By Tribune sports staff
Eight of the 12 area football teams scored wins in the opening week of sectional tournaments. Peru pulled a minor upset in knocking off Mississinewa, but otherwise the advancing teams went into their games as favorites.
For several of those teams, the competition becomes considerably tougher this week. Two examples — Western meets undefeated West Lafayette in a Class 3A Sectional 20 semifinal game, and Eastern takes on seven-time state champion Fort Wayne Bishop Luers in a Class 2A Sectional 27 game.
Elsewhere, Class 2A Sectional 26 is guaranteed a pair of area squads in next week’s final. Cass hosts Tipton in one semifinal and Northwestern hosts Taylor in an all-Howard County matchup in the other semifinal.
The following are previews of tonight’s games involving area teams.
Class 3A Sectional 20
No. 2 W. Lafayette (10-0) at Western (6-4)
Western came up short in its bid to win a share of the Mid-Indiana Conference championship two weeks ago, but bounced back to whip Maconaquah 48-0 in the opening round of sectional play.
The Panthers will host the No. 2-ranked Red Devils in a semifinal game tonight.
“I think the kids are excited,” Western coach Alix Engle said. “We’ve been on the wrong side of things in a few games this year. We’re so good at certain positions, and then we have kids who started out really green and they’ve improved so much this year. They deserve something to show for that improvement because they have worked very hard, especially some our defensive backs.
“I think they feel like they have something to prove and they want something to show for their hard work.”
Western’s secondary, which struggled in losses to Northwestern and Lewis Cass, is in for a major test tonight against Hoosier Conference champion West Lafayette.
QB Daniel Wodicka triggers the Red Devils’ spread offense. He has completed 102 of 155 pass attempts for 1,505 yards and 20 touchdowns. He has thrown just two interceptions. In addition, Wodicka is the Red Devils’ leading rusher with 900 yards and 17 touchdowns on 82 carries — an eye-popping average of 11 yards per carry.
“He looks like a kid who has played in some backyard football games in his young life — he can run, he can throw, he can make plays,” Engle said. “We have to try to contain him. He has some good stats passing, but where he breaks other teams’ backs is his ability to run the ball.
“He is surrounded by a great group of athletes as well. I don’t know that I’ve ever seen so many top-notch-level athletes on one team.”
Andrew Pekny is Wodicka’s top target. Pekny has 40 catches for 653 yards and nine touchdowns.
“We’ve given up some big plays. We can’t do that [tonight]. We have to force Wodicka and his team to drive all the way down the field if they’re going to score,” Engle said.
Western’s option offense is capable of controlling time of possession. Fullback Jake Askren and QB/fullback Mike Jakubowicz have combined to run for 2,168 yards and 31 touchdowns.
The Red Devils score 38 points per game and allow just 12. The Panthers score 30 ppg and allow 17.
“It’s going to take an all-around great effort,” Engle said. “If we play our best game, I think we can be there in the end.”
West Lafayette and Western have met just once before, in a 1984 Class 2A regional game that the Red Devils won 17-14. They went on to finish as state runners-up.
Peru (2-8) at Frankfort (6-4)
The good news for Peru is that the Tigers appear to be playing their best football of the season. The bad news — Frankfort is as well.
Peru shook off a five-game losing streak to dismantle Mississinewa 31-0 behind the pass-catch combo of Jordan Myers and Luke Primerano.
“It was a big win for the program,” said second-year coach Bill Skelton. “We’re getting there, but we didn’t play great last week. We’re playing better here at the end of the season and we’re happy about that, but we’ve got to a long ways to go.”
No question, Frankfort will be a much more difficult test. The Hot Dogs have finished the season in convincing fashion with high-scoring wins over Tri-West (27-6), North Montgomery (42-14) and Twin Lakes (32-7). Last week’s sectional win at Twin Lakes was especially impressive considering Frankfort lost to the same team 12-0 in Week 2.
“[Frankfort] is solid across the board,” Skelton said. “They are a senior-heavy team with lots of experience — and obviously they’re playing well.
“The strength of their team is their running backs. Their offensive line opens big holes and their backs are hard to bring down. We have to get 11 hats on the ball and play mistake-free football to play at their level.”
Sophomore fullback Dylan Timmons is Frankfort’s top back with 1,084 yards and 13 touchdowns. Wingback Corben Shirar adds 882 yards and 10 TDs to the mix. Quarterback Blake Ayers has completed only 37 passes for two TDs, making it obvious the Hot Dogs will test Peru’s run defense first. In the last two games, Frankfort has rushed for 706 yards.
“The weather report points to rain and if that’s the case it’s important we control the football and to do that we have to dominate the line of scrimmage,” Skelton said. “We’ve got to be able to run the football in those elements.”
