WEEK 6: Five players to watch on Friday night

COOPER CRAIG, BLUFFTON (at Southern Wells)

Craig has been a massive part of Bluffton’s start as he has carried for 130.5 per game through the first five games and has a team-best 11 touchdowns. While county foe Southern Wells hasn’t exactly shown that it can battle with Bluffton, keeping Craig with consistent momentum is a key step for the Tigers on Friday. Craig goes into Friday just 14 points away from breaking D’Wayne Eskridge’s program scoring record, which is a major milestone and also a little added motivation for the unbeaten Tigers. Craig scored three touchdowns in last Friday’s win and hasn’t had a game without multiple scores since last year’s sectional loss.

DONALD GAGE JR., NEW HAVEN (at Columbia City)

Gage has provided the Bulldogs with a lot on both sides of the ball this season and he will be called upon to keep that up for 48 more minutes this week as New Haven tries to build off the momentum of its first win of the season. Gage has one of New Haven’s three interceptions on the season to go with 31 tackles,  while on offense he has 19 receptions for 255 yards. He has become as dependable as anyone on this Bulldogs roster.

TANNER MICKELSON, LEO (at Bellmont)

If you watched the always-entertaining Leo/East Noble matchup last week, you will know how important Mickelson, a senior, was when it came to slowing down the Knights passing game. He played his matchup with Alex Scott extremely well and limited opportunities through the air for the Knights at almost every opportunity with the way he was able to smother some possessions. He also picked off a pass (his second of the season) and one official pass deflection in the close loss. If he can continue his momentum-driving play, it will help Leo out signifciantly for the remainder of the year.

LESLIE WOODSON, NORTH SIDE (at Wayne)

North Side is looking to carry on its own momentum while stifling Wayne’s after the Generals captured their first win a week ago. Look no further than Woodson, who is likely going to do everything in his power to get into the Wayne backfield time after time after time. Woodson is currently tied for third among all sack leaders in the state of Indiana with seven, two each of the last three weeks. Woodson also leads the Legends with 36 tackles, including 11.5 for loss.

NOAH GEIGER, COLUMBIA CITY (vs. New Haven)

Columbia City has run for over 2,000 yards this season and its leading rusher has 742 of those. The depth the Eagles have displayed has been important; three guys went over 100 yards last Friday alone and four guys have over 100 on the season, with a fifth flirting with triple digits. Geiger is not the Eagles’ leading rusher, but has churned out 659 yards, going over 100 on three separate occasions, including last week. But the major factor for Geiger is his strength near the goal line, where he has a team-best 14 touchdowns and last week sealed a one-point win over DeKalb with a pounding two-point conversion. He now just sits two scores away from having as many TDs as a junior as he had carries last fall as a sophmore.