Heading into the first Friday of the season, Blitz was asked by several of his pals where he was headed to start the year.
Warren Central and Snider? Nah.
Hamilton Southeastern at Carroll? Pass.
Making the trek to Carmel to see the Greyhounds and Homestead? Not sure bears are allowed on campus there, actually.
Instead of a 6A showdown, Blitz wanted to take in a local non-conference tilt, one that potentially previews things to come between two proud conferences.
Leo and Bishop Luers lived up to the billing on Friday at Luersfield. It had moments for both teams, capped by Grayson Esquerra’s 40-yard strike to Jaxon Keller in the closing minutes of regulation to propel the Lions to the 20-17 victory.
There was area bragging rights on the line. Bishop Luers and all its big, shiny state championship trophies against Leo, which always seems to seeking validation when people ask the question, ‘Yeah, but how would you do in the SAC?’
The Lions earned those bragging rights, for a year at least. The beauty of Leo v. Bishop Luers? We get it again to start 2025 when the Knights hit the road to northern Allen County.
While Bishop Luers may not think so, it was a perfect start to the season off East Paulding Road on Friday. Two of the top programs in the two best leagues in the area – SAC and NE8.
We are seeing some other showdowns between the two conferences as well. New Haven and Northrop played all-offense, no-defense at Spuller on Friday. Snider and East Noble clash next week. Luers takes on New Haven and Northrop goes to Huntington North in Week 2.
The early-season opportunities for NE8 v. SAC games work perfectly. Both play non-conference games in weeks 1 and 2 before beginning league play.
Now, Blitz understands it is easier said than done. It is up to the individual programs to schedule their non-conference games, and some may not want to play each other. But what if the two conferences got together and hammered out, beginning in say, 2026, eight games over the course of the first two weeks of the season where the SAC plays the NE8?
Yes, Blitz understands SAC is a 10-team league, but let’s be clear. Homestead and Carroll will not be playing any NE8 foes anytime soon. Too much love lost there, with the then-Northeast Hoosier Conference essentially started a new conference without Homestead and Carroll and added Huntington North and Leo.
Don’t think for a second the emotions around that whole saga have died down much.
But think about it. Leo vs. Snider. East Noble vs. Bishop Dwenger. Luers vs. Columbia City. Wayne vs. DeKalb. All the way down to Bellmont vs. Concordia Lutheran. True bragging rights over which league reigns supreme in northeast Indiana from year to year.
As for Friday, it was impressive to see Leo hit the ground running with Esguerra. On his first varsity drive at QB, he connected with Landin Hoeppner over the middle for a 23-yard touchdown. His strike to Keller late showed supreme confidence in his abilities.
Meanwhile, Bishop Luers is still working to find a true starting QB, with a back-and-forth system between a pair of guys. The defense of the Knights is going to keep them in a lot of games while the offense finds itself. It also had some guys sidelined, including starting center Michael Brough and linebacker Colin Weber.
And Brock Schott? Well, Blitz is going to say this a lot this year. How in God’s name did Notre Dame not offer the Leo senior? He was an absolute terror on Friday. He had at least three sacks that Blitz witnessed, and was finding space offensively from his tight end spot. His biggest impact was on Bishop Luers’ final drive and didn’t even show up in the box score. To ensure that Knights quarterback Devin Patterson had time in the pocket, Luers double teamed, then triple-teamed Schott to keep him astray. All that did is allow other Leo defensive linemen to get penetration and disrupt the offense.
What did we learn? We learned that Leo will continue to roll and Bishop Luers, once it gets healthy and some experience on offense, will be just fine.
The night also reinforced just how cool an NE8 vs. SAC yearly showdown would be.
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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