The regular season is over and now we enter the portion of the season where if you don’t bring your best each and every week, there’s a good chance your year is gonna end.
The mission is a simple one, win and advance or lose, turn in equipment and begin getting ready for a long off-season.
Let’s take a look at Class 3A, Sectional 28 as it moves to the semi final round with four teams remaining.
THE DRAW
Mississinewa (9-1) at Jay County (4-6)
Norwell (2-8) at Bishop Luers (5-5)
Last Week:
Mississinewa 21, Oak Hill 7
Jay County 35, Bellmont 0
Norwell 24, Heritage 6
Bishop Luers 38, Delta 7
THE FAVORITE
BISHOP LUERS
The Knights took care of business to open the Sectional round, going heavily through the air with Thomas Reichert completing 50 percent of his passes for 239 yards, but with Terrance Epperson rushing for 94 yards as well. The season has been one with the Knights complementing itself with their offense as they have looked to figure out their identity in the passing game. Epperson sits at 880 yards rushing on the season, the most output of the Knights’ offensive players. It is a young Luers offense overall with Reichert, Epperson and leading receiver Nate Javins (215 yards) all being sophomores, but this is where we see if the regular season battles in the SAC have prepared Luers for a postseason run.
Another long postseason run and push to return to Lucas Oil for the Knights could be predicated on the defensive side of the football, especially if an expected Mississinewa finals matchup happens. Opposite of the offense, the top six Knights in tackles are all seniors, led by Jarron Taylor (65 tackles) and Brayden Mygrant (63 tackles). Taylor and brother Ayle Taylor make up a blockbuster 18 of the Knights’ 24 sacks on the season with Jarron getting a pair of his 10 sacks in last week’s Sectional opening win. Another senior, Jaxson Hill, has the Knights’ only three interceptions on the season.
THE CONTENDER
MISSISSINEWA
It was the second win of the season over Oak Hill last week for the Indians, who still have just one blemish on their record this season. Ah’lijah Monday (113 yards) and Levi Crandall (109) yards did a heavy load of the work as the run game led Mississinewa. That said, they have been able to mix things up well and that will be a challenge for the Jay County defense in the semi finals. Jacob Schwartz completed 7 of 11 passes last week and has thrown for 787 yards on 55.8 percent completion on the season and has been able to do so with a wide variety at receiver, headed up by Kallen Quaderer (321 yards); Merick Mobley (190 yds), Rayveon Fetz (145 yds) and Korbyn Weaver (124 yds) have also been key targets. As far as their dual threat running game, they have each scored 15 touchdowns this season but Monday leads the way with 1,294 rushing yards including going over 100 yards in eight of the Indians’ 10 contests.
On the other side of the ball, Mississinewa has been able to really disruptive all season, including five sacks just last week in the win over Oak Hill. They have racked up 19 sacks on the season, led by a pair of juniors in Kadin Fouce (7) and Dakota Hill (5). But perhaps more importantly is the 42 QB hurries they have forced as a team, again led by Fouce with 15. Those hurries have helped lead into some throws that the defensive backfield has feasted on with some two-way players as Quaderer has four picks and 12 pass deflections, Crandall has a pair of picks and Fetz picked off his first pass of the season last week.
THE REST
JAY COUNTY
The Patriots come in winners of two in a row as they prepare to test their abilities against a surging Mississinewa team. Leighton Brown had a monster week against Bellmont last Friday. He will be the focus for the Patriots as they take on a strong defensive front of the Indians. Brown ran for 257 yards and three scores last Friday night. Far from isolated, Brown is a threat to get 100-plus yards every week; he had 148 yards on the ground against South Adams and 147 against Woodlan. Nick Laux has been the other strength of Jay County for much of the year and he opened last week’s scoring with a run. But other than that, Laux has been able to make quality, if not big, plays through the air. The previous week to wrap up the regular season, Laux beat Heritage in the final 7.4 seconds of the game with a five yard pass to Aiden Phillips, before Laux himself ran in the two point conversion to win the game. Laux has also made headlines defensively; against Lapel he returned an interception 101 yards for a score.
NORWELL
It was a smaller upset in the grand scheme last week, but Norwell’s win over Heritage put some on notice that there is fight in the Knights before they get a massive semi final test against Bishop Luers. It is a rematch of a postseason game last year, where Luers took a clear win. Hunter Kurtz has found more and more comfort under center as the season progresses, making him a duel threat option. Last week, he punched in the first touchdowns of the game with a 12 yard rushing touchdowns that helped bury Heritage.
The Knights’ ground success isn’t just from their QB as EJ Morgan (2 yards) and Lance Meriwether (43 yards) both punched in scores last week. The pair have helped the program develop throughout this season’s rebuild. Brady Smith‘s 20 yard field goal opened up the game’s scoring before Kurtz’s touchdown. The success of a win over Heritage has been a smaller blip for a team that has struggled this season, but quality of the win could mean bigger things for the future of Norwell football.
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
Be the first to comment