Just when you think we have to wait a few weeks for the playoffs for things to get crazy, we had Friday night.
South Side beating Luers.
Chaos in Columbia City.
Some surprise wins for road teams in the SAC and ACAC.
Lot to get to in Bear Necessities.
SAC
• How about those South Side Archers?
As he made his way home from Columbia City, Blitz was shocked to hear the final score – South 14, Bishop Luers 13.
How did it go down? Two heroes in particular.
With the game tied at seven in the fourth quarter, a ballsy call by Coach Andre Goodwell had junior Josiah Malone take the snap in punt formation and take off running. Not only did he pick up the first down, he ran down the sideline for a go-ahead touchdown with less than a minute left.
Bishop Luers wasn’t done though as Devin Patterson hit Ben Kiracofe for a 22-yard touchdown with just seconds left.
That is when hero No. 2 made himself known, as sophomore Detrick Smith III was able to block the tying extra point, preserving the win for the Archers.
So cool to see and a program builder for Coach Goodwell. It was South’s first win over their rival down Calhoun St. since 2013.
• When it comes to upsets in the SAC, where does South over Luers rank? Sure, this isn’t your typical, high-powered Knights team, but it was in line to win the B Division with the victory with a chance to tie Carroll for the league title with some help.
The standard is Elmhurst beating Bishop Dwenger in 2003. It is arguably the biggest upset in the history of the city, with the Trojans ending their 64-game losing streak by beating the No. 1-ranked Saints in Week 1 of the season.
South’s win doesn’t come close to surpassing Elmhurst’s victory, but could it be the biggest upset in 20 years in the SAC?
• Congratulations to the Carroll Chargers, who by virtue of Bishop Luers’ loss are your SAC champions.
The only team that can tie Carroll is Snider, but the Chargers hold the tiebreaker due to a head-to-head win.
The Chargers are in Year 10 as a member of the SAC. In the first five years, Carroll accumulated a league record of 27-18. In the last five years, Coach Doug Dinan’s program is 36-4 against conference foes.
• Lost in North Side’s 3-7 campaign a season ago was the performance of freshman Maalik Moore, who led the Legends in receiving yards with 430 to go with a pair of touchdowns.
The 6-foot-3 athlete has only improved in his sophomore campaign. His latest heroics came Friday in North’s surprising 42-12 rout of Wayne. Moore hauled in three touchdown receptions on four total catches for 141 yards. He also picked off a pair of passes on defense.
For the year, Moore leads the Legends in receptions (28), yards (505) and receiving touchdowns (eight), as well as interceptions (four).
NE8
• Congratulations to Columbia City for the huge 21-18 win over Leo. The Lions have now lost its two games by a combined nine points, including the loss to East Noble in Week 5.
Here’s the thing, all three teams reside in the same sectional – Class 4A Sectional 19. Leo feels like it should have won at Columbia City, and believes it let one get away against East Noble as well.
The sectional draw will be very interesting, because if Blitz was East Noble or Columbia City, he’d be wary about drawing the Lions. They are gonna have revenge on their minds.
ACAC
• How about Woodlan?
In Coach Brock Rohrbacher’s first season at the helm, the Warriors are now 5-3, the most wins in a campaign for the program since the trip to the state championship in 2017.
Rohrbacher has a mix of young and old, but how about senior Ty Louden? Entering Friday, he was averaging less than one yard per carry on 41 carries. 41! While the average didn’t jump up considerably against South Adams in a 35-28 victory, Louden did score for the first time this season. Not once, not twice, but three rushing scores.
Louden finished with 16 yards on nine carries. Not a break-out performance, but hey, all that matters is finding paydirt.
NECC/Area
• History was made in West Noble’s 58-0 drubbing of Churubusco, as Seth Pruitt became the program’s all-time leading rusher with his 140-yard effort on the ground.
Seth surpassed his brother Brandon for the honor. Seth also trails his brother by 190 yards for most rushing yards in a season.
Brandon Pruitt rushed for 1,555 yards for the Chargers in the 2018 season.
• Buried amongst other headlines in Week 8 was Prairie Heights’ 14-7 road dub at Fremont in which the Panthers had to come from behind to get the win and even their record at 4-4.
The offense rushed for 184 yards and the defense amassed six sacks in the win.
Why was this game important? Prairie Heights now has four wins in a season for just the second time in the last 12 years.
While traditionally not in the discussion for sectional titles, the fact that Prairie Heights is a talking point this deep in the season really says something about Coach Pat McCrea’s team.
• It really felt like Warsaw’s season was on the brink in the first quarter of Friday’s game against NorthWood. The Panthers scored the first 21 points of the game and looked poised to run away with the win.
But the Tigers went to work, scoring 35 unanswered and not giving up another point.
Warsaw ended up rushing for 390 yards for the game and has now won two straight over solid opponents – NorthWood and Mishawaka.
QUICK HITS
Bishop Luers is currently averaging 25.2 points per game. That is decent, but if it holds, will be the lowest offensive scoring average for the Knights since 2019. That Luers team finished 3-8…Adams Central has won the ACAC four straight years, but it still has a ways to go to reach Leo’s mark. The Lions won at least a share of the league six-consecutive seasons from 2009-14…Caiden Hinkle’s six rushing touchdowns tied a DeKalb program record…South Adams was 0-for-6 on fourth down against Woodlan…Homestead had as many fourth-down conversations (one) as Concordia had third-down conversions (finished 1-of-10).
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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