SMALL SCHOOL DIVISION

SuperSam is back for Year 2 of talking High School Sports, and we are now one week into the young season. In the NECC, there are two divisions, so today we will look at the Small School Division. Week 1 was not a great week for the Small School Division, unless you’re an Eastside fan.

Just remember, we are in the Honeymoon stage of a new season. It’s the worst time of the year because sometimes we let reactions and emotions get the best of us. It is also known as the season of hot takes and overreactions. I hope that my rankings provide the best efforts to create strong analysis, without letting emotions being involved. It’s still my opinion at the end of the day, so differing minds are welcomed.

So, without further ado, let’s begin!

Eastside Blazers (1st Small, 3rd Overall) (Up 2 Spots from Last Week in NECC Overall Rankings)

• Last Week: W 30-20 @ Woodlan
• This Week: Friday vs Adams Central
• Series Record vs AC (1965): 4-22
• ACAC Rivals (1965-1979)
• Key Performance: Linkin Carter 32 carries 193 yards and a TD

The Alyx Brandewie era is off to a nice 1-0 start, despite trailing 15 seconds in on a kickoff return TD for Woodlan. That type of play would have rattled any team that is in their first game with a new coach: Not Eastside.

The Blazers showcased why they are the Beast from the NECC’s Small School Division, pounding for 519 rushing yards on the ground. I will say this, Linkin Carter is a plug-in machine for this Eastside team.

Thanks in part to a tremendous O-Line led by Dane Sebert and Joey Eck, and a strong run game from Carter, Wyatt Davis, and Gage Spalding. This Eastside looked very reminiscent of last season despite graduation taking a hit on this team.

This goes to show that you never judge a book by its cover, and for Brandewie and company, this is a great example of why Eastside Football has a special culture that’s been built for years. While the words “All In” are not stated as much as they once did, in spirit, it still lives on with the program in different ways. Until someone knocks off Eastside in this division, they are the team to beat.

Now, one thing they will have to work on is their discipline as they took a few too many penalties in that Woodlan game, which is easily correctable. I love the effort from this team, the offense was moving the chains, and the defense was strong.

They get a huge test this week against Adams Central who’s been to state in each of the past two years. The games between the two have been close in recent memory, even as recently as last season when AC won 25-21. I don’t know if Eastside wins this game, but this will at least be a measuring stick game.

Central Noble Cougars (2nd Small, 7th Overall)

• Last Week: L 47-7 vs West Noble
• Next Game: Friday @ Woodlan
• Series Record vs Woodlan (2013): 1-4

The final four teams will be brief as there wasn’t a lot to say about the others. I can’t say I was surprised CN lost, but I was probably a little surprised by how bad the loss was. I am going to try to be honest without making the fans upset because I am not sure that Week 1 performance is what CN truly is. They’re not that good, but they’re not that bad at all. Let’s start with the good because there wasn’t a lot of good from this game.

The spread showed potential throwing for over 100 yards, although I thought the passing game was rusty in this game. A few times the passes were just a little off, and unfortunately, I said the only way CN had a good chance of upsetting WN was the spread offense had to be cooking. Clearly West Noble respected their offensive scheme because it didn’t do nearly enough to make this somewhat of a game, other than that 67-yard TD pass to Tysen Deck. As a matter of fact, Deck was fingertips short of possibly getting two TD’s, so there are some positives there. I also liked what I saw from Brayden Kirchner and Conner Fish on both ends of the field.

The negatives I am going to be straightforward and brief because I think West Noble had a LOT to do with these issues. The O-Line (What O-Line?) got absolutely creamed by West Noble, and I don’t use this language often in high school sports. Devin Hiestand had no chance of running the ball on that defense, not when WN is eons better up front, which is why I am so high on them. I mean, poor Brody Morgan! He had to earn his performance because he was running all over the field. Drew Pliett was contained extremely well, and they didn’t get enough first downs.

