Week 10 football preview: Coming off TRC title, Rochester begins postseason at Elwood

Streaking Valley hopes to ‘hawk’ top Angola RB; Caston’s defense looks to contain Pioneer in rematch; both Winamac, Carroll reeling on offense going into sectional; LaVille hopes to flip ‘Schwitz’ vs. Culver

BY VAL TSOUTSOURIS

Sports Editor, RTC

Rochester (8-1) at Elwood (3-6), 7 p.m.

(winner plays Eastbrook-Alexandria winner in the Class 2A, Sectional 36 semifinals)

The Rochester football team rose to the challenge of previously undefeated Class 3A, No. 5 Maconaquah last week, thrashing the Braves 48-6 to win their first outright conference title since 2014.

Outsiders paid attention. The Colts named Rochester coach Ron Shaffer the Indiana Football Coaches Association Region 4 Coach of the Week, and the No. 8 Zebras moved into the top 10 in the USA Today media poll for the first time this season.

Perhaps the most encouraging news is that Rochester held two spread offenses – Northwestern and Maconaquah – to 13 total points the last two weeks.

“I think we have pretty good coverage skills on the back end, and I think we kind of give teams fits with maybe our different looks that we give … We’re pretty decent at disguising our coverages, and our kids play with confidence,” Shaffer said. “We don’t do a whole lot. We just tweak little things on our coverages, and it allows our kids to play fast and with confidence.”

But there was also much that was encouraging on offense. Despite leading rusher Brant Beck playing defense only, Rochester still amassed 296 rushing yards against Maconaquah.

“I think they were trying to limit trap early, and then we were hitting them on the perimeter and hurting them on the perimeter early, so they kind of switched things up,” Shaffer explained. “And we were really good at identifying personnel from the booth up top. Coaches were letting me know, ‘Hey, it looks like they’re going to be in a five-(man) front this time,’ (or), ‘‘It looks like they’re going back to their four-front. So, really good communication from the coaches to help me with play calling, and we were able to bounce back and forth between some different schemes based on the way we thought they were going to line up. They still tried to take trap away. We still hit it a few times, but I thought the off-tackle plays were good, and I thought we ran really well on the perimeter. Luckily, we didn’t have to put very many big, extended drives together. We had really good field position, and in four and five plays, we were able to get in the end zone.”

The next part of the season involves refocusing to win a sectional title, but it might involve them turning the course of history.

This year’s conference title was Rochester’s 15th since joining the TRC in 1987. But only in 1994 and 2000 did Rochester follow up a conference title with a sectional title. And in 2001, 2005 and 2007, Rochester won the TRC but lost their first sectional game.

That brings us to Elwood.

Elwood is known for its glass manufacturing factories, and it holds an annual Glass Festival every August to celebrate the town’s industry and heritage.

But anyone who might think Elwood is, well, fragile based on how they performed against Rochester in last year’s sectional might find that they have become somewhat more windshield than bug in coach Sammy Mireles’ second season.

Rochester beat the Panthers 46-0 last year when they met in the sectional quarterfinals at Barnhart Field. Now they will meet at Elwood, and it would appear to be a better Panther team. Elwood won one game last year; they have won three games this year. They are scoring 12 points per game after averaging under seven last year, and their defensive scoring average of 34.7 is their best since 2016.

Last week, they beat Frankton 34-27. That was their first win over Frankton since 2015. The win over Frankton comes three years after Elwood lost to Frankton 84-12.

Elwood’s current seniors were freshmen back then.

Having said that, the keys could be their sophomore class in quarterback Jace Reese and running back Blaise Jones.

Reese will line up in a shotgun formation.

“They run a very similar offense to Peru, at least in their alignment,” Shaffer said. “Blaise Jones is a running back for them, a sophomore. He’s ran the ball really well. … A lot of young players. Four sophomores start in their what we would call skill positions and about three seniors on offense. You go to the defensive side, and they’re starting four sophomores on defense. They’re scrappy. That’s one thing that I will say is they play hard. They run the ball hard. They don’t throw it particularly well, but they do enough out of that offense to keep you on your toes.”

But as with any Rochester opponent, the key might be whether they can stand up to Rochester’s physical offensive line play. 

Shaffer was asked if Rochester’s line can be intimidating.

“I would think it would be,” Shaffer said. “Big, pretty strong. They’re confident, and they fire off hard, so yeah, I would think it might be.”

Shaffer said Beck remains “in the same spot” as he recovered from a left shoulder injury. Junior linebacker Ethan Bailey is “questionable” with a knee injury.

If Rochester wins, they would play their sectional semifinal game at home.

Tippecanoe Valley (7-2) at Angola (4-5), 7 p.m.

