Believe it or not, in two weeks we will be talking about the sectional draw.
The regular season goes fast, doesn’t it?
But before we worry about the playoffs, let’s finish Week 6 in style with Bear Necessities.
SAC
• Carroll senior Gabe Frisinger continued his assault on SAC defenses in the Chargers’ 52-17 victory over South Side. The quarterback threw for more touchdown passes to give him 19 on the season against four interceptions, three of which came against Center Grove in Week 2.
South Side actually did a solid job of containing leading receiver Harry Scheele, so Frisinger’s ability to hit other targets for touchdowns was impressive. Senior Colton Booker caught his first two touchdown passes of the season, with Kellan Miller and Cooper Sherman, both freshmen, each got into the end zone on a throw from Frisinger.
Scheele and Eli Neuhouser have been Frisinger’s top two targets all season long, but diversifying where the ball goes in the air will only help the Chargers once they get into the Class 6A playoffs and matchups dictate other guys needing to step up.
• South Side didn’t just lose a game on Friday, it also lost its starting quarterback for the season.
Sophomore Quinchaun Lamb Jr. was injured against the Chargers, a big loss for the Archers behind center. The sophomore won a preseason quarterback battle, then showed out in the first half of the season, completing 63 percent of his passes for 600 yards, eight touchdowns and just one INT. He also ran for another score.
Lamb Jr. showed he can handle the spotlight on Friday nights as a 10th grader. He will be a valuable asset over the next two years for Coach Andre Goodwell’s Archers.
• Since giving up 49 points in a lopsided loss to Carroll in Week 4, Bishop Dwenger has responded accordingly. After a come-from-behind victory at Homestead last week, the Saints dominated Northrop from start to finish in a 35-7 rout on Friday.
Outside of Carroll, which Bishop Dwenger will not see in the playoffs, the Saints defense is allowing under seven points per game. Holding Northrop to just a single touchdown, a team that had not scored less than 26 points prior to Friday, was particularly impressive when you consider that many were questioning the Saints’ pass defense after the loss to Carroll.
To be clear, the Bruins were able to move the ball in throwing for 250 yards, but they could not break through and get into the end zone. Interceptions by Cooper Campbell and Nick O’Keefe helped as well.
• There is something to be said about staying true and battling through adversity.
Bishop Luers has done that in general, but junior TJ Epperson in particular.
In the offseason, Epperson watched as his backfield mate and fellow 1,000-yard rusher Brandon Gaither II transferred to North Side, one of several players who left the Knights over the summer.
Epperson could have easily decided to go elsewhere as well, but didn’t. As the top offensive player for Bishop Luers, he has been the No. 1 option for the offense all season long, and with that the top player to stop for opposing defenses.
Epperson has taken a lot of hits this season, but he and his team were rewarded Friday with the Knights’ 35-7 victory over Concordia to score the team’s first victory of the year. Epperson rushed for four of Bishop Luers’ five touchdowns on the night, finishing with 140 yards on 20 carries while also hauling in three catches for 41 yards.
Just how much has Epperson mattered? He has rushed for 757 yards this year. Bishop Luers as a team has 727 rushing yards, counting sacks. That means that outside of Epperson, the Knights are a negative-rushing team.
Brighter days are ahead for Bishop Luers, perhaps not until next season. Hopefully, Epperson gets to reap the benefits of this year’s struggles.
• The senior defensive line duo of Leslie Woodson and Omarion Waites have been incredibly disruptive this season, to say the least.
The two combined for 4.5 sacks in Friday’s 27-7 North Side victory over Wayne, giving them now a total of 14 sacks on the season – eight by Woodson and six by Waites. They also are the top two players for the Legends in terms of tackles per loss, a combined 22.5.
We talk so much about the North Side offense, but it may be the defense, which is allowing just 13 points per game, that may be the key to the Legends’ chances at ending their 36-year sectional drought.
• It wasn’t all roses on Friday for North Side, which lost its best player, and arguably the best player in the area, when Maalik Moore went down with a shoulder injury.
Indications are that Moore could miss the remainder of the season.
It is a tough ending for the senior, who has been dynamic each and every week this year. Thrust into the starting quarterback role in Week 1, he did his best to lead his team behind center against East Noble before moving back to his natural wideout position. Whether it was on offense, defense or special teams, Moore was a playmaker and exciting to watch each and every week because you had no idea what he was capable of next. His one-handed interception earlier this year against Concordia that he returned over 100 yards for a score was beyond impressive.
Better days are ahead for Moore in college, wherever he goes. Just tough to see his prep career ended early.
• The nine-game regular season is a process. For some teams, it is all about learning to win in close games.
Last year, Snider fell short in overtime against Northrop in the sectional opener that ended its season. In Week 1 of this year, the Panthers once again couldn’t get the defensive stops when it needed to in a three-point loss at Warsaw.
But Friday, the Panthers were able to get ahead of Homestead midway through the fourth quarter on a Braylon Burton touchdown, then the defense stood tall to preserve a 20-16 victory.