Class 2A Sectional 27
Eastern (5-5) at F.W. Luers (5-5)
Eastern knocked off Bluffton 38-12 in a Sectional 27 opening-round game, giving the Comets their first tournament win since 2004. They followed with a good week of practice.
“We were talking in the coaches’ office [after Wednesday’s practice] that this was by far the most intense week of practice we’ve had,” coach Josh Edwards said. “That was not coach-generated, that was kid-generated. It was a good week in terms of intensity and execution.”
Eastern travels to Fort Wayne tonight to take on seven-time Class 2A state champion Bishop Luers, which hammered Manchester 45-21 last week.
Luers plays in the rugged Summit Athletic Conference, which is full of larger schools including 5A heavyweight Fort Wayne Snider and 4A No. 2-ranked Fort Wayne Dwenger. The week-in, week-out competition takes a toll on the Knights’ record — but prepares them well for the postseason.
“It is a monumental task to say the least,” Edwards said of the Comets’ game against the Knights. “The way our kids have talked all week and the way they’ve practice shows me they’re ready for the challenge.”
Edwards knows the Knights will put pressure on his squad.
“They’re not very big, but they have a lot of speed and obviously they’re going to try to get the ball in their athletes’ hands as much as possible,” he said. “From what I’ve heard, they’ll try to get a nice lead on us early to keep us from hanging around.”
Quarterback Jonathan Keith, who passes for 241 yards per game, keys the Comets’ offensive attack.
Class 2A Sectional 28
Tipton (8-2) at No. 9 Cass (7-3)
Tipton and Cass, unquestionably two of the best programs in the area, last crossed paths in a 1997 sectional semifinal game that the Blue Devils won 41-12. The squads will renew acquaintances tonight at Owens Memorial Field.
“I think they’ve had a fantastic football program for the last 25 years probably,” Cass coach Scott Mannering said of the Blue Devils. “Moving into [the Hoosier Conference] changed the dynamics of their won-lost records, but they’ve still been very solid.
“They look very talented this year and I’m surprised how young they are — they have a lot of underclassmen who are very good players on the line of scrimmage and at the skill positions. If they were in our conference, they’d be one of the best teams.”
Tipton coach Aaron Tolle was equally complimentary toward Cass, which has become a tournament force in recent seasons. Mannering led the Kings to the state finals last season.
“I have all the respect in the world for coach Mannering. I know he runs as solid a program as there is in central Indiana if not the entire state,” Tolle said.
“We knew as soon as the new sectionals came out that if you wanted to win this one, it was going to go through Cass whether it was Week 1, Week 2 or Week 3. It happens to fall in Week 2 this year.”
Cass is riding a six-game winning streak. The Kings score 29 ppg and hold opponents to 13 ppg. Quarterback/safety Damon Foreman is their leader.
“Their whole offense is built around a good, physical offensive line,” Tolle noted. “They have good backs. It looks like an extremely balanced offense in that they don’t have that one guy you can zero in on, they get it to four or five different backs.
“I’m really impressed with the quarterback. It’s even obvious on film that he’s the leader of the entire ballclub. When things are going bad or it’s a time for a play to be made, coach Mannering is going to put it in his hands.”
The Blue Devils score 30 ppg and allow 13 ppg — nearly identical to the Kings’ averages.
The Blue Devils have good offensive balance. They average 185 rushing yards and 130 passing yards per game. Quarterback Ross Schulenburg, wide receivers Seth Jacobs and Jake Dye and running back Tanner Langley are the key playmakers.
“They’re an I-formation [offense], which you don’t see much anymore, with a very good tailback in Langley and they throw the ball well. Their receivers are outstanding,” Mannering said. “I’m really impressed with them across the board. Defensively, I think they are solid. They are 8-2 for a reason — they’re a quality team.”
Tolle and Mannering both pointed to field position and turnovers as possible determining factors in the game. Tolle pointed to physical play as another key.
“We’re going to have to match them execution-wise and try to win the physical battle,” he said.
Taylor (3-7) at Northwestern (8-2)
Taylor endured a six-game losing streak during the regular season, but it heads into the sectional semifinal round on a modest two-game happy streak. Taylor beat winless Alexandria 35-21 last week.
“We went through a long struggle there with our kids about trying to figure out the effort that is needed to win,” coach Josh Ousley said. “I think our kids have really picked it up as far as in practice the last couple weeks. We’ve really seen a lot of excitement and intensity in practice that we didn’t see earlier and I think a lot of that has to do with the wins.”
Ousley knows his squad faces a tall challenge tonight. Northwestern blanked Taylor 42-0 in a Mid-Indiana Conference game on Sept. 18.
