Two weeks into the season and we have had a pair of beautiful Fridays for football.
Will we continue to luck out?
Let’s hope Blitz hasn’t just jinxed it.
Anyway, let’s wrap up Week 2 as conference play looms.
SAC
• So which team is the ‘real’ Snider? The one that made mistake after mistake in falling into a 25-point deficit to East Noble on Friday or the one that came within three points of the Knights late in the fourth quarter?
Three defensive touchdowns – two pick-sixes and a fumble recovery for a score – doomed the Panthers in the first game at Russ Isaacs Stadium. But credit to Snider, it fought back to where East Noble had to make a play on defense in the final minute to escape with the victory.
There are plenty of positives to take out of Friday for Snider, but it also has a lot to address entering the SAC season, particularly up front offensively where East Noble was consistently able to get penetration.
• The Eli Trent to Mike Henley connection at Concordia has been pretty darn effective the first two weeks of the season.
While the Cadets dropped a 48-27 decision to Eastbrook, Coach Tim Mannigel’s team once again showed that the offense is in good hands with Trent, the senior quarterback. He and the junior Henley connected on a trio of touchdowns in the game on plays of 21, 61 and 82 yards to keep Concordia in the game.
Henley, who initially transferred to Snider in the offseason before returning to Concordia, now has five catches on the year for 196 yards. All five have gone for touchdowns.
• Carroll headed down to Center Grove feeling pretty good about itself after demolishing Hamilton Southeastern in Week 1. On the other side, the Trojans were motivated after feeling like they let one get away against Warren Central.
Center Grove knocked the Chargers down a notch in Friday’s 42-17 victory. While the game was more competitive than the final score indicated, mistakes are magnified when you play against the state’s best. Gabe Frisinger was picked off three times and Carroll was called for roughing the punter that gave Center Grove a first down on a drive it eventually scored on.
With the high expectations that the Chargers have in 6A, Friday was a bit of a reality check on how good they have to be to contend with, and beat, the best of the best in the class.
• While junior quarterback Brandon Sanders returned to the field for North Side on Friday after missing Week 1, freshman Jeremiah Crusoe also got his first dose of varsity football for the Legends.
With Sanders out for the first series of the game, Crusoe got the start and, on his first high school pass, connected with Maalik Moore for a 31-yard touchdown.
Crusoe finished the game 6-of-9 for 76 yards and a pair of touchdowns as he returned to the game in the second half with North Side in control against New Haven.
Quite the debut for the ninth-grader.
• Clinging to a two-point lead with three-and-a-half minutes left in the game at Homestead, Noblesville was in the shadow of its own goal line facing a third-and-17.
Instead of playing it safe, running the ball and potentially punting the ball away, the Millers tried to throw it. The pass sailed over the receiver’s head and into the hands of Caleb Hollingsworth, who returned the interception 11 yards for the go-ahead score in Homestead’s 27-15 victory.
Hindsight is undefeated, but putting the ball in the air in such a situation was a bad one. Instead of forcing Homestead to go down the field in the final minutes to try and score the winning points, the defense came up big, with Hollingsworth the hero.
Noblesville was trying to keep the ball away from Homestead. Instead, it was forced to play some catch-up of its own.
• What could have been for Northrop, as it had to play Warsaw without arguably its top two skill players in wide receiver Maddox Weil and running back Levi Portee. Both are nursing injuries that, while not serious, were enough to keep them out of the game.
The Bruins could have used them in a game that was back and forth on the scoreboard. Unfortunately, Warsaw killed the final eight minutes of the game off the clock with its offense on the field, including a fourth-and-two conversion inside the Northrop 25-yard line late in regulation.
While 0-1, Northrop showed a lot with quarterback Braydon Peppler tossing for 213 yards. It will look even better when Weil and Portee return.
NE8
• DeKalb is 2-0 for the first time since 2023 when Seth Wilcox was heading up the Barons program. Interestingly, it was Wilcox, now head coach at Angola, that DeKalb beat Friday to improve the record.
What was impressive about Friday’s 40-26 victory was the fact that DeKalb earned it without five starters, including star offensive producer Xavier Vice.
Junior Bracen Staley threw for 285 yards and four touchdowns, two to Braxton McCormick and one each to Bennett Quinn and Drake Hall, to propel the Barons.
The offense is shaping up to make the Barons a big factor in the NE8. Through two games, Coach Ryan Robertson’s team has scored 86 points, which is tops in the conference.
• With two more interceptions last Friday, including a pick-six, East Noble’s Alex Scott is inching ever closer to the program record for all-time career picks.
The senior now has 16 interceptions for his career, one off the record held by Dylan Jordan, who graduated in 2017.
At this rate, Scott is going to blow past Jordan and set the mark into the 20s. He has three interceptions in the first two weeks of the season.
• Columbia City dropped a heartbreaker late to Northridge 35-34 on a late touchdown by the Raiders, but the Eagles once again proved their running game could be simply deadly this season.
Backed by a big and powerful offensive front, Coach Brett Fox’s team rushed for 457 yards on Friday, with Noah Geiger going for 253 yards and Lukas Duncan 111 yards to lead the way.
Over the course of the first two weeks, the Eagles have rushed for 895 yards and 11 touchdowns against NorthWood and Northridge. Geiger has been especially effective, with 410 yards and seven touchdowns on the ground so far.
Backed by its running game, Columbia City should have been able to steal one on the road on Friday. The difference? Four turnovers.
