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 Small School Division is two games away from deciding whether Eastside can pull off their 5^th straight divisional title or someone will spoil that run. At this point, the chances of the latter happening are extremely unlikely.

Eastside Blazers (4-2, 2-0 Small)

(1^st Small School Div., 3^rd NECC Rankings)

• Last Week: W 49-13 @ Prairie Heights
• This Week: Friday @ Fremont
• Series (1966): 38-18 Eastside
• Eastside has won every meeting since 2009 (12-0)

This is that tough stretch for Eastside in different ways because you don’t want to lay off the gas in these type of games, but at the same time you want to make sure you’re taking care of the team and making sure they are fresh for that next game. So, the game itself does not get me excited as a whole, but it does help to get other players going.

Linkin Carter had his best football game as a varsity player rushing 8 times for 222 yards and 4 touchdowns. I look for Eastside to more of the same this week at Fremont. Look for EJ Miller to have a nice game on defense, and I could see Wyatt Davis due for a nice all-around game at quarterback.

2. Churubusco Eagles (2-4, 2-1 Small)

(2^nd Small School Div., 6^th NECC Rankings)

(Up 1 in NECC Rankings)

• Last Week: W 48-3 vs Fremont
• This Week: Friday @ Central Noble
• Series (1975): 33-21 Busco
• Busco has won 18 of the last 19 meetings

After a pretty rough start to the first quarter for Busco, the Eagles were able to make a play and took a 7-3 lead with around 10 seconds left in the first. From there, Busco dominated and a kid by the name of Angelo Ianucilli put on an absolute Turtle Town masterpiece.

16 carries, 354 yards, and 6 touchdowns. His yardage and touchdowns are a new single-game school record.

This week is the famous “Battle of Baseline” game in Albion, and as usual this is a game that they cannot take lightly because of how wild these games can be if CN catches a whirlwind of confidence. But I will say this, if they can come into this game with good habits and take care of the football, I like where Busco is heading lately. But I just have to wonder if some of their youth gets too caught up with the excitement of this game. But when you have a veteran coaching staff at Busco, that will definitely help.

I will tell you another guy I really like right now from Busco other than Brennan Gaff is a guy by the name of Jack Huelsenbeck. He has been overlooked this season, but he had a monster game on defense against Fremont last week. He had career highs with 14 tackles and 3.5 sacks against Fremont, and that has to give the youngsters a jolt of confidence when you see these kids flying to the numbers and making plays.

I don’t know if they’re ready for postseason football yet, but I am loving the trends with this team lately.

3. Central Noble Cougars (2-4, 2-0 Small School)

(3^rd Small School Div., 8^th NECC Rankings)

It is an requirement that I try to say something about the last three teams, but man I don’t like where the rest of this division is at towards the final weeks of the season. Yeah, let’s just say for Central Noble, I  want to forget whatever that game was last week at Lakeland.

Down 21-0 in the first quarter, this game was over before the game even started on their way to a 43-point beatdown. It was embarrassing for the burgundy and white, but they do not have time to hang their heads on an ugly performance. If I am CN, I am forgetting what was the first six weeks of the season. It has not been good for most of the season, but now your focus has to be on playing your best football in October.

The postseason does not care what you did all season, it only cares about what have you been doing lately. And when you play Busco in any sport, it is never about who is the better team on paper. It’s who plays the best game that night, and trust me there have been plenty of wild games throughout the course of history between these two teams.

Before we even try to talk about the matchup, the Cougars need to take care of themselves. It’s time to get back to the basics and simplify the game plan. It looks like they’re trying to be way too cute just to make a simple 3-yard pass. They need to play smarter, not harder. Period. This is a sign of a team that is trying to figure out who they are as a program.

If Brody Morgan looks like he is comfortable in the pocket and not running for his life out there, I promise you the offense will look much better. He’s got talented, quick guys to throw the ball to, especially with Tysen Deck and Drew Pliett being their top two targets. Those two alone are serious athletes that you rarely see at a small school like CN.

I like what I have seen from Devin Hiestand this season at running back, I think there’s room to have a balanced offense if they just settle down and allow the kids feel good about their talents. If the offense is better, it will tremendously help their special teams, and certainly a younger defense that has been thrown to the fire this season to put it lightly.

There’s talent with this team. Are they the best team right now? No, they have a lot to prove over the final four weeks of the season. The big challenge with the defense will be stopping the run, especially against their Shotgun Wing-T where guys like Angelo Ianucilli, Weston Rinker, Bryce Lawrence, and Brody Lawrence can beat you through their speed but also their deception (they’re good at the deception part). CN needs to tackle well up front, because if they over pursue and miss their tackle, Busco’s backs are going to gain a ton of yardage.

Also, knowing this Busco team, they are going to throw the ball at some point in this game, so it is important that the defense does not miss an assignment against a strong tight end in Gavin Huelsenbeck. We talk a lot about Lane King, but Gavin is right up there in terms of big, strong tight ends. Look, I know I have been very critical of this CN team at times this season, but they should come into this game with a different mindset and having fun. You only get to play these rivalry games once a year, and doing so on homecoming where Cougar fans will be sporting their school spirit is even more rare.

4. Fremont Eagles (1-5, 0-2 Small School)

(4^th Small School Div., 9^th NECC Rankings)

After what was a promising first quarter considering their situation with their injuries as of late, that was a tough blow giving up a touchdown that late in the first quarter. It set the tempo for what was a game they want to forget.

That’s the thing though , because we know this Fremont team is going to play hard, and their defense is going to compete at the start of each game. We have seen a trend this season where they are not allowing points at the start of games, and that’s a sign of a high-character program that is slowly learning how to compete.

However, I am not trying to sound like a broken record, but the injuries are a huge problem with Fremont because they have one of the area’s smallest rosters. I was told that unofficially, they had 11 players sidelined, with 7 of them playing both ways as of last week. I don’t like making excuses, but with Fremont, you do have to understand this is still a rebuilding situation up in Fremont, and numbers are still not overly impressive right now. Therefore, injuries become more of a story. We can only hope that the kids can stay healthy or at the very least have successful rehabs. This is why you don’t take athletic trainers for granted.

5. Prairie Heights Panthers (0-6, 0-3 Small School)

(5^th Small School Div., 10^th NECC Rankings)

Eastside did not make last week any easier for We the Heights as they scored all of their points in the first half, thus leaving the second half on a running clock and reserves coming in. It’s been a long season for the Panthers as it feels like each hill gets harder and harder to climb on. The only thing this team can do at this point is to take things one game at a time and get better. Obviously, they don’t have the skill compare to a lot of the better teams they face, and that’s mostly why they have lost the way they have.

The Panthers will always play hard out there, and this is a team that understands that Rome was not built overnight. That’s why it has been a daunting, and long road back up for the Panthers. They have another measuring stick this week on the road against a solid Bremen squad that has a dynamic quarterback in junior Silas Laidig. Laidig has thrown for 1,231 yards on 62% completion and 11 TD’s.

On paper, that is a rough matchup for the Heights of Prairie. However, if they can survive this week, they have an opportunity to pick up their first win of the season next week on Senior Night against rival Fremont in the Steuben County Brawl.

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