Football
2023: NECC Big 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 Big School Division, there’s still a lot we don’t know about this division another than the fact West Noble is on the driver’s seat in this division with 2 games left in their divisional games.
West Noble Chargers (5-0, 2-0 Big School) (1st in Big School and NECC)
This Week: Friday @ Garrett
Series History (1968): 18-24
West Noble has won 4 of their last 5 meetings
The last 2 weeks have seen the Chargers continue their dominant ways. Against Angola, Seth Pruitt ran for 169 yards and 4 TDs as the Chargers held off a furious Angola rally despite the best efforts from Hawk Hasselman.
Last week was complete domination at Fairfield. Drew Yates combined for 246 yards and 4 TDs and held Fairfield to barely over 150 yards rushing in a 38-8 win. West Noble has been winning games through a balanced spread offense and a strong frontline that has contained running backs and recording 7 sacks on the season.
This week is a different opponent compared to who they’ve faced up to this point in Garrett. The Railroaders are a hard-nosed group of kids that play extremely hard, pound the rock, and they’re going to milk as much clock as possible to limit West Noble’s possessions.
If the Chargers want to set themselves up for a division title clincher next week, they must take care of the football and continue to have strong performances from your linemen including blocking and tackling.
Lakeland Lakers (4-1, 1-1 Big School) (2nd in Big School and 2nd in NECC)
(Up 1 from Last Week’s Division and NECC Rankings)
This Week: Friday vs Central Noble
Series History (1975): 25-21 Lakeland
Central Noble has Won 5 of their last 6 Meetings
That 18-9 loss to Garrett in Week 4 was a tough one to swallow. I was told the effort was good, but the Lakers did not execute well against Garrett’s defense that limited their rushing attack and dominated time of profession.
The same cannot be said for last week as Lakeland responded to every punch Angola had on Friday as the Lakers won in a dramatic 38-37 road win. After being held to less than 70 yards rushing in Week 4, Sean Conley returned to his dominant self rushing for 269 yards and 4 Touchdowns. He might be the NECC’s rookie of the year as he has ran for 905 yards on 79 carries for 12 touchdowns.
Lakeland’s ability to put the ball in the hands of multiple talented players in this shotgun spread on top of a generational quarterback in Brayden Holbrook and a stud running back in Sean Conley has made Lakeland a worthy opponent for anyone. And remember this is a team filled with sophomores.
The key is going to be executing the gameplan because they have the guys that understand what it takes to win, now it’s being able to finish the job. They host Central Noble on Friday.
Garrett Railroaders (2-3, 1-0 Big School) (3rd in Big School, 4th in NECC)
(Down 1 Spot in Division Rankings, Down 2 Spots in Overall Rankings)
This Week: Friday vs West Noble
Series History (1968): 24-18
Garrett has not lost 3 straight home games to West Noble in this series since 1989
Garrett was riding an emotional high after Week 4 thanks to a methodical rushing attack led by Calder Hefty and holding Lakeland to less than 200 total yards.
A lot of that success on defense came true last week @ Eastside. Garrett had a halftime lead at 8-7, and the defense was frustrating Eastside’s power spread. The issue was Garrett was unable to seal the deal in the second half. The Big Train thought they had another touchdown on a catch from Luke Holcomb. But it was ruled incomplete as Holcomb’s front foot stepped on the out of bounds line without full control of the football. That certainly changed the outcome of the game as Eastside led by Linkin Carter was able to come away with the dub.
There’s more to this outcome than just the lack of scoring. Garrett committed 4 turnovers in that game, which they didn’t do in the previous two games coming into the Train game. They’ll have to take better care of the football on Friday against West Noble or it could be a long night.
Fairfield Falcons (3-2, 0-1 Big School) (4th in Big School, 5th in NECC)
This Week: Friday vs Angola
Series History (1989): 14-16
Both teams have split the last 4 meetings
This is a tough way to start divisional play after a fantastic come-from-behind 39-31 overtime win @ Culver Academies…only to follow that with their biggest blowout loss of the season. Poor tackling, poor execution, and not playing clean football is how you lose by 30 points to elite teams. Week 5 was as black and white as you’re going to get on the scoreboard. One team played great football, the other didn’t.
That’s the confusing thing with Fairfield because they have the guys, they have size up front, they can score and defend, and they’re extremely well-coached. Fairfield, however, is not consistently playing to their level right now. The inconsistencies up front have at times been a head scratcher and they’re simply making too many mistakes. When you run the wishbone triple option, you gotta make sure every player understands what they need to do and they gotta play a clean brand of football.
When Fairfield plays a polished game, this is the hardest offense to prepare for. But if they don’t, then Fairfield is behind the 8-ball. And don’t think that game with Angola is going to be any easier, which I think it’ll be equally harder. If Fairfield doesn’t start consistently playing better at blocking and tackling, Angola might have a chance to get their first win.
Angola Hornets (0-5, 0-2 Big School) (5th in Big School, 6th in NECC)
This Week: Friday @ Fairfield
Series History (1989): 16-14
Angola hasn’t lost 3 games by less than 7 points since 2019
The shocking thing about Angola halfway through the season is the fact they’re still winless. This is the first time since their 0-9 1995 season that Angola has lost their first 5 games of the season. In fact, in 2 of their last 3 weeks, they’ve lost by a combined 7 points. For Angola, these were winnable games that they just have not been able to finish them off.
The common theme all season is long is their ability to stop the run. That has been one of the main reasons why Angola is still without a win. They also need to take better care of the football as Andy Thomas informed me last week.
Injuries are starting to take its toll on Angola, but to their credit they’ve fought hard to overcome that. Despite Hawk Hasselman’s injury, it was Micah Steury who came in to try to lead this team to victory lane. But Lakeland had the last laugh in Week 5.
Angola has a tough road trip ahead for a week 6 showdown with Fairfield. It’s simple, Angola has to stop the big plays against Fairfield’s wishbone triple option or there’s no chance they win this week. This is another winnable game for Angola if they can do just that and taking better care of the football. On paper, Angola has the athletes and speed to win this game, now can they play cleaner football?
