High school football is back, and we already have plenty to talk about after Week 1.
Post-Week 1 is always interesting because you have folks ready to make snap judgements on 48 minutes of football. This team is great, that team stinks, etc.
For those unfamiliar, yours truly will be here every weekend to wrap up the Friday that was. We will look back at some of the top plays, stats, fun facts and more from game day as Blitz provides his opinion about it all, conference by conference.
SAC
•The Summit Athletic Conference picked up just two wins in Week 1 – North Side over Northridge and Northrop over New Haven. Four teams went down to the Indianapolis area, and all four were defeated, including Homestead losing 35-0 to Westfield and Roncalli beating Bishop Dwenger 3-0.
The revamp to the schedule allowed these two non-conference weeks, and it has been extremely beneficial in finding out where the SAC is and where it needs to get better. Now in Year 3, outside of Carroll beating Warren Central in 2023, SAC teams have not been able to beat some of the best Indy-area squads it has played, and frequently, there have been blowouts.
The sample size for this year is too small, but overall, there is a theme developing. Perhaps the SAC isn’t as good as we thought it was? When talking about the best leagues in the state, the SAC is brought up along with the Metropolitan and the Hoosier Crossroads. But as the losses pile up year after year, we are finding out that this league has a lot further to go than a lot of folks thought.
Next week, Center Grove heads to Carroll and Homestead goes to Noblesville, two more chances to get a statement win against the greater Indianapolis area. So far through two-plus years, those dubs are few and far between.
• Bishop Luers lost to Leo 14-7, but the Knights made the play of the night in the closing seconds of the first half.
With less than 10 seconds left in the second quarter, Bishop Luers faced a fourth-and-goal from the 7-yard line. Coach Kyle Lindsay had a decision to make, go for the touchdown or try and kick a field goal, one of which had already been blocked.
Surprisingly, Lindsay decided to go for it. Sophomore Tommy Reichert arched a beautiful ball to the corner of the end zone, where classmate Nate Javins hauled it in, doing a tremendous job slowing up, finding the ball and landing with at least one foot down.
It gave the Knights their first and only score of the game. It was indicative of what Reichert can do and the future connection between him and Javins that should grow over the next three years.
• Eli Neuhouser was a great bright spot for Carroll in a close, 14-7, loss to Hamilton Southeastern to open the season. He had a game 11 tackles, including seven of those coming solo which was a Carroll team high on week one.
The Chargers are now 0-3 against Hamilton Southeastern since adding the Royals as their week one opponent in 2022, but a closeness of this score has to have them happy in ways. Just last season, HSE hung 45 points on the Chargers.
Linkoln Grabner had an interception and Austin Rohrs had a sack as the Charger defense looked pretty stout in defending what can be a high octane HSE offense. Carroll actually held HSE to less first downs in the game and forced the Royals into eight punts.
NE8
• We talked a lot last week about East Noble‘s Alex Scott, both in the juniors to watch and the main 5 guys to watch on Week 1. He sure stood up to the test of publicity didn’t he?
All Scott did was have 4 catches for 152 yards and 2 touchdowns in a 42-0 win over Wayne. Yes, kudos also to Rylee Biddle for those dimes he threw to Scott, but we kind of know from experience that Biddle certainly can get it there. Scott has shown he is the kind of athlete that can make major plays and the more incorporated he is in the offense, the better East Noble will be.
Right now, the Knights look like they have a lot of weapons when you factor in that they still went for 193 yards on the ground, including 78 from Lucas Niman and 72 from Ian Ramey.
• Speaking of guys who received some high praise this offseason and really stood up to the test of how that carries over: ladies and gentleman, Nathan Foster.
When you are such a good player, coming off such a good season, with so much praise from teammates, opponents, writers and social media, there are a lot of ways to falter. Mentally, physically, there are so many potential pitfalls and Foster ran right on by them.
22 times, 133 yards rushing, one of just three total touchdowns in the game, an interception and a win for Leo over the defending Class 3A state runner up? Its fairly safe to say that Foster took care of every bit of business that he needed to in week one.
• It is shocking to Blitz that more is not being made of the issues that halted the game at New Haven.
Rumors continue to run rampant of what exactly happened, but the facts are that the Bulldogs’ game with Northrop was ended late in the third quarter due to fights on the New Haven side of the athletics complex. Videos that Blitz has seen saw many of the individuals involved being teenagers.
With the violence we have seen in Fort Wayne involving teens, up to and including shootings and homicides, it is sadly not surprising to see what transpired. Where are these kids’ parents? What is going on where we can’t trust kids to behave?
Look, we were all teens at one time, even Blitz. We got into some shenanigans. But what we saw at New Haven? And what we have seen this year around Fort Wayne? It is beyond sad.
In the game, David Callison threw for five touchdowns for Northrop, all in the first half of play, while Jerquaden Guilford caught two of Callison’s TD passes.
• When Wyatt Shearer plunged into the end zone from a yard out with eight seconds left on Friday, it appeared as if Huntington North was going to tie Eastbrook at 21, or perhaps go for two and the win.
The Vikings decided to kick the extra point, as Gavin Sink had been a perfect 2-for-2 so far on the night. But Sink hooked the PAT left. The kick hit the left upright and fell to the ground, giving Eastbrook the 21-20 victory.