(winner plays the Fort Wayne Concordia-West Noble winner in the Class 3A, Sectional 26 semifinals)

Valley ran for more than 300 yards last week in handling Bremen 31-7. No back ran for 100 yards, but four backs had at least 40, and they averaged 7.7 yards per carry as a team.

Both Wes Parker and Grady Moriarty rank in the top 15 on the school’s all-time rushing list.

Riding a five-game winning streak, Valley moved up from No. 10 to No. 7 in the final Class 3A USA Today media poll of the season, and the Colts named Valley coach Stephen Moriarty the IFCA Region 2 Coach of the Week.

“Our offensive line over these last four or five weeks, it seems like they did come together and have been jelling,” coach Moriarty said. “I’ve been very proud of the senior leadership of Carlos (Gonzalez) and (Kolten) Sisk and Cale (DeWees) and (Blake) Cooksey, being able to communicate to be able to run the ball. We’ve been having good success over the last few weeks being able to pick up blitzing. I think that’s the big thing with us. If we can pick up their blitzers, it seems like we have success. That’s what I’ve been the most proud of. Even their run blitzes, we’ve been able to pick up.”

Meanwhile, the Valley defense’s struggles in back-to-back losses to Hamilton Heights and Knox in September appear to be old news. Valley has allowed 21 points total in their last four games.

Grady Moriarty is now No. 6 on Valley’s defensive tackle points list. Hunter Paxton had two interceptions last week against Bremen, and Hudson Shepherd also had a pick.

“We’re fortunate that we’re able to cover a lot of ground,” coach Moriarty said. “Both of them, they’re both very athletic, and to have them be able to get out in space and be able to cover people, sometimes it’s hard to do, and to have both of them, and they have such good range, and they cover a lot of ground very quickly.”

Valley will make the 92-mile trip to Angola to take on a Hornet team coming off a 33-28 loss to Eastside last week.

Angola has two wins over teams with winning records – they beat DeKalb and Fremont – but both of those wins were in the first three weeks of the season. Angola won a sectional title in 2018, but they have not won a sectional game since. 

Angola coach Andy Thomas has won four sectional titles in his career at three different schools. He took Garrett to the semistate in 2003 and also won sectionals at Culver in 2009 and Angola in 2017 and 2018.

Coach Moriarty said that Angola likes to run about 60% of the time.

Senior quarterback Brady Ravis will be handing off to running back Hawk Hasselman, who ran for 166 yards against Eastside and who has a team-high 986 yards rushing on 4.9 yards per carry. Hasselman also has 14 touchdowns.

“They have an outstanding tailback,” coach Moriarty said. “He does a good job, and to be honest, he’s going to be probably one of the top three runners we’ve seen all year with geeting north and south. He’s very quick.”

When Ravis throws, he will look for senior tight end Alex Thomas, son of the head coach. Listed at 6-4 and 230 pounds, Thomas has 16 receptions for 234 yards. Thomas caught three touchdown passes in a loss to Lakeland Sept. 19.

“And then with their big tight end that they have, which is the coach’s son … he is a good middle linebacker, and he’s a very good tight end, and they like to hit him too,” coach Moriarty said.

Coach Moriarty said Angola will run a 3-3 stack defense but will slip in a four-man front as well.

“You look at their schedule, and it’s hard to tell,” coach Moriarty said. “Because they’re all pretty similar with Garrett and West Noble and Lakeland. They’re all in that mix together. And their losses have come to teams that only have one or two losses themselves. So yes, they’re 4-5, but all the teams that they have gotten beaten by have been winning programs that have an outstanding year. So this is definitely going to be a tough challenge and being on the road doesn’t make it any easier.”

Coach Moriarty said that Wyatt Bradley will miss his second straight game with a knee injury suffered in practice prior to the Bremen game. DeWees will fill in for him and start both ways.

If Valley wins, they would either play Fort Wayne Concordia on the road or No. 12 West Noble at home in the semifinals.

Pioneer (8-1) at Caston (3-6), 7 p.m.

(winner plays the Frontier-Tri-County winner in the Class 1A, Sectional 42 semifinals)

Pioneer rode senior Noah VanMeter to a 36-18 win over North Judson last week that clinched the Hoosier North title. VanMeter ran for a team-high 114 yards and also had a team-high 14 tackles on defense. Micah Rans had a juggling, tipped, acrobatic interception, and Phillip McFatridge had a kickoff return for a touchdown.

“That was a huge momentum swing up to that point,” Pioneer coach Adam Berry said of McFatridge’s kickoff return. “North Judson was clawing back in. They had gotten a touchdown on the board, and an absolutely huge return by Phillip just to get that momentum back on our side.”

Meanwhile, Caston turned in perhaps their best defensive performance of the season in a 35-13 win over Winamac. Caston held Winamac to no completed passes or offensive touchdowns.

