 / 56 / 1,422 / 4A / Mishawaka
69 / 67 / 1,393 / 4A / Northridge
94 / 92 / 1,054 / 4A / Plymouth
111 / 110 / 895 / 4A / Wawasee
116 / 115 / 869 / 4A / NorthWood

Interesting that every school dropped a spot or two (besides Mishawaka) but the only school that went UP was Concord.

Also of note - the NLC went to the rotating conference schedule recently, while keeping a common opponent for Week 9. Originally, they split it up so that the four 4A schools did not play each other in Week 9, hopefully preventing from teams playing in Week 9 and then meeting up again the very next week in Round 1 of Sectionals.

[Coach Lou]

Speculation has Goshen, Warsaw, Concord being joined by S.B. Adams in the same sectional.

I also saw the Elliott kid signed to play at Ball State giving Goshen 2 players head to D1 next season.

 

[NLCTigerFan07]

5 hours ago, Coach Lou said:

Speculation has Goshen, Warsaw, Concord being joined by S.B. Adams in the same sectional.

I would say that is all but a given at this point. Warsaw moves into Mishawaka's slot in the sectional alignment and makes the most sense.

[NLCTigerFan07]

It will be interesting to see how the 4A sectionals end up getting assigned. One reason the NLC went to the rotating conference schedule, with a "set" Week 9 opponent, was to prevent the chances of teams playing in Week 9, and then again the next week in the first round of sectionals. With Mishawaka dropping to 4A this next cylce, and their Week 9 opponent being Wawasee (also class 4A), that could cause an issue there.

However, when looking at the teams that are in 4A, I think there is a good chance Mishawaka and Wawasee will end up in different sectionals.

My best guess as to how things will shake out in 4A North:

Sectional 17: East Chicago Central, Gary West, Hanover Central, Highland, Hobart, Kankakee Valley, Lowell, New Prairie
Sectional 18: Culver Academies, Mishawaka, Northridge, NorthWood, Plymouth, SB Riley, SB St Joseph, SB Washington
Sectional 19: Columbia City, DeKalb, East Noble, FW Dwenger, FW South, Leo, New Haven, Wawasee
Sectional 20: FW Wayne, Frankfort, Huntington North, Lebanon, Logansport, Marion, Muncie Central, Yorktown

Where it could get weird is if for some reason the IHSAA decides to put Wawasee in Sectional 18 over Culver Academies (who could go to Sectional 20 and FW Wayne go to Sectional 19). I think that's truly where the decision lies. Where do they put Culver Academies and Wawasee? The rest of Sectional 17 and 18 are set.

Edited April 5, 2024 by NLCTigerFan07

[00NWP]

It appears that NorthWood and Mishawaka are getting turf this off season.  With only Concord keeping a grass playing field.  Do we think that will be an advantage for Concord?  Does anyone know if Concord is talking about turf, as it would make sense with their band being really good.  Also, how does everyone like having 3 misdirection offenses this upcoming year (i would assume Wawasee is going to switch their offense with the new coach)?

[NLCTigerFan07]

On 4/8/2024 at 10:44 AM, 00NWP said:

Also, how does everyone like having 3 misdirection offenses this upcoming year (i would assume Wawasee is going to switch their offense with the new coach)?

Definitely will be interesting to see how it impacts NorthWood, Goshen, Plymouth, and Northridge. I miss when it was just Warsaw running the offense when Coach Curtis came over in 2018, then Mishawaka joined the conference in 2020, now Wawasee likely running a variation of the offense means NLC defenses will have plenty of practice time spent preparing against it.

Side note - the conference schedule reshuffles this year (and next year) as part of the conference rotation plan through the 2033 season. Definitely some interesting tidbits with that change up.

Warsaw - ends the next two seasons with quite the gauntlet of Mishawaka, NorthWood, Northridge in weeks 7-9.

For this season, both Warsaw and Concord get a little "screwed", playing their final home game in week 7 while having to go on the road both weeks 8 and 9. With that, Wawasee and NorthWood play 3 of their final 4 games at home, with back-to-back home games weeks 8 and 9.

Goshen also gets a little jipped by the schedule change, playing 3 of their final 4 games on the road (weeks 6, 7, and 9).

For the first time since the IHSAA went to a 9 game regular season schedule in 1997, US 30 rivals Warsaw and Plymouth will not be playing in Week 3 to open up their conference schedules. Definitely strange! Also, with Labor Day being "early" this year - no NLC team will have to deal with Blueberry Festival parking in Plymouth. Typically a pain in the butt for Warsaw fans every other year, the Rockies will host Columbia City the weekend of Labor Day. Good luck to those Eagles fans finding out about that parking situation!

Another first since the IHSAA went to a 9 game regular season schedule in 1997, Kosciusko County rivals Warsaw and Wawasee will face off prior to week 7 for the "W" Trophy game. The Tigers and Warriors will battle in week 4 each of the next two seasons, which will be the earliest they match up until meeting in week 3 in the 2030 and 2031 seasons.

Concord has a heck of a schedule the next two years with Elkhart County rivals Elkhart and Jimtown weeks 1 and 2, then start the NLC schedule with Mishawaka, Northridge, Warsaw, and NorthWood. They will play those 4 NLC foes in a consectutive manner over the next 4 seasons, and in 8 of the next 10 seasons.