“Northwestern is a really good team and we knew that the first time we played them. Seeing them again on tape, they do a lot of things really well,” he said. “We’ve told our kids that we’re not going to be able to do the things we did last week — we’re not going to be able to have four turnovers in the first half.”
Taylor made some costly mistakes when it played Northwestern last month including fumbling away the opening kickoff. The Tigers scored a touchdown on the next play and the Titans never recovered.
“I think the score of that game was really deceiving because I didn’t feel like it was a 42-0 game. [The Titans] had some bad breaks that kind of led to that score,” Northwestern coach John Hendryx said.
“They have some really good athletes. I’ve always liked [QB Austen] Conwell and [running back Gordon] Jenkins is as quick as any kid in the conference. Defensively, they are going to come at you from every direction possible. You have to be prepared for that or they are going to make a lot of plays for losses.”
Northwestern features excellent offensive balance, but it needed only its ground game against Taylor last month. The Tigers racked up 329 yards — 285 on the ground.
“We have to be better against the run this time,” Ousley stressed. “We have to stop the run and we have to run the football. We also have to be more aggressive physically because they are going to try to take it to us physically.”
Northwestern is riding a red-hot defense into the sectional semifinal round. The Tigers are coming off their school-record fifth shutout of the season.
“The kids have played well. I have to give a lot of credit to [defensive coordinator Vince] Burpo for that,” Hendryx said. “I think our depth is a plus. We’re able to play a lot of kids defensively which allows us to keep those kids pretty fresh. We have about six or seven kids we can play in the front, we have four linebackers and we feel pretty comfortable with about six secondary guys.
“We do a lot of stuff — we have a lot of different personnel packages, we have a lot of different pressure packages. … I give them a lot of credit being able to hang in there mentally because we put a lot of pressure on them mentally.”
Class A Sectional 37
Clinton Central (6-4) at Lapel (7-3)
The two Bulldogs will battle at Lapel for a spot in the sectional final. Lapel and CC haven’t met, but have a pair of common opponents.
Lapel topped Tri-Central 33-14 to open the season, while Clinton Central finished the Trojans’ winless season with a 66-7 victory over TC in last week’s opening round. Both teams also faced Clinton Prairie, with Lapel topping CP 51-24 on Oct. 2, and CC beating Prairie 20-0 the next week.
“They’ve won seven ballgames, they’ve won their last four,” CC coach Mike Quick said. “They have a big, 235-pound fullback [Shelby Weeks] that’s averaging nearly 150 yards a game. They’ve got a very fast quarterback [Sam Foust], and a good receiver [Chandler Guion] and a couple halfbacks [Jared Brandon and Kyle Nardi]. They run a wing-T offense with a lot of option in it, so we’re going to have to play assignment football and have a real solid defensive game.”
That’s been the norm for the Bulldogs of Clinton County this season. Central has three shutouts and has held two other opponents to seven points or less. That contrasts with Lapel which has given up at least 11 points to each opponent. Yet it’s the Madison County Bulldogs that might be more physical.
“They have a lot of size up front defensively and with that big fullback, and quarterback who has a lot of speed, they present a lot of problems to defenses,” Quick said. “Defensively, they’re pretty big and pretty athletic in the secondary.”
Weeks is a fireplug, listed at 5-foot-9, 240 pounds. He ran for 77 yards in Lapel’s 20-14 victory over Eastern Hancock last week. QB Foust delivered the key score in that game with a third-quarter touchdown.
On its side, Clinton Central also employs a wing-T, but not in the power style that Lapel uses. Halfback Jordan Woodard has 938 yards on the season after rushing for 184 yards against TC. He scored six touchdowns in that game, two receiving and four rushing, as CC gave another primary halfback, Cody Cannaday, a break from his offensive duties. Cannaday has 929 yards on the season. Also, fullback David Griffy has 533 yards.
Quarterback Dylan Padgett has thrown for 628 yards, connecting on 37 of 82 attempts. Corbin Orr has 15 catches for 288 yards.
“I’ve been happy with the development of our passing attack the last three weeks,” Quick said. “Dylan Padgett, he’s a first-year football player playing quarterback. He’s throwing the ball well and our guys are going up and getting the ball, so we’ve seen a definite improvement in our passing game.
“We’re a wing-T offense and we rely on three running backs. We’ve got to keep all of them involved in the offense and make them defend the whole field.”
Quick also noted that his squad’s defense must continue to play well and set the table for the offense.
“They complement each other,” he said. “Our defense has been able to keep field position for us, and then if you have field position, it’s a lot easier to play offense and call plays.”
Bryan Gaskins, Dave Kitchell and Pedro Velazco compiled these previews.
