It has been one of those seasons where weather has impacted area games over the course of multiple weeks. Thankfully, we avoided the full fervor of the remnants of Hurricane Helene that postponed or canceled a lot of football in central Indiana and south on Friday.
But the wind and rain did make Friday’s action suspect when it came to the kicking and passing games, putting an onus on the rushing attack.
Let’s wrap up another week of the regular season with Bear Necessities.
SAC
• It was a record night on the ground for Carroll’s Nate Starks in the team’s 17-16 win over Wayne.
Not only did Starks lead the way with 172 yards and a touchdown, he became the Chargers’ all-time leading rusher with the performance.
It was cool to see, as Starks has battled injuries off and on the past two seasons. He saw significant time as a freshman in 2021 before busting out in his sophomore campaign, when he finished with 1,134 yards rushing and seven touchdowns as Carroll advanced to the 6A state championship game.
For his career, Starks has rushed for 2,215 yards. He breaks the previous record of 2,078 yards held by Jeff Becker.
• Wayne fell short against the Chargers, but it wasn’t for lack of effort, especially by senior Kimar Nelson.
The do-everything upperclassmen had another exceptional night, rushing for 80 yards and a touchdown to go with 17 tackles, three tackles for loss and a sack. The linebacker was even routinely beating Carroll offensive linemen on Friday night to make plays.
For the season, Nelson has 92 tackles, 17.5 tackles for loss and eight sacks. The fact that the 6-foot-2, 220-pound athlete isn’t being more heavily recruited is a crime.
• Kudos to the Bishop Luers defense, which had to come up with a pair of big stops over the course of its 10-8 win over North Side.
The first one saw the Legends find the end zone, only for the score to be called back by a penalty and the Knights get the defensive stop via an interception by McKale Woodson.
The other came in the fourth quarter when North had first-and-goal inside the 5-yard line. Big plays defensively and penalties pushed the Legends all the way out to the 15-yard line before turning the ball over on downs.
Two drives. Two big stands by the Knights stay in control of the SAC Small Division.
Bishop Luers needed all the help it could get from its defense, as the offense managed just 98 total yards on the windy, rainy night.
• About a decade ago, a three-star Fort Wayne product went to Notre Dame as an overlooked prospect, only to prosper in South Bend and find his way into the NFL.
That player was Carroll’s Drue Tranquill. Snider’s Brandon Logan may be on a similar trajectory.
The senior Irish commit had another difference-making night in the 35-0 rout of Homestead – picking off a pass and recovering a fumble for a touchdown.
The fumble was particularly memorable. Homestead bobbled a kickoff, with Logan laying a big hit on the Spartans’ Shane Bardwell as the ball bounced towards the end zone. Logan was then able to get up and fall on the ball across the goal line for the score.
Those were the kinds of plays we saw Tranquill make over the course of his prep career. It has become routine for Logan as well.
• Many were thrown for a loop in the second quarter of Snider’s game with Homestead when the Spartans lined up for a place kick from its own 38-yard line.
No, it wasn’t an 81-yard field goal attempt, but rather a free kick that was essentially a punt for the Spartans, going out of bounds at the Snider 30.
There is no rule, from high school to pro, that requires a team to use a punt-style drop kick on fourth down. You can place kick on fourth down as a “punt” anytime you want.
So what Homestead did was perfectly legal, and it’s surprising we don’t see it more at every level of the game.
• Kudos to the South Side Archers, which earned victory No. 1 on the season with a 9-7 dub over Concordia Lutheran. The ecstasy shown by players as the game ended displayed the emotions quite clearly in picking up a win after coming close in Weeks 1 and 2.
Over the last two seasons, South is 2-0 against Concordia and 0-14 against every other foe. Here’s hoping this win gets Coach Andre Goodwell’s squad some momentum for the rest of 2024.
NE8
• Dylan Krehl continues to run roughshod over opposing defenses for East Noble. His latest effort – 16 carries, 156 yards, two touchdowns – on Friday against Norwell was the latest in a series of big-time efforts by the senior.
