Last year at this time, we looked at East Noble with new coach Alex Stewart and expected the season to be a rebuilding job of sorts. Give Coach Stewart a year or two and he will have the Knights humming along just like former coach Luke Amstutz.
All Coach Stewart’s team did was roll through the Northeast Eight with a perfect 7-0 record, win 13 games and advance to the Class 4A state championship game, the program’s first appearance in Indianapolis in five years.
So much for needing time to rebuild.
Plenty of strong and sound linemen return, headlined by Hunter Shire up front along with fellow senior Hunter Smithson at center. The unit will be protecting senior Rylee Biddle, who threw for 1,784 yards and 23 touchdowns last year while rushing for 276 more yards and eight scores.
Do-everything athlete Dylan Krehl is gone, as is Dallas Plattner, putting the focus on juniors Ian Ramey and Alex Phillips in the backfield.
Mason Treesh, the leading receiver from a year ago, opens the season injured, leaving a big void in terms of weapons on the outside for Biddle. Phillips is versatile enough to play out wide if needed, although look for some new names to emerge early on in the season.
The Knights lost studs at every level of the defense – Pace Agee and Gavin Sparkman up front, Kobe Ritchie at linebacker and Logan Hatton at safety. Seniors Ayden Ley, Andrew Oakes and Biddle will need to pick up some of the slack, while junior Alex Scott is a star in the making on the back end at safety. Tayden Getts is an emerging player on the edge.
East Noble even has to replace its kicker in First Team All-NE8 honoree Alex Sprague.
While there is a lot of stalwarts from a year ago gone, Biddle is exceptional and the junior class is budding with potential.
WHY #4?
Yes, No. 4 is high for a team with so much production out the door, but Biddle alone makes this offense that averaged 37 points per game last season a dangerous unit.
Coach Stewart is going to need new contributors to deliver, and quickly. While this isn’t a team that looks the part of a state finalist, neither did last year’s. But admittedly, there was more proven production entering 2024.
Starting the year with Wayne and Snider is a good way to find out where you are at. To Blitz, East Noble is in a place where it is still the favorite in the NE8.
WHY NOT HIGHER?
Some will say this is too high for a team that graduated so much. It very could be proven true, but there is a considerable lack of sure things in northeast Indiana this year entering Week 1. And with Leo and Columbia City, the two main contenders in the NE8, both facing questions as well, East Noble’s ability to reload grants them some appreciation from Blitz.
CRUCIAL GAME
Week 5 vs. Leo
Let’s fire up this rivalry again, shall we?
Not only is this annually circled as one of the big games in the NE8, these two have met in the playoffs in each of the last six seasons, including a 21-0 shutout by East Noble a season ago.
This matchup is always hotly contested, and in recent years has had a direct impact on who wins the league title. Expect nothing less this time around.
CRITICAL PLAYER
The defensive line
Between Pace Agee, Gavin Sparkman and Trace Cain, the three seniors of a year ago combined for 41 tackles for loss and nine sacks. That production must be replaced, if it even can be.
East Noble’s run to state saw the Knights firing on all cylinders, but the defense sometimes got overlooked due to the numbers the offense was putting up. Between Sept. 27 and Nov. 15 against Mishawaka in semistate, the defense allowed just 6.4 points per game, including shutouts of Leo and Bishop Dwenger.
The new crew filling the holes up front need to deliver. No matter what Biddle and the offense does, the defense, particularly in the trenches, must be sound for this team to repeat as NE8 champs.
Be the first to comment