“It was a good team effort,” Caston coach Chris Ulerick said. “We finally had kids doing their job and not necessarily looking to make the tackle but sometimes just setting the edge and doing what they’re supposed to do and then the supporting cast around them, it was good to see finally our kids do that. I thought Brayden Unger had one of the better games he’s had in his career. Brayden and Gavin (Mollenkopf) and London (Herd), those three kids set the edge, and we finally kept a quarterback inside the tackle box in passing situations, so that was one of the keys to them not completing a pass. Because that kid (Xavier Adriano) couldn’t run around and make time. That’s generally been our problem: We just can’t cover that well.But our defensive line played well.”

Pioneer has won seven straight games since a Week 2 loss to Knox. One of those wins was a 45-13 win in Week 4 over Caston. Ulerick said discipline will be a key to trying to slow down Rans, who has 2,993 career rushing yards from his quarterback spot. Rans has also accounted for 70 touchdowns – 57 rushing and 13 passing.

“It’s reading your key and doing what you’re told,” Ulerick said. “No matter what, at the end of the day, those guys can’t lie to you. The right guys can’t lie to you. You can’t watch the smoke-and-mirrors show that goes on in the backfield. We do the same stuff. The guys that tell the truth are the guys that tell the truth. So we’ve just to make sure you’re listening to the right storyteller. If we do – and last week we saw it – we finally could flip on the film and show our kids when you read your key and do what you’re shown and stop guessing, generally, you get to the football and to the point of attack.”

As for Pioneer, their potential worry might be their pass defense. The Panthers allowed 166 yards passing against the combination of Javen Christensen and Ayson Harper of North Judson last week, and Caston senior signal caller Gavin Mollenkopf has more experience than both. Also, Caston receiver Logan Mollenkopf has 22 receptions for 347 yards, which makes him more productive than any receiver that North Judson has.

“There were times where we had absolute great coverage, and the North Judson guy just came up with the ball,” Berry said. “When we had our hands on it, they had their hands on it. And so lots of times, we had the coverage we wanted. Judson just made the plays. You know, also there were a couple times where we simply were not where we needed to be. It was definitely something we noticed on film and something we are addressing.”

The third element could be special teams. Caston allowed two kickoff returns for touchdowns to Winamac’s Louis Rugg III last week. Now they will have to try and prevent McFatridge from making another big play.

“It’s certainly a concern,” Ulerick said of kickoff coverage. “We’ve addressed it. We regrouped, re-manned and re-used some guys that play a whole lot on offense and defense, and then we tried to get them a break, and that’s no longer the case. It’s certainly a concern. … We’ve addressed it every day at practice so far.”

Pioneer has defeated Caston 35 consecutive times and has not lost to Caston since 1996. Pioneer is also 7-0 all-time against Caston in sectional games.

Still, Berry noted that Caston is “very much improved.”

“With Caston, they’re always going to be a physical football team,” Berry said. “And obviously, … we know each other well. There’s really no secrets to what either team does. They know what we’re trying to do. Coach Ulerick always has a great defensive game plan to shut us down, and as you know, it’s just going to come down to executing. Throw records out the window. Rankings don’t matter. How we finished in the HNAC doesn’t matter. This is the second season, and it is going to be a grind, and we are going to have to play well.”

Asked about injuries, Berry said the Panthers are “good to go.” Ulerick reported no injuries.

If Pioneer wins, they would play their sectional semifinal at home. If Caston wins, they would play Frontier on the road or Tri-County at home.

Carroll (Flora) (5-3) at Winamac (2-7), 7 p.m.

(winner plays the North White-Taylor winner in the Class 1A, Sectional 42 semifinals)

Winamac’s auspicious start against Caston last week on Louis Rugg III’s kickoff return for a touchdown on the first play could not prevent a 35-13 loss. The loss was Winamac’s first to Caston in 13 years.

Rugg added a second kickoff return for a score in the fourth quarter. Coach Josh Burgess said Winamac spends a lot of Monday’s and Tuesday’s practices working on all aspects of special teams, including kickoff returns.

The offense was more of an issue as the Warriors were held to under 100 total yards.

“We had a little bit of trouble with their speed off the ball,” Winamac coach Josh Burgess said. “We’ve just got to get back to our assignments and making sure that we’re getting off the ball on both sides up front to correct some of those things.”

Now they will play a Carroll team that is coming off a 20-7 loss to Sheridan last week. The seven points were the fewest Carroll has scored in a regular season game in Blake Betzner’s five years as coach.

Burgess called Carroll a “run-heavy” team and called junior quarterback Cale Peters “probably” their best runner.

“He likes being involved in the ground game, but he’s capable of throwing the ball too,” Burgess said. “Most of the time when they’re going to pass, they’re going to be looking to hit some deep routes, but he’s a very good player for them.”

