Week
12 Picks: 2004 NW Indiana High School Football
Week
12 Picks: 2004 NW Indiana High School Football
A USA-365.com Special Report By Mark Smith
November
2, 2004
|
WEEK 11, 2004 in Review: Wrong - 5; Right - 15 = 75.0% |
|
| The Pick | The Result |
| Twin Lakes 14, Tipton 12 | Wrong... Tipton 14-7 |
| East Noble 28, Plymouth 14 | Wrong... Plymouth 14-0 |
| Valparaiso 20, Portage 17 | Wrong... Portage 24-18 |
| Elkhart Memorial 16, Clay 13 | Wrong... Clay 14-0 |
| Jimtown 21, Eastside 20 | Wrong... Eastside 24-19 |
| (1A) Lafayette Catholic 51, Attica 21 | CORRECT... Lafayette Catholic 41-20 |
| Seeger 21, Pioneer 14 | CORRECT... Seeger 22-0 |
| West Central 28, South Central 20 | CORRECT... West Central 40-6 |
| Whiting 34, LaVille 21 | CORRECT... Whiting 42-38 |
| (2A) North Judson 28, North Newton 6 | CORRECT... North Judson 41-12 |
| Rensselaer 30, Winamac 7 | CORRECT... Rensselaer 37-32 |
| Glenn 20, Fairfield 13 | CORRECT... Glenn 35-0 |
| (3A) Griffith 41, Morton 14 | CORRECT... Griffith 43-22 |
| Andrean 49, Gavit 28 | CORRECT... Andrean 70-9 |
| (4A) Highland 31, Gary West Side 12 | CORRECT... Highland 13-0 |
| Lowell 26, Hobart 10 | CORRECT... Lowell 13-10 |
| Wawasee 42, DeKalb 21 | CORRECT... Wawasee 49-28 |
| (5A) Merrillville 34, CP 17 | CORRECT... Merrillville 34-19 |
| Penn 38, LaPorte 14 | CORRECT... Penn 28-16 |
WEEK ELEVEN (11) ANALYSIS:
The
East Noble loss, with 5 turnovers, is a shock and it changes that 4A bracket.
Twin Lakes fumbled away a chance to beat Tipton. Valparaiso could have and
should have beaten Portage. Jimtown and Eastside could have gone either way and
Clay's notable upset 14-0 over Memorial is only a stay of execution. Clay plays
Penn this week.
(Week One) 11 of 14, 78.5%
(Week Two) 8 of 13, 61.5%
(Week Three) 8 of 12, 66.7%
(Week Four) 11 of 12, 91.7%
(Week Five) 10 of 12, 83.3%
(Week Six) 7 of 12, 58.3 %
(Week Seven) 8 of 12, 66.7%
(Week Eight) 7 of 12, 58.3%
(Week Nine) 8 of 12, 66.7%
(Week Ten) 23 of 30, 66.7%
(Week Eleven) 15 of 20, 75.0%
REGULAR SEASON: 77-111, 69.4%
PLAYOFFS: 38-50. 76.0%
2004 TOTAL: 115 of 161, 70.1%
WEEK TWELVE (12), Sectional Finals: Nov. 5, 2004
Class 1A Sectional Championships
Sheridan (10-1) 21, Carroll (9-1) 7
FLORA – Sheridan will run hard and Carroll cant do much about it. QB Brett Zachary ran 11 times for 141 yards last week in the 59-6 win over Clinton Central. 240-pound fullback Ryan Gibbons carried 12 times for 103 yards. I don't think Carroll is in the same class as Sheridan.
Seeger (11-0) 28, Lafayette Catholic (8-3) 14
LAFAYETTE - A big one. Seeger's all-time leading rusher Eli Cook against Lafayette Catholic's all-time leading passer Thomas Haan. On a cold night, go with the rushing team. Seeger has seven shutouts but they wont get another one on this night.
Southern Wells (7-4) 27, Adams Central (5-6) 12-
MONROE - Adams Central is obviously hard to read and they won in OT last week so they may be barely hanging on.
West Central (9-2) 28, Whiting (11-0) 21
WHITING – Whiting is struggling big time defensively (26.3 allowed in the last 3 games) and coming home wont help. West Central, which has allowed only 121 points all season, runs the ball and, on a cold night, that does Whiting in here.
2A Sectional Championships
Eastbrook (11-0) 42, Bluffton (4-7) 6
BLUFFTON - Bluffton was 2-7 during the regular season. That's all you need to know here.
Heritage (11-0) 20, Lewis Cass (10-1) 12
WALTON - Cass won in overtime while Heritage won decisively. No one has scored more than 14 on heritage all year and no one will on this night.
Eastside (9-2) 30, John Glenn (8-3) 14
WALKERTON – Glenn has been smoked by Jimtown and New Prairie. They're on their way home. Eastside's won 2 games in OT but the upset of perennial power Jimtown wasn't one of them.
