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- Val T.
- Oct 10
- 8 min read
Valley hopes defense won’t show ‘Rust’ vs. Falcons; Caston hosts No. 3 N. Judson; Pioneer to try to contain Overmyer, Trojans; Culver to face NM ground attack; Winamac seeks to bounce back at S. Central
BY VAL TSOUTSOURIS
Sports Editor, RTC
Rochester (6-1, 6-0 Three Rivers Conference) at Northwestern (4-3, 4-2), 7 p.m.
Rochester rolled to a 51-14 win over Northfield last week, and it continued a theme: All six of their wins have been by at least 34 points, and five of them have finished with a running clock.
Still, Rochester coach Ron Shaffer was concerned with issues having to do with focus, more specifically a missed assignment on Northfield quarterback Jake Perney’s 69-yard touchdown run. A lack of focus might not have determined the outcome against Northfield, but it might be impactful in bigger games in the Zebras’ future.
“I think the biggest thing was our kids … there’s so much going on with social media, the internet,” Shaffer said. “Our kids can look up records, and sometimes I think without saying and without showing it, a lot of times, they just have maybe letdowns a little bit, and it’s hard for them to keep their focus. For the most part, I was a little more upset with the fumbles and a missed tackle that happened on a play. Those plays in big games will cost us. … We have to get that corrected for big games. We got their attention after the game and this week.”
Shaffer said the locker room polices itself and added that it is important that it happens. A locker room where players are accountable to each other is critical to a team’s success, according to Shaffer.
“I think that’s a players-only thing,” Shaffer said. “They kind of have their own little code they go by, and we’re not in all that as far as coaches go, and that’s good. We want them to have some interior discipline I guess is what you want to call it – something kind of like an accountability to each other. Because honestly, it means more probably to them coming from each other than it does from us at times as coaches. It’s their season. It’s their conference to win or lose. It;s their sectional to win or lose. I like the idea they want to have accountability to each other.”
The Zebras remain tied for first in the TRC with Class 3A, No. 6 Maconaquah. They are scheduled to meet next week at Barnhart Field, but for that matchup to have maximum meaning, they must first win at Northwestern.
The Tigers are coming off a 48-13 win at Wabash last week in which sophomore quarterback Collin Cook threw for 334 yards and five touchdowns.
“Everything that they do revolves around him or starts with him in the passing game,” Shaffer said.
Shaffer said Northwestern will use Bradyn Wilson as an “H-back” that will line up in different spots in the formation and that they will also use at least three wide receivers. Cook’s three top targets are receivers DeWayne Perrigen and Jayden West and Wilson. They have 110 catches combined between the three of them.
“It’s a three-wide look a lot of times but with the potential for four receivers in the pattern,” Shaffer explained. “They use a little tempo, but it’s not super, super fast, but they want to keep it hopping or moving. It mimics what they’re doing at Lafayette, which is where (first-year coach Shane Turnipseed) came from.
Meanwhile, a Northwestern defense that allows 26 points a game will try to stop a Rochester offense that is coming off back-to-back 50-point games for the first time since 2022. Rochester ran for 360 yards on 9.5 yards per carry against Northfield, and Brant Beck (137) and Trenton Meadows (133) ran for over 100 yards.
“They’re a 3-4 defense with a two-high shell,” Shaffer said. “Their inside backers are a little undersized, both of them around 5-9, 5-8. One’s 150 (pounds); one’s 165. One’s a sophomore; one’s a junior. So I think they’re a little bit young on the defensive side with some juniors and sophomores in there, but they’re only undersized on the back end. They’re still pretty big in their front three. … Overall, they’ve struggled to keep people from scoring in big games is the big deal, but I think they’re a little bit in the mentality of we’re going to practice some defense and hope we can stop you, but we’re going to score a lot of points. … We’re going to have to execute, but we’re going to try to physically impose our will on them.”
Tippecanoe Valley (5-2, 2-1 Indiana Northern State Conference) at John Glenn (2-5, 1-3), 7 p.m.
Valley opened their game with Western last week with 31 unanswered points and cruised to a 38-7 win over Western. Western had averaged 37.4 points per game during a five-game winning streak coming into the game, and they held Western leading rusher Matthew McKitrick to five yards rushing; McKitrick came in averaging 150 yards rushing per game.
Coach Moriarty said they did not differ from their typical gap-exchange defense despite Western’s unusual “football-in-a-phone-booth” offense.
“We ran basically our base defense against them even though they were very much in a box,” Valley coach Stephen Moriarty said. “We were comfortable with the defense that we were running. I thought that our linebackers did a good job of gap-exchanging, and I was very proud of the d-line for not giving up yardage at the line of scrimmage, where we maintained it. On an offense like that, you can’t get pushed around a lot, and I thought that our defense held their ground pretty well, and I was very pleased with the secondary and how they came up and filled on the runs. Jamison Phillips and Hudson Shepherd (came) up and set the outside edge and let the outside linebackers and safeties fly around a little bit.”
Offensively, Valley all but scrapped the pass, only throwing two times in 50 offensive snaps. But they ran for 343 yards with both Owen Omondi (114) and Wes Parker (112) going over 100 yards. Grady Moriarty added 78.
