Football
2023: NECC Small School Division Power Poll (Week 5)
We are halfway through the season, and that means we are halfway from deciding this year’s divisional champions. In the Small School Division, Eastside took a huge first step in Week 4 by shutting out Busco. After a big Week 5 win over Garrett, now they’ll look to put the icing on the cake in their hopes of gaining another small school divisional championship into their expansive trophy case.
Eastside Blazers (3-2, 1-0 Small School) (1st Small School, 3rd NECC)
(Up 1 in NECC Rankings)
This Week: Friday @ Prairie Heights
Series History (1965): 38-11-1
Eastside’s Last Loss to PH: October 15, 2010 (27-20 @ Prairie Heights)
After two blowout losses to Adams Central and West Noble, the Blazers have found their confidence in being able to execute offensively, but it’s been their defense that has sealed the deal in both the Busco and Garrett games. Eastside has allowed just 8 combined points and forcing 6 turnovers in those 2 games.
It hasn’t always been pretty for the boys in Blazer Green, but who said games had to look pretty? The rushing attack of Wyatt Davis and Linkin Carter along with a strong O-Line led by Dane Sebert and Joey Eck have made a big difference with their Power Spread attack.
The defense has been mostly very good with Gage Spalding leading the pass rush attack, and EJ Miller and Nolen Steury taking strides in the secondary. If this team can stay healthy and execute their gameplan strongly, they’re in a very good position to win their 5th straight divisional title, which would be a program record.
Churubusco Eagles (1-4, 1-1 Small School) (2nd Small School, 7th NECC)
This Week: Friday vs Fremont
Series History (1965): 39-7
Dating back to 2011, Busco has shutout Fremont in 10 of their last 12 meetings
You can tell Busco needed that win @ Prairie Heights. On that night, Busco was ‘We not so nice’ to ‘We the Heights’ as they contributed to 448 yards of total offense in that game.
Sophomore Bryce Lawrence had 2 carries for 118 yards (59 yards per carry) and 2 touchdowns in a 52-0 win over Prairie Heights. With how much they’ve struggled to score points in the first 4 weeks, Busco needed to get their shotgun Wing-T going sooner rather than later.
Busco knows that the schedule is opening up for the next couple of games with this game vs Fremont and “The Big Game” at Central Noble next week in the Battle On Baseline.
Don’t let that matchup this week fool you. Fremont has definitely shown some fight this season, especially on defense. Busco cannot take this game lightly.
Central Noble Cougars (2-3, 2-0 Small School) (3rd Small School, 8th NECC)
(Up 1 spot in both rankings)
This Week: Friday @ Lakeland
Series History (1975): 21-25
After 3 weeks of just straight up bad football, I guess every blind squirrel eventually finds its nut. I mean, I’m not sure how to fully take this team. I guess they’re better? I’m still hesitant to say that.
One things for certain, the offense finally looks comfortable, and it looks like an offense that at the very least can give defenses some concern to prepare for because of that deep-ball threat from junior quarterback Brody Morgan and the talented receivers led by Tysen Deck and Drew Pliett.
Running back Devin Hiestand is quietly having a much improved Senior season. After struggling through the first 3 weeks, we are now starting to see why the team trusts Drew Pliett so much as he now has 203 yards on 20 catches and 2 touchdowns. But we need to also give Tysen his respect. This season he has 15 catches for 314 yards or 20.9 yards per catch and 4 touchdowns. Even when the team was struggling in Weeks 1-3, Deck has been CN’s most consistent player all season long. He’s very talented but more importantly he works extremely hard, and his speed makes him a threat every time he’s on the field.
But for the team to be successful on offense, Morgan has to feel comfortable with the offense, and the offense has to get everyone involved. That’s when CN is more of a threat on that side of the ball. In his last 2 games, Morgan is 24-39 for 472 yards with 7 touchdowns to 2 INT’s. When the passing game is strong, that’s when you’re able to get the running game involved as well. That’s the most encouraging part with CN right now.
If they can get enough stops on defense Friday (which good luck with that), this is a trap game on paper. Against Fremont, Brayden Kirchner had 20 total tackles and 2 sacks in that game. The Cougars forced Fremont to commit 3 lost fumbles in that game. But the key question is can they stop Sean Conley in the backfield and contain the weapons in the passing game that Brayden Holbrook is comfortable in throwing the ball to?
That was an issue last year against Lakeland. It must be better tomorrow night or it could be a VERY long road trip back from the Swamp.
Fremont Eagles (1-4, 0-1 Small School) (4th Small School, 9th NECC)
(Down 1 Spot in Both Rankings)
This week: Friday @ Busco
Series History (1965): 7-39
Fremont’s Last Win vs Busco: September 28, 2001
The offense for Fremont continued to struggled last week as they were unable to muster anything until the 4th quarter when Fremont was down 24-0 going into that final stanza.
On the bright side, the defense held CN’s rushing attack to 52 yards on the ground, which that will have to continue to do well against Busco’s Shotgun Wing-T that relies a lot on their ability to run the football with their speed.
But if Fremont is going to snap a 20-game losing streak against Busco, they have got to do a much better job at protecting their quarterback.
Carmyne Moreno is one guy to watch for Fremont as their top running back on this Fremont offense, as well as Gage Cope who is usually their top wide receiver.
Fremont will also like to score more often in the first half as they’ve only managed to score 14 points in the first half all season long (all coming against Blackford in Week 2).
Prairie Heights Panthers (0-5, 0-2 Small School) (5th Small School, 10th NECC)
This Week: Friday vs Eastside
Series History (1965): 11-38-1
Prairie Heights has been outscored 104-0 in their first two games of Small School Divisional play. That’s not a great sign in their division. It’s been a rough season for ‘We the Heights’ as numbers haven’t been the best this season, and have struggled to compete with the competition they’ve faced this season. Despite that, it hasn’t been from a lack of effort.
A few positive notes on this team have come from senior Matt Roberts who has 5 catches for 89 yards and 2 touchdowns. Junior Walker McCrea leads the team with 38 total tackles.
However, the schedule is going to get much tougher as 3 of their final 4 regular season matchups come against teams with a combined 12-3 record. At this point, their best bet at getting a win is their senior night home game against Fremont in Week 8. However, Fremont has looked better this season. Heights hasn’t posted a winless season since 2016.