North Judson (10-1) 24, Rensselaer (11-0) 12
NORTH JUDSON – Rensselaer has gone without HB Andrew Malone and they have missed him. Judson has just one player going both ways. they are strong in the lines and they lost to Rensselaer (with Malone) by just 3 points in OT. Judson may win this one big.
3A Sectional Championships
Bishop Luers (8-3) 35, Norwell (6-5) 7
FORT WAYNE - Norwell gave up 28 points last week and they simply aren't in the same class as Luers.
Northwood (10-1) 16, New Prairie (10-1) 13
NAPPANEE – The Panthers should be 11-0. The defending 3A semistate champs' loss was to 4A Wawasee was a little flukey. New Prairie is good but not that good.
Hamilton Heights (10-1) 28, Tipton (8-2) 0
TIPTON - Hamilton is probably the best 3A team in the north. the only loss is to Hamilton Southeastern. Did Tipton lose to 2A Rensselaer and 1A Sheridan.?
Andrean (9-2) 36, Griffith (9-2) 28
GRIFFITH - Griffith trailed Morton at halftime last week and Andrean is twice as good as Morton offensively. Andrean cant stop the run but can Griffith stop Tommy Finn (161-263, 2,388 yards, 24 TDs, 5 INTs) and TE Ty Harangody (62 catches, 1043 yards, 8 TDs) on a night wen they don't jump to a 15-0 lead. As long as it dosen't rain (cold, but clear is the forecast) Andrean wins this one late.
4A Sectional Championships
Muncie Central (11-0) 42, Pendleton Heights (4-7) 0
MUNCIE – This is an unfortunate matchup.
Fort Wayne South (6-5) 28, Logansport (9-2) 21
LOGANSPORT – The North Central Conference (Logansport) is a weak football league and the Summit Athletic Conference (South) is a strong league so go with South. NCC member New Castle is 0-10. Kokomo is 1-9. Logansport won 21-20 last week. Forget the records here.
Wawasee (10-1) 33, Plymouth (8-3) 20
SYRACUSE - I'm still not sure how Plymouth beat east Noble last week. Wawasee averages almost 40 points a game and they'll be at home.
Lowell (8-3) 33, Highland (6-5) 17
HIGHLAND – Lowell beat Highland by 5 TDs 3 weeks ago and that was without Tb Toby Goetz (27 TDs). Lowell will be looking ahead but it's hard to see this one going another way.
5A Sectional Championships
Jefferson (9-2) 28, Carmel (7-4) 27
LAFAYETTE – Jeff has beaten two weak sisters (Kokomo and Anderson) to get to this point but Carmel must come to Lafayette. Jeff has scored 45 points or more six times. Carmel is a better team but Jeff pulls an upset here.
(FW) Snider (11-0) 44, Homestead (7-4) 14
FORT WAYNE – Snider averages 60 points a game and has allowed 47 points all season. Homestead has been held to 10 or less in all four losses. This is a mismatch. Only a blizzard saves Homestead here.
Penn (10-1) 42, SB Clay (7-4) 0
OSCEOLA – Penn has already beaten Clay 47-0. Clay has not defeated Penn since before any player on either team was born. Pigs will sell bacon bits before Penn loses this game.
Merrillville (10-1) 21, Portage (8-3) 10
MERRILLVILLE – Portage has lost 1,400-yard rusher Antoine Brown to a leg injury and that slows them. Very little slows Merrillville and 1,900-yard rusher James Aldridge.
The
Pirates have already beaten Portage 29-14.
State-Wide Game of the Week...
Seeger (11-0) 22, Pioneer (10-1) 0
10-30-4 at West Lebanon
PIONEER (10-1) 0-0-0-0 = 0
SEEGER (11-0) 0-14-8-0 = 22
WEST LEBANON – Seeger shut down a Pioneer offense that averaged 44.8 points per game coming in. Seeger's Eli Cook (130 carries, 1,411 yards, 27 TDs) carried 27 times for 160 yards and scored all three TDs.
Pioneer came in averaging 390 yards rushing in 10 games before Seeger held them to 132 yards. the Panthers never got inside the Seeger 30. Cook (5-10, 170) ran 21 yards for the first TD in the second period. Seeger has allowed just four points per game and has seven shutouts.
The schedule is a little suspect, or at least it was until last week. But the Patriots have averaged 50 points a game and have given up 1,100 yards all season.
In
2003, Seeger and Pioneer were undefeated when they met at Pioneer. Seeger won
then by a 13-6 score. The Patriots are 115-21 in the last 12 years. Their road
to the state finals, however, must go through Lafayette Central Catholic (8-3),
Sheridan (10-1), and eventually Whiting (11-0). Maybe we'll see them later. Maybe
we won't.