“I thought he did a good job getting inside,” coach Moriarty said of Omondi’s increased offensive workload. “We had to find a way with Hunter Stage not starting out the game to still be able to spread the defense out, and getting Omondi out in space seemed to be one of those options that we had to loosen up the defense, and Owen did a good job of being able to get the edge and make a few people miss to be able to get such long runs and a touchdown.”
After that nonconference win, Valley returns to conference play with a trip to John Glenn. The Falcons have lost three in a row and are coming off a 45-0 loss to LaVille last week. Valley beat John Glenn 22-21 at Death Valley last year in their first look at quarterback Archer Rust, who is back for his sophomore season. Rust leads John Glenn in both passing yards (668) and rushing yards (315).
“He gave us fits last year,” coach Moriarty said. “They have some designed runs for him just to get him the ball because he is just that good an athlete. And being able to contain him will be a very big key this week. They’re very athletic. They have great size up front. This is one of those weeks where their record does not show how good they are and the potential that they have.”
Defensively, John Glenn is known for their strong linebacker play with seniors Blake Wright and Ayden Smigielski.
“Their linebackers fly around,” coach Moriarty said. “They’re very talented. … Both of them read their keys well. They fly to the ball. You’re not going to fool them much on whatever you have. They’re going to be pretty stout up front to let those linebackers roam. They’ve caused a lot of teams havoc so far, and that’s one of the things that we’re concerned with.”
Valley started the season with wins over Plymouth and Rochester and followed with losses to Hamilton Heights and Knox. Since then, they have won three straight against LaVille, Jimtown and Western.
Coach Moriarty said the coaches have simplified the game plans during the winning streak.
“We have to play our brand of football,” coach Moriarty said. “We can’t adjust sometimes to what others play. We should let others adjust to us. Playing our style of football, especially defensively and offensively, we have minimized and tried to improve and get better the fewer plays and fewer defensive calls that we have so that we can more fly to the ball and increase our speed, you would say, rather than thinking.”
Moriarty said Kolten Sisk will be out this week due to “issues” but declined to explain further. Stage is a “full go” to play.
Valley is still in INSC title contention, but they must win this game and hope that Knox loses at home to Bremen.
Valley hosts Bremen next week.
North Judson (6-1, 5-0 Hoosier North) at Caston (2-5, 1-4), 7:30 p.m.
North Judson moved up to No. 3 in this week’s Class 1A USA Today media poll following their 56-14 win at Winamac last week. Caston dropped a 28-16 decision to Triton.
North Judson had 271 yards rushing against Winamac, and now they will face a Caston defense that allowed 211 yards on 6.2 yards per carry against Triton. Seven different backs had carries for North Judson last week.
North Judson lost 38-6 to Knox and national rushing leader Myles McLaughlin in their opener, but they have allowed just 9.5 points per game since. Caston is 0-10 against North Judson since they became Hoosier North rivals in 2015, and they have averaged just 7.8 points per game in those meetings.
Caston’s Logan Mollenkopf had 145 yards receiving against Triton and also intercepted a pass on defense.
Triton (5-2, 4-1 Hoosier North) at Pioneer (6-1, 5-0), 7 p.m.
Triton is coming off a 28-16 win over Caston last week while Pioneer stayed unbeaten in the Hoosier North with a 35-0 shutout of Culver. The shutout was Pioneer’s third of the season and reduced their defensive scoring average to 11.4.
Triton running back Jayden Overmyer ran for 226 yards and three touchdowns against Caston, and he is averaging 159 yards rushing per game. Meanwhile, Pioneer had 4.5 tackles for loss against Culver.
Pioneer quarterback Micah Rans ran 14 times for 153 yards and two touchdowns in a 28-21 loss to Triton last year. He has 783 yards rushing on 11.7 yards per carry for the season, but he will face a Triton defense that has allowed only one opponent (Culver) to average more than 4.5 yards per carry against it.
Pioneer has lost the last four meetings – three regular season games and a sectional game in 2022 – to Triton and has not beaten the Trojans since 2021.
Culver (2-5, 1-4 Hoosier North) at North Miami (5-2, 3-2), 7 p.m.
Culver lost at home to Pioneer 35-0 last week while North Miami built a 41-0 halftime lead and cruised to a 53-6 win over winless South Central (Union Mills).
North Miami is averaging over eight yards per carry as a team while the Culver defense allowed 248 yards on 7.3 yards per carry against Pioneer.
Culver has scored 12 points total in its last three games. Meanwhile, the six points North Miami allowed against South Central were a season low.
Culver has not beaten North Miami since a 32-14 win in the 2016 sectional. North Miami is 3-1 against Culver over the last 25 years.
Winamac (1-6, 1-4 Hoosier North) at South Central (Union Mills) (0-7, 0-5), 7:30 p.m. Eastern
Winamac will try to rebound after a 56-14 loss to Class 1A, No. 3 North Judson while South Central comes in off a 53-6 loss to North Miami.
South Central lost to Boone Grove 27-23 in Week 2, but they have scored just 20 points in their other six games combined. They have lost 15 of their last 16 games dating back to last year.
Winamac has lost three straight games by an average margin of 34 points per game, but they beat South Central 50-12 last year. The 50 points were the most Winamac has scored in the Josh Burgess era as coach.
South Central quarterback Rylon Rondo leads the Satellites in both passing yards (687) and rushing yards (245).
North Judson averaged 5.5 yards per carry last week against the Winamac defense, but the South Central rushing attack is averaging just 2.3 yards per carry for the season.
