We are three weeks away from the start of the state Tournament, and for the NECC, that means we are close to crowning divisional games. The Big School Division will have the eyes of everyone in this area as the focus will be on West Noble’s home game against Lakeland.

1. West Noble Chargers (6-0, 3-0 Big School)

(1^st in Big School Div. and NECC Rankings)

• Last Week: W 34-15 @ Garrett
• This Week: Friday vs Lakeland
• Series (1968): 36-24 Lakeland
• Lakeland has won 16 of the last 19 meetings.
• Key Scenario: If West Noble wins, they are Big School Div. Champions

It wasn’t an easy start to last week’s game at Garrett as they went into their locker room figuring out how to erase a one-point deficit. But to their credit, they came out of the half with an authoritative opening drive to that second half and scored on the first play of scrimmage.

Once again, Seth Pruitt was dominant again rushing for over 100 yards again and contributed with four combined touchdowns. As Mawhorter mentioned after that game, it was a very important drive to get points out of it to regain control, and that they did.

As great as they have been, they have not been able to play their best brand of football, which their focus goes far beyond a conference championship since they play in 3A sectional 26 where Knox and Lakeland occupy that sectional. This week’s game is also Homecoming night, which further adds more pressure to an already highly anticipated game. Can they keep their focus into this game Friday night? And more importantly, can they limit the number of penalties that West Noble has taken throughout the season?

An expected playoff-like atmosphere with rival Lakeland will present unique obstacles to whether the defense is able to contain their explosive weapons at wide receiver and running back.

2. Lakeland Lakers (5-1, 1-1 Big School)

(2^nd Big School Div. and NECC Rankings)

• Last Week: W 49-6 vs Central Noble
• This Week: Friday @ West Noble
• Series (1968): 24-36
• West Noble seeking 1^st conference title since 2019

Besides the fact Lakeland overcame the homecoming distractions and never gave Central Noble any chance to sustain confidence last week, everything else that we have talked about the Lakers remains exactly the same.

At this point, we know whenever these Lakers march onto the field every night, it’s going to be a show with the likes of Brayden Holbrook at quarterback and Sean Conley at running back. This is a team that is more mature this season, and Lakeland fans have every reason to feel confident about their chances on Friday when they head down to Ligonier on that Charger Hill to face their rivals in West Noble. They know in the back of their mind what happened last year, when they missed a 2-point conversion with seven seconds left to lose the game 7-6 to these Chargers.

For Lakeland to have a shot at winning this game, they will need to play a clean brand of Laker football and the frontline will need to anchor the defense against a very explosive pistol spread. Will they struggle at times? Yes, because West Noble is very talented offensively. But if they can at least contain that explosive attack, and the Lakers are able to garner some productive drives, then all bets are off.

This game might be a lot closer than many think will be.

3. Garrett Railroaders (2-4, 1-1 Big School)

(3^rd Big School Div., 4^th NECC Rankings)

• Last Week: L 34-15 vs West Noble
• This Week: Friday vs Fairfield
• Series (1985): 12-8 Garrett
• Garrett snapped their 0-6 start last season with a 28-6 win @ Fairfield

It’s easy to doubt Garrett after two tough losses to Eastside and West Noble. One of the major factors in their losing streak has to be the struggles in being able to move the chains as offensive penalties hindered their ability to utilize the most out of their power run, but patient rushing attack.

The significant highlight though must be the play of running back Cam Ruble, who now looks like the RB1 as the lead back on an offense with a lot of skilled players. But again, when they needed a big play on third and fourth down, they struggled to make enough of these plays. Calder Hefty, especially, struggled to throw the ball against a stingy West Noble defense as he was just 2-11 completion with his last completion resulting in a 34-yard touchdown catch by Parker Skelly.

The big thing I take away from Calder’s game after watching a full game of his is if he can improve on his ability to throw in the pocket, that will go a long way for this Garrett offense in the passing game whenever they need to go it. Personally, Hefty is a talented young man that clearly has the speed and athleticism to make plays. Plus, I love his defense as a defensive back. I think this Garrett has more to show than what the results have been telling us.

One thing’s for certain though, this Garrett defense has a lot of fight in them, and this is a team that I do not want to face in sectionals. Nate Wells is another guy that I have seen a lot of improvement on defense this season. They’re going to be dangerous once they find their winning stride.

4. Fairfield Falcons (4-2, 1-1 Big School)

(4^th Big School Div., 5^th NECC Rankings)

• Last Week: W 28-12 vs Angola
• This Week: Friday @ Garrett
• Series (1985): 8-12
• 5-6 All-Time at Garrett

After a disappointing loss to West Noble in Week 5, the Falcons responded in a big way as their defense held off an athletic Angola team to a season low dozen points. When we talk about the Falcons, we talk about that wishbone triple-option attack, which in this game saw a balanced attack from their backfield. But this was only a 14-12 Fairfield lead going into the final stanza.

The game-sealer in that final stanza came from Fairfield’s quarterback Brooks Custer who threw a 15-yard pass to Liam Fowler for a score, and later iced the game with a 19-yard TD run late in that contest. Custer went on to throw 4-7 passing for 116 yards (29.0 yards per throw), 2 TD’s, 1 INT, and ran for 36 yards on 15 carries.

If they can have these respectable numbers from Custer, Fairfield will be a threat in the playoffs, because we know on paper that wishbone offense is very difficult to tackle against, and it’s equally harder to score points on a defense that is deeper and athletic.

A huge matchup against the Big Train as Fairfield looks to avenge the bad taste from last season’s 28-6 defeat to Garrett. The big question will be, can the Falcons put together a fundamentally sounded game and control the line of scrimmage. It should be an interesting one because these two teams are willing to grind it out with short gains.

5. Angola Hornets (0-6, 0-3 Big School)

(5^th Big School Div., 7^th NECC)

(Dropped 1 Spot in NECC Rankings)

• Last Week: L 28-12 @ Fairfield
• This Week: Friday vs Mishawaka Marian
• Series (2021): 1-1 Tie
• Angola’s longest losing streak to begin a season since 1995

This feels very similar to what happened with Garrett last season. On paper, you look at this team and you think this team can do big things, but things have not panned out. And it has to be frustrating for the seniors that I know have been working so hard to try to make this season as memorable as possible. I feel like from the film I have watched Lane King still has a huge presence on the field for the Hornets as a tight end and even at defensive end. With that 6’4 frame and him being as strong as an ox, you know opposing teams have to respect his talents.

Injuries, struggling against the run, and inconsistency are probably the biggest reasons to why Angola still has not won a football game. And trust me, I am as surprised as they are about this start. I knew this was going to be a tougher season to continue this championship success than last season because of graduation. But you had a better chance to win a million dollars than to predict Angola going 0-6. That’s what makes every season unique.

Angola will look to bounce back Friday against Mishawaka Marian, which ironically the road team has won both games in this series. Marian is currently 2-4 on the season, which is down by Marian’s standards, but it does seem like they have improved from a year ago. This Marian team is battle-tested playing against Mishawaka, Culver Academies, Brebeuf Jesuit, New Prairie, and of course Penn.

I am interested to see if Angola can get the running game going with a guy like Korbin Roan, and can the Angola defense contain the run that will have running back Brian Osman carrying the load in that backfield. Like Garrett and Fairfield, Marian will try to milk as much clock as possible to limit Angola’s possessions as they average less than 5 yards a carry.

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