He was exceptional in Week 5’s showdown with Leo, going for 218 yards and a score. For the season, he is averaging 9.4 yards a carry to go with seven scores. He also has 41 tackles, nine tackles for loss and a sack.
A superb all-around player for the Knights.
• It wasn’t just offense for Columbia City in its 70-point outburst against New Haven on Friday.
Gavin Smith had a pair of pick-sixes, the first for 25 yards. But it was the second one that was a doozy.
With New Haven attempting to climb back into the game in the second quarter, Smith got a pick at the 1-yard line and returned it 99 yards for a score. Smith now leads the Eagles with six INTs to go with a fumble recovery.
Andrew Furthmiller also got into the fun. The junior varsity player seeing time in mop-up duty took back a pick 56 yards to the house in the third quarter.
ACAC
• Who needs to complete a pass when you can run the ball?
It wasn’t the best night for passers, but Adams Central has made a habit of dominating games without much, or anything at all, through the air.
The Flying Jets broke open a tie game at halftime by out-scoring South Adams 20-0 in the second half in a 27-7 victory. Adams Central sophomore QB attempted just a pair of passes, both incomplete. Meanwhile, the Starfires surrendered 307 yards and four scores on the ground in the loss.
Blitz says it all the time. There is nothing more demoralizing than nothing exactly what a team is going to do and not being able to stop it.
That said, the Flying Jets are going to need to find some semblance of a passing game to have a shot at a deep postseason run in 2A. Adams Central’s best teams of late have been able to strike effectively through the air to keep defenses honest.
NECC/Area
• Prior to the undefeated showdown between West Noble and Garrett, Chargers coach Monte Mawhorter spoke to WANE-TV live on their 6 p.m. news about some folks questioning West Noble’s record due to its ease of schedule.
“We went 5-0, but everybody says we haven’t played anybody,” Mawhorter said. “After tonight, we will see what they say.”
Well, the detractors had plenty to say after Garrett’s 17-6 victory. Seth Pruitt was held to 33 yards on 15 carries by the Garrett defense in the 17-6 win over West Noble.
His previous low this season was 100 yards against Fairfield. It is the first time in six weeks that Pruitt has been out of the end zone.
West Noble can only play the schedule it is given, but the Chargers have not beaten a team with more than two wins. That’s not to say Mawhorter’s squad isn’t any good, but it is going to have to prove itself against good foes. The schedule continues to stiffen with a road trip to Lakeland in Week 7.
• Churubusco is very young, which means a lot of youth has had to step up in the Eagles’ three-game winning streak.
One of those has been Weston Ott, who had himself a game in Friday’s 18-0 shutout at Fremont. The sophomore accumulated 13 tackles, six tackles for loss, a pair of fumble recoveries, a pass broken up and a safety.
Cameron Lattimore, a junior, added 11 tackles and a pair of tackles for loss.
The youth of Churubusco could have easily lost their way during the 0-3 start to the campaign. Instead, they continued to work and have set themselves up to be a win away from the team’s first NECC Small Division title since 2018.
• Not a bad night for junior Hawk Hasselman, who led Angola to a 47-8 rout of Fairfield for the team’s first NECC Big Division win of the season.
The do-everything Hornet threw a pair of touchdown passes, rushed for three more scores, kicked five extra points and scored on a 46-yard pick-six
Hasselman, the youngest of a trio of Hasselmans that have suited up for Angola, is one of the top all-around athletes in northeast Indiana. Blitz wishes he got more attention.
• NorthWood kicker Dominic De Frietas shocked many when he nailed a 60-yard field goal last week in a one-point win over Northridge.
He took it a step (foot?) further on Friday, opening the scoring against Concord with an IHSAA-record 62-yard field goal that would have likely been good from 65. De Freitas is the No. 5 ranked kicker in the Class of 2025 per Kohls Kicking, one of the preeminent kicking academies in the country.
QUICK HITS
Columbia City’s 70 points in its shutout win over New Haven is the most points scored in program history dating back to 1922…New Haven’s 70 points allowed is the most since DeKalb beat the Bulldogs 97(!)-0 on Sept. 2, 1994…Bishop Luers is 7-0 over the course of two years in SAC Small Division play.
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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