[NLCTigerFan07]

I posted this in another thread - but felt like sharing here in the NLC thread.

Warsaw has had almost 2 decades of really good kickers - I may be missing one or two, but off the top of my head, I can remember the following kickers in the last 20 years that have gone on to play at the collegiate level:

Jeremy Sharp - Rose-Hulman
Jordan Quiroz - Butler
Jake Rogers - Cincinnati (made it to the final cut in 2 or 3 NFL preseasons, but never made an NFL roster)
Matt Franco - Indianapolis (I think he played on the Greyhound soccer team too - or maybe he only played soccer in college)
Andrew Mevis - Fordham / Iowa State (was cut by Jacksonville Jaguars during training camp and has bounced around the UFL and IFL)
Harrison Mevis - Missouri (currently signed by the Carolina Panthers)
Mason Smythe - current Warsaw kicker that will most likely go D1

8 kickers in 20ish years of football going on to play at the collegiate level, 3 at the D1 level and another likely headed that direction is honestly pretty crazy when you think about it.

[Plymouthfan91]

On 5/9/2024 at 9:48 AM, NLCTigerFan07 said:

I posted this in another thread - but felt like sharing here in the NLC thread.

Warsaw has had almost 2 decades of really good kickers - I may be missing one or two, but off the top of my head, I can remember the following kickers in the last 20 years that have gone on to play at the collegiate level:

Jeremy Sharp - Rose-Hulman
Jordan Quiroz - Butler
Jake Rogers - Cincinnati (made it to the final cut in 2 or 3 NFL preseasons, but never made an NFL roster)
Matt Franco - Indianapolis (I think he played on the Greyhound soccer team too - or maybe he only played soccer in college)
Andrew Mevis - Fordham / Iowa State (was cut by Jacksonville Jaguars during training camp and has bounced around the UFL and IFL)
Harrison Mevis - Missouri (currently signed by the Carolina Panthers)
Mason Smythe - current Warsaw kicker that will most likely go D1

8 kickers in 20ish years of football going on to play at the collegiate level, 3 at the D1 level and another likely headed that direction is honestly pretty crazy when you think about it.

Yet the "missed" FG at Plymouth in 2018 still haunts...

[NLCTigerFan07]

21 hours ago, Plymouthfan91 said:

Yet the "missed" FG at Plymouth in 2018 still haunts...

Easily the worst and most egregious call I have ever seen! 😆 It is what it is at this point lol - but man 'o man that was a bad one

[Plymouthfan91]

On 5/14/2024 at 12:06 PM, NLCTigerFan07 said:

Easily the worst and most egregious call I have ever seen! 😆 It is what it is at this point lol - but man 'o man that was a bad one

Maybe the worst call I have ever seen.

[00NWP]

Week 1 has finally arrived and I feel like the NLC standings may look a bit different than the have the last couple of years. 

This 1st week, I will predict how the league will finish just to see how far off I am at the end of the season.

Here are my week 1 thoughts / predictions:

Fairfield at Goshen: I don't like this game nor do I think Goshen should schedule it.  I understand the "rivalry", however, it does nothing for Goshen other than bring their spirits down if they lose.  This year...I see Goshen doing what Goshen should be doing in this game.  I feel like Goshen will be better than the last couple of years and may win a few games this year.  Goshen 21 Fairfield 14

North at Northridge: Last year FW North had a lot of hype at the beginning of the year and that tapered off.  While I don't think NR will be great this year, I do feel they will win Friday. NR 28 FW North 14

Michigan City at Warsaw:  I don't think I am the only person who thinks Warsaw will be good this year. In my opinion...Warsaw will be very good.  Call me crazy, but I think Warsaw will roll through the NLC without much competition.  I would even say I would take the over under with Warsaw against Warren Central.  Warsaw may also have one of the easiest paths to make it to Indy in 5A.  With that said I don't see MC being much of an issue for Warsaw.  Warsaw 35 MC 7

Mishawaka at Marian: While I do think Marian will be better this year and Mishawaka will be down...Mishawaka should handle them with ease.  Mishawaka 28 Marian 7

NorthWood at Jimtown:  Kind of like the game before...I think NW is going to have a decent year, however, not as good as the previous two seasons...a lot of graduation.  I think it will take a couple of games for NW to find itself this year.  Jimtown is trending up and I do feel they will be playing for a conference championship...however, I do not believe they will get Doc Abel's bag this year.  NW 28 Jimtown 7

Twin Lakes at Plymouth:  Plymouth will be improved this year and may win a couple of games.  I have no idea what to think or say about Twin Lakes so I am going with the NLC choice.  Plymouth 21 TL 14?

Wawasee at Tippy Valley: Wawasee...its going to be a long fall down in Syracuse.  I understand the history with the NLC and the "good old days" when they used to be in the mix...but I feel like its time for them to move on to a conference where they can compete.  Where?  I don't know...will they...No.  Tippy Valley will be playing for a conference championship...with their awful uniforms.  Tippy Valley 35 Wawasee 6

Here are my conference predictions: 

Warsaw

Concord

NorthWood

Mishawaka

Northridge

Goshen

Plymouth

Wawasee

[MarshallCounty]

I didn't attend and this is second hand information, but was told Goshen did not fair well against Bremen. If this is inaccurate, I apologize.