That’s without mentioning the defense, which surprisingly was worse. Much like the O-Line, the D-Line had no response to West Noble’s very talented O-Line and the duo of running back Seth Pruitt and quarterback Drew Yates. Even as far as the pass coverage, they were getting beat quite often, and that’s the fact West Noble’s Pistol Spread ran a motion run game more often than their quick passes.

It was a butt kicking. And the shocking thing is…I don’t think Central Noble was unprepared at all. They just lost to a good team. However, if they are going to win in Woodburn, there are a few things that have to happen.

• The Spread has to be the difference in this game.
• You need some kind of running game to put less pressure on the other skilled guys
• The Frontline must improve to contain Drew Fleek at running back
• They have to show a better pass rush against Louden.

Churubusco Eagles (3rd Small, 8th Overall)

• Last Week: Lost 49-8 vs Columbia City
• This Week: Friday @ Lakeland
• Series Record vs Lakeland (1964): 24-17
• 7 Straight Wins vs Lakeland

Much like with CN, Busco had a rough week 1, but I can’t really say much about Busco because they played Columbia City who is eons better right now than both CN and Busco combined. We’re talking a 4A school with a strong motion RPO type Flexbone offense that has Showtime Stratton Fuller, and they were playing against a Busco team that has a lot of sophomores.

The positives with Busco, Weston Rinker, who suffered a season-ending injury last year, might be their best player right now rushing for 54 yards. Angelo Ianucilli had 48 yards rushing and 3 tackles. I am impressed with Brennan Gaff and Wes Ott. Gaff led with 11 tackles, while Ott added 7 tackles and a sack. It’s small, good notes to what was a blowout loss, but like CN it’s something.

Busco is going to have to do well blocking and running their Shotgun Wing-T for Busco to be successful this fall. Unfortunately, they really couldn’t do much against this team. Busco ran for 165 yards, which isn’t bad, until you realize they only had 177 yards of total offense. Columbia City had 345 yards of total offense.

The big things they need to get better going to Lakeland, they need to take care of the football much better as they committed 3 combined turnovers. They’re also going to need to slow down Lakeland’s young talented skilled players, including Brayden Holbrook and their backfield. The problem is going to the Swamp in LaGrange has become a pain in the butt to win at. This game will show a lot about Busco’s camaraderie, maturity, and their toughness,

Fremont Eagles (4th Small, 9th Overall)

• Last Week: L 28-7 @ Shenandoah
• This Week: Friday @ Blackford
• Series Record vs Blackford (2014): 3-1

I had a Fremont source that told me about this game because apparently nobody outside of the Fremont faithful knew what happened that night. So, this was a scoreless game going into the fourth quarter, and both defenses worked very hard to keep each offense from reaching the end zone. So, it took until late in the 4^th quarter that Shenandoah finally scored a touchdown, followed by Fremont throwing two pick 6’s in desperation.

Bang, bang, bang, it goes from 0-0 to 21-0 Shenandoah in a flash.

Brody Foulk threw a 50-yard dart to Gage Cope for a TD, before the Raiders got a 1-yard score. Now, we will see if they can get their first win of 2023. They will make another long drive to Hartford City to face CIC foe Blackford, who lost 47-7 to rival Jay County.

Carter Clouse is one name to watch for the Bruins who ran 19 times for 70 yards and a score and caught 2 passes for 50 yards.

Prairie Heights Panthers (5th Small, 10th Overall)

• Last Week: L 20-0 vs Whitko
• This week: Friday @ Bronson (MI)
• Series Record vs Bronson (MI): 2-1

A tough loss for ‘We the Heights’ against a determined Whitko team that showed a lot of heart and toughness to prove that this year’s team is different from the previous one. Kris Levitz had a huge game up front leading the team in tackles, but Heights needs to improve on their execution on offense because that is where the frontline’s experience and blue-collar play can be at their best.

Up next, they make the road trip out of state to Bronson, MI, located 18 miles north of Prairie Heights. This will be the Bronson Vikings’ first game of their season as high school football gets underway in the state of Michigan. Bronson looks to bounce back from a 2-7 campaign. One of their wins last season was a 20-7 win over Prairie Heights.

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