The normally stout Cougar defense appeared wobbly as well. Sheridan quarterback Alex Cravens ran for 197 yards as the Blackhawks hammered the ball at will at the Carroll defense. Sheridan ran the ball 59 times while passing it only three.

Carroll has 14 shutouts in the Betzner era as coach, but their defensive scoring average has risen from 11.8 last year to 18.5 this year.

However, Carroll has not lost to a team with a losing record in the Betzner era. (Carroll has only played eight games because Hoosier Heartland Conference rival Tri-Central stopped fielding a team in August due to a lack of numbers.)

“The three teams that beat them are three real quality teams,” Burgess said. “They’re very multiple defensively. They’ll line up in a 4-3, then a 4-4. They play some 3-4 and some 5-2. They’re pretty blitz-heavy. They like to send extra guys both run and pass. So we’re definitely going to have our eyes up and be ready and adjust to what they’re bringing, whether it’s a five-front or a three-front.”

Burgess said Winamac is “as healthy as we could be.”

Winamac assistant coach Mark Hendryx and Carroll assistant coach John Hendryx are brothers. Betzner, the former athletic director at North Miami, is John Hendryx’s son-in-law. John Hendryx coached Carroll to the state championship in 1995. John Hendryx was also the Winamac coach from 2019-21. Winamac quarterback Xavier Adriano is Mark Hendryx’s grandson and John Hendryx’s great nephew.

Winamac has not won a sectional game since 2021. Carroll has not lost their sectional opener since 2020.

If Winamac wins, they would play their sectional semifinal game on the road.

LaVille (5-4) at Culver (3-6), 7 p.m.

(winner plays the North Judson-South Central (Union Mills) winner in the Class 1A, Sectional 41 semifinals)

Culver had a joyous Senior Night, routing South Central 44-7 last week. 

They scored 20 points in the final three minutes of the second quarter, turning a 6-0 lead into a 26-0 lead. Culver coach Austin Foust called a touchdown pass from Jonas McCuen to Caleb McCuen on the final play of the first half a “backbreaker.”

The defense had five takeaways, and Jonas McCuen took one of those turnovers to the house on a 99-yard interception return in the third quarter.

South Central’s only touchdown came in the fourth quarter after Culver had already built a 44-point lead. The key was limiting big plays from South Central quarterback Rylon Rondo.

“We did a tremendous job,” Foust said. “That was one thing that we were worried about because he’s a good quarterback and he’s athletic. We wanted to get after him. He did a good job of getting the ball out quick, but we didn’t want to get anything thrown over our heads, so we said we were just going to try to rally to everything and keep everything in front. He made some nice completions and things, but our secondary and our linebackers did a really good job of pursuing to the football and making a tackle, so if they did get a completion, there were really no yards after the catch.”

Jonas McCuen also had two touchdown runs on offense, and Theron Carrington, John Carr and Caleb McCuen had one touchdown run each. Carr, a sophomore, is developing at running back in his first year as a varsity starter.

“That was definitely important,” Foust said of establishing the running game. “Something we kind of talked about mentality-wise. We thought we did some good things the week before against North Miami, and we wanted to build off it. We just needed to execute and put points on the board. I thought we started out a little sloppy and different things like that, but then we found our footing, and I thought we developed that mentality we had talked about of just going after them and making sure we got a head on a hat and trying to drive people. I thought Jonas made some plays in the running game. … He had some nice hard runs and it was a wasn’t-going-to-be-denied kind of thing. … Everybody followed his suit.”

Like Culver, LaVille also has momentum heading into the postseason following a 70-7 win over Whiting last week.

LaVille senior quarterback Brayden Schwitz completed eight passes last week, and six of them went for touchdowns.

“He’s a good quarterback,” Foust said. “They do a really good of formation-ing you. Not really running a lot of different stuff out of it, but just putting you in this formation, and they’re going to cause a conflict here, and if you don’t communicate or read it right, then they’re going to throw it over your head for a touchdown. They get their playmakers the ball in space, and that’s obviously what they were able to do against Whiting. They caused a lot of confusion for Whiting’s DBs, and they had receivers running wide open, and he’s good enough to put the ball where it needs to be.”

But LaVille also ran for 249 yards on 12.5 yards per carry. Senior running back Cole Stafford in a top weapon in the backfield.

Foust said LaVille “hangs their hats on smash-mouth football.”

LaVille runs a 3-4 defense with a cover-four in the secondary. Foust said LaVille’s linebackers will stay home and try to deny the run.

LaVille beat Culver 52-0 on Oct. 13, 2023, in their most recent meeting.

Both Culver and LaVille have won their sectional opener every year since 2019. Culver is 2-3 all-time against LaVille in sectional games. Both times Culver beat LaVille (1999, 2009), they went on to win the sectional.

If Culver wins, they would play their sectional semifinal game on the road.