Another week down in our march to the postseason, which now looms barely a month away.
But there is plenty to decide between now and then.
Let’s wrap up Week 6 with your favorite feature of the weekend – Bear Necessities.
SAC
• There were some eye-popping numbers put up by North Side in its 50-49 victory over Homestead – with Jontae Lambert rushing for over 300 yards and Bohde Dickerson throwing for four scores.
But the most impressive, and perhaps most important, performance was from Fernando Ramirez.
Who?
The Legends kicker was a perfect 6-of-6 on PAT attempts and has hit all of his extra points over the past two weeks.
Is he new? Blitz asked Coach Ben Johnson.
“Same kicker, he has just been able to be at practice the last few weeks,” Johnson said.
Ramirez is a soccer player as well, and with the soccer season winding down he has been able to attend football practice and work on his kicks.
Considering North Side wouldn’t even consider trying PATs earlier in the season, the ability of Ramirez to come in and be near-automatic following touchdowns is huge.
• How about the debut of Braxton Bermes?
In his first varsity start, the sophomore quarterback for Bishop Dwenger tossed three touchdowns without a pick in the Saints’ 41-12 victory over Concordia Lutheran.
With Sam Campbell sidelined due to injury, perhaps for the season, Dwenger has had to turn to Bermes. While certainly the Saints’ QB1 of the future, Bermes has been thrust into the role as a 10th grader, never an easy spot.
Against the Cadets, Bermes showed the potential that Coach Jason Garrett is excited about.
• Charlie Stanski continued his exceptional senior season for Bishop Luers by throwing for 221 yards and a pair of touchdowns in a 35-10 win over Northrop.
Stanski entered Week 6 as the leading passer in the SAC in terms of yards. He has now thrown for 1,280 yards and nine touchdowns against a trio of interceptions.
As we look towards the postseason and the Knights’ chances, you have to feel good about the leadership and play from the QB1 position.
NE8
• How important is Norwell’s defensive dominance to the team?
Late in the fourth quarter of the 45-0 rout of East Noble, Norwell had an opportunity to preserve the shutout by stopping a drive that had moved close to the goal line.
Norwell didn’t let up, stopping a pass on fourth down just outside the end zone to preserve the shutout.
The Knights have allowed just a pair of touchdowns all season and lead the state in points allowed per game at 2.3.
• Blitz has never seen two onside kicks recovered in the same game, let alone three.
But that’s exactly what Columbia City did on Friday against New Haven. It began the game with an onsides recovery, then added two more after scores later in the game. Solid effort by Martin Smith on the kicks, especially considering he was there to recover the very first onside.
The plan was two-fold, avoid kicking the ball deep to Mylan Graham and to take advantage of New Haven not employing its hands team up front. Columbia City capitalized on three different tries, all of which resulted in a scrum in which the Eagles emerged with the ball.
• We think of Brock Schott as a versatile offensive player for Leo, but against Bellmont he showcased why he is a solid defender as well.
The sophomore accumulated eight tackles and recovered a fumble for a touchdown in the Lions’ lopsided victory and continues to make an impact seemingly every week in some capacity for Leo.
• How about Tegan Irk on the short list for MVP in the area?
With his 390-yard, five-touchdown effort in DeKalb‘s wild 56-48 win over Huntington North, the senior has now thrown for 16 touchdowns against just a single interception this season.
The Barons have been able to consistently put up points this year, but have struggled to stop anybody defensively, making Irk’s ability to sling the ball around the field of maximum importance to DeKalb’s chances to get some dubs.
Irk’s play definitely was the catalyst on Friday.
In the meantime, Derek Overbay broke DeKalb’s single game reception record, catching 13 of Irk’s passes. The record was formerly held by a couple of top tier receivers in Will Chrisman and Donnie Wiley.
ACAC
• How lopsided was the rushing game in the Adams Central-South Adams matchup?
The Flying Jets amassed 460 yards on the ground in the 45-20 victory, averaging 8.5 yards per attempt. Meanwhile, the Starfires officially had minus-14 yards rushing, factoring in limited attempts on the ground (11) coupled with four AC sacks.
Ryan Tester went for 174 yards and a score – a 63-yard jaunt in the first quarter, while Keegan Bluhm added 128 yards and three scores. Gavin Cook (76 yards) and Ryan Black (69 yards, two TDs) also got in on the fun rushing.
South Adams was led on the ground by Mav Summersett‘s seven yards on five attempts.
• Heritage had a shot at Lapel late in Friday’s game with a 14-play drive that began at their own 18 yard line. It took up over five minutes of the fourth quarter with the Patriots down by five, but the Lapel defense held as Coach Casey Kolkman‘s team had to go for it on fourth down just inside the 38.
The play failed to pick up the first and Lapel was able to run out the clock to preserve the win.
• It was another big week for Drew Fleek of Woodlan, who rushed for 135 yards and a pair of touchdowns in the Warriors’ 40-33 victory over Jay County.
Fleek has been consistently good of late for Coach Mike Smith‘s squad, having rushed for at least 89 yards in each of the past three weeks, with one or more touchdowns in each.
The sophomore is one of the emerging offensive standouts in the ACAC and will need to continue to produce over the final third of the regular season as Woodlan gets Culver Academy next week before playing South Adams and Adams Central to close out the regular season.
NECC/Area
• With starting quarterback Carter Kitson out, Fairfield had difficulty in working the offense on Friday against Angola, being held to just 86 total yards, seven first downs and one third-down conversion.
The idiosyncrasies of the triple option can take a long time to refine, and with Kitson out sophomore Brooks Custer was thrust into the QB1 role. He completed his one pass attempt, but was held to minus-5 yards rushing on 10 attempts.
A great job defensively by Angola, which effectively wrapped up the NECC Big Division with the victory.
QUICK HITS
North Side is now 1-6 all-time against Homestead…Concordia Lutheran gained 360 total yards in its loss to Dwenger, all but two yards came through the air…Carroll‘s 6-0 start is the fourth in team history (1976, 1988, 2014, 2022)…Snider has scored 40-plus points in four consecutive games, the longest streak for the program since they surpassed that mark in six straight games on the way to the 2015 state championship…Snider’s Kamari Juarez returned not one, but two kickoffs for scores on Friday…Lakeland has won three of its last four games for the first time since 2018.
These opinions represent those of Blitz and Outside the Huddle. No opinions expressed on Outside the Huddle represent those of any of our advertisers. Follow Blitz on Twitter at Blitz_OTH
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