• Is Norwell making a case to be a threat to East Noble in the NE8?
After an impressive victory at Mississinewa in Week 1, the Knights demolished Oak Hill in a 35-6 win at home on Friday.
Sophomore quarterback Hunter Kurtz is someone folks should familiarize themselves with. He threw a trio of touchdowns against Oak Hill, two to Cooper Bunn, and finished with 324 yards through the air.
The Knights scored 69 points in their two non-conference games. The last time they scored that many through Week 2 was 2021, when they won 11 games and a sectional title.
• Huntington North got a lot of success from Lathan Janes in the passing game in Friday’s road game route of Garrett. The junior quarterback got comfortable with his receivers finding them on a variety of different levels in yardage with his one blemish coming on a Railroader interception of a deep pass.
Outside of that pick, Janes was 22-of-32 throwing the ball for 337 yard and 4 touchdowns, including a 41 yard shot to Tayshaun McQueen that the fellow junior ripped pulled down leaping over his Garrett defender.
The Vikings still got 107 yards on the ground from Christian Jemison and continued to show how multi dimensional their offense can be as they now sit at 2-0 in the young season. All of this comes with a trio of Vikings posting double digit tackles, led by Sawyer Carl‘s 15.
ACAC
• One issue last year for Heritage in its 5-5 campaign was that it could not get defensive stops when it needed to.
When it seemingly had Adams Central beat in Week 5? Couldn’t get a stop.
A late-season loss at Jay County? Couldn’t get a stop.
So Friday was encouraging in that Heritage won the game with a huge defensive stand.
Holding onto its 7-6 lead late, Heritage needed to find a way to get Delta’s offense off the field. With the Eagles at the 13-yard line facing a fourth-and-one, the Patriots came up big with a stop and forcing a turnover on downs.
Heritage was then able to run out the clock for the victory, with the Patriots now 2-0 for the fourth-straight season.
• Enjoy chaos? Woodlan and Central Noble was certainly that on Friday.
The two teams combined for 12 turnovers, with the Warriors tallying seven and the Cougars five.
Woodlan’s 21-17 victory was fueled by a pair of interceptions returned for touchdowns – one each by juniors Eli Funk and CJ Bullock.
On one play in the third quarter, Central Noble threw an interception, only for Woodlan to fumble it back on the return.
The biggest play in the sloppy game was when Central Noble seemingly was going in for a score in the fourth quarter that would put them up three scores. Instead, it was intercepted and returned 80 yards for a touchdown by Funk.
Not the prettiest victory, but 2-0 is 2-0 for Woodlan.
NECC/AREA
• There is a bigger story than Eastside going to Adams Central and handing the Flying Jets their first loss on the Landing Strip in Monroe since 2020.
The first two weeks have seen the Blazers knock off perennial ACAC powers South Adams and Adams Central. With the Flying Jets now up in Class 3A, it clears the way for Eastside in the north in the class.
Yes, it’s just two weeks and there is a lot of football to be played, but this year’s Eastside team is giving vibes of 2021 when the Blazers got all the way to semistate. That was the last year that Eastside beat Adams Central, by the way.
It could be another special season in Butler this year.
• Time for our weekly Jaret Laughlin update!
The Fremont quarterback amassed 279 yards passing, 98 yards rushing and a 50-yard interception return for a touchdowns in the Eagles’ 62-20 rout of Osceola Grace.
The senior is responsible for 13 touchdowns in two weeks – six passing, six rushing and the INT return.
For those wondering, Fremont hosts Eastside in Week 4.
• Garrett now sits at 0-2 on the season, but it is important to remember that has also happened in two of the last three seasons before the Railroaders went on to win two straight to even their record.
With the Railroaders solidifying their spot under center, their two main rushers are helping to stablise the squad as Garrett kept Friday’s score at just 14-7 for long enough that there has to be some hope in Train Town. Alex Guzman ran for 166 yards including a 90 yard TD scamper.
Aiden Reed continues to shine on both sides of the ball for Garrett, running 24 times for 194 yards and a touchdown on Friday, while also leading the Railroaders on defense. In two weeks, Reed has run for 359 yards and two of Garrett’s three total touchdowns.
• How about some love for Blackhawk Christian?
In their first-ever win in a true road game, the Braves stomped Southern Wells 44-13.
Chip Bennett, who has been a stud for the Braves since they moved to 11-on-11 football, rushed for 191 yards and three touchdowns on 18 carries. He also had 10 tackles, a pair of sacks and a forced fumble.
Blackhawk Christian only has two more true road games in the regular season – Week 5 at South Adams and Week 9 against Bluffton.
QUICK HITS
Bishop Luers is 0-2 for the third time in the last four seasons. The previous two times in which they began the year with two defeats – 2023 and 2025 – the Knights went to the state finals…Tommy Coffman only needed one half to account for 179 yards and two touchdowns – one passing and one rushing – in Bishop Dwenger’s rout of St. Francis De Sales (OH)…New Haven’s lone points through the first two weeks are a pair of safeties. It is believed that the Bulldogs are the first team in Indiana HS football history to score just two points in back-to-back weeks…Bluffton faced just one third down for the entire game in its 40-0 win over Churubusco…West Noble’s Xy’Mire Barnes-Bridges averaged 13 yards per rush in Friday’s win over Wawasee, going for 196 yards and a pair of touchdowns on 15 carries, one of which was a 72-yard house call that opened the scoring
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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