Halloween night made for some spooky results for some teams, and real scares put into others.
Soon, we will enter the part of the season where championships are earned every single Friday from here on out.
But first, let’s put a bow on Week 11.
CLASS 6A
• There were some questions on how Gabe Frisinger would perfect him in his first postseason start, and on the road to boot. Turns out, the Carroll junior quarterback was just fine, finishing 17-of-25 for 222 yards and three total touchdowns in a 49-14 rout of Elkhart.
It was Frisinger who set the tone, who scored on a 9-yard keeper barely 90 seconds into the game, then added a second rushing scored from seven yards away mid-way through the first.
Blitz will say this, and it is enormous pressure, but quarterback is a pressure-filled position. Carroll will go as far as Gabe Frisinger takes them.
• There is no discounting what Northrop had to overcome in Friday’s overtime victory over Snider. You can say that maybe the Bruins came in overlooking the Panthers a bit after routing them in the regular season, but Coach Quentin Bowen’s team made the plays when it needed to late.
When in doubt, get the ball to Jerquaden Guilford, right? That is what Northrop did on three different occasions on the final drive of regulation that saw the Bruins tie the game at 10 to send the game into the extra session on the foot of Pai Soon. That included a fourth down conversion that extended the drive.
After Snider scored on its first possession of overtime, the Bruins were up against it again, facing fourth and goal from the 6-yard line before scoring and adding the extra point that propelled Northrop into the sectional finals.
The Bruins have proven people wrong time and time again. Friday was just the latest example of this squad being able to perform under pressure with its back against the wall, something previous Northrop teams simply couldn’t do.
• While Snider fell short on Friday, the close loss only further cemented Max Johnson as potentially its quarterback of the future.
The sophomore was responsible for both Panthers touchdowns, a one-yard run in the third quarter and a 10-yard strike in overtime that put the team ahead temporarily.
Johnson was brought up from junior varsity midway through the season and was thrust into the lineup for a team that looked lost offensively for weeks at a time. While he had his struggled, he improved with every successive outing. You could almost see the growth from one possession to another as he grew more and more comfortable.
An offseason of development and strength building should give Johnson the edge if there is a QB battle heading into 2026. He has definitely earned the confidence of his coaches going forward.
CLASS 5A
A lot of the talk about North Side this season has pointed toward their high powered and high yardage offense. But in Friday’s 41-0 drubbing on Goshen, the defense and specifically one player stood out in a grand way.
Jamarcus Martin registered 6 solo tackles, 6 assists, 3 sacks and two fumble recoveries, one of which that he returned 40 yards for a touchdown. That is a defensive stat line that dreams are made of.
He also wasn’t alone on that side of the ball as Jalen Jackson also returned a fumble recovery for a touchdowns, his for 47 yards. Jayden Brinkley and Sebastian Moore each had an interception for the Legends and Xavier Martin matched Jamarcus Martin with a team high 6 solo tackles.
CLASS 4A
• Enormous props to South Side and the tremendous scare it put into East Noble on Friday. While the Knights eventually won 35-28, they needed every ounce of heroics from Rylee Biddle to do it.
In three years under Coach Andre Goodwell, the Archers have went from one win to two to now three. In a world where people want fast results and quick turnaround, Goodwell is doing it organically and steadily building a program back up from basically nothing.
People have short memories. Blitz remembers how South Side football has been in some dark places over the years. The three wins this season are the most in a single campaign since 2013 for the Archers. Think about that. A dozen years!
Friday may not have turned out the way South Side wanted it, but it was further proof that under Coach Goodwell, this program is slowly but surely getting better.
• Bishop Dwenger’s defense continues to dominate.
One week after shutting down Nathan Foster and Leo, the Saints did not allow a point in a 21-0 shutout of Columbia City.
The performance was the eighth this year in which Defensive Coordinator Dan Knepper’s unit has allowed one touchdown or less in a game, and the fourth time in five games since the loss to Northrop in Week 6.
That commanding presence against Biddle behind center for East Noble is going to be one of the biggest stories to watch next Friday. What is the saying, unstoppable force vs. immovable object? That’s Biddle v. that defense.
CLASS 3A
• Blitz has run out of adjectives to describe Angola’s Hawk Hasselman.
The senior scored all three touchdowns for the Hornets in the 21-20 upset of West Noble on Friday, and he also kicked all three extra points, including the game winner midway through the fourth quarter after his third score.
“Hawk” was so dominant that West Noble had him for a fourth touchdown late in the game on their official stat sheet, an anomaly that didn’t happen.
For the game, Hasselman rushed for close to 150 yards and also had a pair of receptions for 50 yards.
Angola is now one win away from its first sectional crown in seven years. With Hasselman doing his thing in wins over Tippecanoe Valley and West Noble the past two weeks, who is betting against him and the Hornets?
Angola’s two big wins in the postseason puts them into a Sectional final against Garrett, who has also found the second part of their season highly successful, winners of 4 of their last 5 after a 21-0 win against Lakeland.
The one loss? That was 14-11 to Angola.
The hype around the Railroaders has to look at their defense, who have pitched two shutouts in Sectional play. Garrett is holding opponents (13.7 points) to about a touchdown short of what Angola is averaging in scoring this season and the Hornets are 4-1 when they score 20 or more points. Something will likely have to give on Friday night in Angola.
CLASS 2A
What down year?
Adams Central picked up another big win Friday to remain undefeated at 11-0. Bluffton came out fighting in their second shot at the Flying Jets this season – the Tigers ended their season with 2 losses, both to AC – but things were too strong yet again on the Adams Central side.
Jamison Roach, who was full of big running plays the first time these two teams met, ran the opening score for 64 yards late in the first quarter. Bluffton’s early fight back was in the form of Cooper Craig returning the following kickoff 94 yards for a score. But after Bluffton cut it to 21-14 in the third, AC never looked back.
Thomas Laughlin‘s carries of 2, 4 and 23 yards were all three of Adams Central’s second half scores. Laughlin finished with 72 yards on 13 carries, while Roach ran the ball 15 times for 216 yards and AC’s other two touchdowns.
CLASS 1A
South Adams went 6-of-14 on third and fourth downs in their win over Tri to get to the Sectional finals yet again, 49-14.
Tri actually scored the first touchdown of the game, but then South Adams’ Wes Summersett returned an interception 82 yards just four minutes later for a score and they would be up 28-7 before Tri was able to get on the board again.
Summersett also added two receiving TDs and 6 catches for 99 yards as South Adams quarterback Tytus Lehman went wild with 340 yards on 22-of-35 passing.
QUICK HITS
Northrop’s 17-16 win over Snider was its first-ever overtime victory in the playoffs in program history dating back to 1971…Homestead has not won a playoff game since it captured a sectional title in 2020…North Side’s 41-0 blanking of Goshen was its first shutout win in the postseason since a 13-0 win over South Side on Oct. 29, 2004…Rylee Biddle is responsible all or in part for 38 of East Noble’s 62 touchdowns so far this season. That’s 61 percent…Garrett’s back-to-back shutouts is the first the Railroaders have achieved that since Weeks 7 and 8 in 1991…Bishop Luers is on an 11-game sectional winning streak.
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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