A tough way to lose, but Sink is a solid kicker and will bounce back. You never know at any level of football if the snap, hold and kick are all going to be true. Sink’s kick would have been good from 40 yards if it was on target. Stuff happens.
ACAC
• Bluffton needed some heroics to capture a 29-27 victory at Shenandoah on Friday. The Tigers trailed 27-26 after a Shenandoah touchdown with 2:17 remaining in the fourth quarter. The two-point conversion failed that would have extended the lead to three.
Axton Beste and Bluffton then went to work. On a second-and-26 play from its own 45, the Tigers ran a hook-and-ladder play that got the Tigers to the 20-yard line.
A few plays later, Bluffton was at the 4-yard line and had a bad snap, leading Beste to spike the ball on third down with no timeouts left. That set the stage for freshman Ethan Ribich. In his first-ever high school football game, Ribich nailed a 30-yard field goal with 20 seconds left for the Bluffton win.
A dramatic ending to a game that saw a little bit of everything.
• What is the first thing you look at this week if you are Adams Central. The Flying Jets couldn’t have been in a more serious revenge laden head space. Last season, AC rolled through on their way to what seemed like a long elusive state title. But there was one blemish: a week one loss at Garrett.
So, pretty easy to erase that in ways right? Host Garrett week one this year and get down to business.
In the end, Adams Central got the win, 7-0, and sit unblemished after week one as they try to defend their ACAC and state titles. But, are you content if you are the Flying Jets? In the previous four seasons, Adams Central had been held to single digits just once: last year’s 20-7 loss to Garrett. Other than Garrett games, AC had not scored just 7 points since 2018’s semistate loss to Pioneer.
Now you know Blitz isn’t saying to panic in Monroe. The win is the win, the tenacity AC has the guys it has on the field prove time and time again that winning and winning big won’t be a problem. But it leaves the question: was week one more about what AC needs to work on or is the Garrett defense just that stout? AC got the one score, but did it on a short field. On the flip side of that, Garrett got darn near nothing going offensively against the Flying Jets. Time will tell on both ends, but a 7-0 week one score always raises intrigue, especially if a power like AC is involved.
• A 30 point second quarter was huge as Jay County dispatched Blackford 56-6 on Friday night. It is the most points scored by Jay County since 2021 and only the third time the Patriots have reached the 50s in the past ten seasons.
Nick Laux led the way with 204 passing yards, 31 rushing yards and four total touchdowns. Leighton Brown added 117 rushing yards, a 47 yard touchdown reception and 3 more touchdowns on the ground. It is a tremendous start for the Patriots.
Now the test is to get to 2-0 for the second time since 1996. The only other time was two seasons ago when they knocked off Blackford, Huntington North and Southern Wells to open the season at 3-0. Jay County gets a unique game next week: they travel to New Castle for a 1 p.m. Saturday kickoff, making it feel more like fall college football than Friday Night Lights.
NECC/AREA
Angola‘s opening night win may have been one of the bigger surprises in the area, but that also may have been more about expectations for DeKalb to come out firing under new coach Ryan Robertson.
Angola’s move to put Hawk Hasselman at running back showed some quality early dividends and gives the Hornets a variety of options if they can still move the ball through the air. Defensively, the Hornets looked fast, even in areas they may have been outsized against DeKalb. Look for sophomore Niles Knox and freshman Owen Shull to really breakout for the Angola defense this season.
• If a 36-7 win over Bremen is any indication, Churubusco may have some serious depth that people need to worry about. Because in week one, the Eagles got a lot of help from a lot of different directions.
Offensively, 11 guys teamed up to run for 226 yards and defensively, 19 different players racked up at least one tackle, led by 14 from Jack Huelsenbeck and 10 out of Weston Ott. Huelsenbeck added a sack and Bryce Lawrence had an interception for the Eagles.
You always want to come out of week one with a win, but it sure doesn’t hurt to have so many guys contribute because it makes you feel a lot better about where things are going to go from here for the next eight weeks of the regular season.
If you are in for slugfest type of games, then Friday’s win for Warsaw, 38-30, over Snider was one for the ages.
Snider up 10-0, Warsaw up 12-10, Snider up 16-12, Warsaw 18-16, Snider 22-18, Warsaw 24-22, tied at 30 with 4:12 left. Hang onto your hats, this was a heavyweight slugfest and done so masterfully by both teams on the ground.
Warsaw completed no passes. Instead just relied on that old faithful ground and pound, finished by Brody Duncan‘s touchdown with 1:39 left to break the tie at 30 and Tucker Reed tacking on a two-point conversion on the ground. 47 rushes, 462 yards in the ground for the Tigers, led by Michael Schenck‘s 134 yards. Its really one of those cliche practices of lather, rinse and repeat for Warsaw at this point. And who can blame them? Because who can stop them?
It was Warsaw’s first win over Snider since 1979 and the fourth time the Tigers have beaten the Panthers in program hsitory.
QUICK HITS
Homestead had not been shut out in Week 1 since a 6-0 loss to Angola on Aug. 29, 1979…Bishop Dwenger had not been shut out in Week 1 since a 19-0 loss to Harding on Aug. 21, 1998…Snider had not had two-straight Week 1 losses since 2010 and 2011, when the Panthers lost to Bishop Luers twice…North Side is 1-0 in back-to-back seasons for the first time since 2012-13.
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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