NE8
• When we talk about players most valuable to their teams, are we overlooking Bracen Staley?
DeKalb’s junior quarterback was out on Friday, forcing Xavier Vice behind center, thus weakening the Barons at two positions. While Coach Ryan Robertson’s team took Huntington North to the brink in a 31-28 two-overtime loss, the absence of Staley perhaps was the difference between a win and the result we got.
And that’s not to take anything away from Huntington North, but Staley has been exceptional in running the offense, throwing for over 800 yards and nine touchdowns on the year with just two interceptions.
Vice has been alright at quarterback, but he has starred at running back where he is averaging over five yards a carry.
The hope for the Barons is that Staley can get healthy, because DeKalb is a much different offense with him leading the offense.
• You have to feel good for Christian Jemison. The Huntington North senior battled injuries last year, but still accounted for almost 800 yards rushing on the year.
This season, he and junior quarterback Lathen Janes have been healthy and thriving for the 4-2 Vikings. On Friday, Jemison carried the ball 39(!) times for 145 yards and a pair of touchdowns, including the score in the first overtime that with a Gavin Sink PAT sent the game into a second OT.
Jemison has now surpassed last year’s rushing totals already, as he sits at 803 yards on the ground and 11 rushing scores, with an additional two touchdown receptions from Janes.
ACAC
• No one quite knows how much it pained Coach Grant Moser and the South Adams community to lose to Adams Central so many times in a row.
Eight sometimes felt like 80.
It was a mix of ecstasy, pride and relief following the Starfires’ 21-16 victory over the Flying Jets on Friday, the first win in the rivalry since 2020. And the way that Coach Moser’s team did it was particularly impressive.
After getting out to a 21-point lead, South Adams allowed Adams Central to score a late first-half touchdown to get some momentum heading into the break.
But it was the Starfires’ defense that made play after play in the second half, allowing just a single touchdown over the final two quarters to preserve the win while the offense couldn’t add any more points to the advantage.
While Wes Summersett was, per usual, all over the place on defense with 17 tackles, it was some lesser-known guys who shone bright. Gavin Herring. Up-and-coming stud Gabe Steiner. Blake Hoffman with an INT. The list goes on.
South Adams always gets the love for its offense. But it was the defense that came through in the clutch to finally end the skid against county mate Adams Central.
• While there will be more talk about the ACAC title chase in the coming weeks after South Adams’ win, Bluffton is making big moments weeks ahead of their anticipated showdown with Adams Central.
This week, it was again Cooper Craig making a big impact, but not just because of what he did in Week 6.
While Craig put up major numbers – scoring on 3 of his 4 rushes – while rushing for 140 yards, the big note was Craig becoming Bluffton’s all-time leading scorer. He now sits at 392 career points for the Tigers, passing all-time great D’Wayne Eskridge.
NECC/AREA
• While falling to 3-3 on Friday night with a loss to West Noble, Fairfield has gotten a lot of power out of Miguel Gutierrez throughout the season. He has been one of the area’s most consistent rushers each week, continuously going over the 100 yard mark. This week against the Chargers, Gutierrez ran for 174 yards on a heavy handed 33 carries.
Gutierrez has a major work load every week, but he certainly has been making the best of it as one of the state’s top rushers.
• Eastside retained the Big Train Trophy on Friday night, jumping out to a 51-0 lead against Garrett, finishing off the Railroaders 51-15.
Job Richman remained tough, with 167 yards on just seven carries, scoring on five of them. Ty Sebert had 10 tackles on defense for the Blazers, also adding an interception. The Blazers held Garrett’s offense to just 185 yards.
Before Eastside’s 51-point performance, Garrett held the record for the biggest offensive outputs, defeating Eastside 49–7 in 1993 and 48–0 in 2011. While Garrett leads the all-time series, things have gotten closer in recent years. Eastside has now won 10 of the last 11 meetings, with Garrett’s lone victory over that time being a 37-7 win on 2024.
Also of note on a rough injury Friday night around the area, Garrett lost two-way standout Alex Guzman to an ankle/leg injury. Guzman, the team’s second leading rusher and co-leader in touchdowns, will miss the rest of the season.
QUICK HITS
Homestead is 2-4 for the first time since 1994…Columbia City amassed “only” 255 yards rushing in its 48-6 win over New Haven, the first time this year in which the Eagles have been held below 400 yards on the ground…East Noble has shut out Norwell three-consecutive seasons…Leo’s two losses have come to teams a combined 11-1 (Chatard and East Noble)…South Adams’ win snapped a 33-game conference winning streak for Adams Central….There were kickoff return touchdowns everywhere again in Week 6, coming from Carroll (Linkoln Grabner – 95 yards), Leo (Max Schreck – 80 yards) and Wayne (Mykalan Westmoreland – 86 yards), with the first of these coming as the very first score in the area Friday when Prairie Heights’ Huckleberry Brandeberry returning the opening kickoff for a score in a loss to Fremont, going 70 yards in the game’s first 15 seconds.
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