Week 10 football preview: Rochester, Lakeland trying to bounce back after losses

Valley seeks 2nd win over Jimtown; Caston, M-G marked by similarities; NM’s ground game improving going into trip to Sheridan; Pioneer to host struggling Taylor; Culver to try to contain W. Central; Winamac seeks another win over struggling S. Central

BY VAL TSOUTSOURIS

Sports Editor, RTC

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Derek Wortley Owen Lett

Lakeland (2-7) at Rochester (4-5), 7 p.m.

(winner plays Manchester-Central Noble winner in Class 2A, Sectional 34 semifinals)

The airspace over Rochester football games would appear to be light on traffic this week.

The Rochester football team has had to play Northwestern and Maconaquah, two spread teams, in their final two regular season games.

Results were mixed. They beat Northwestern 30-22, relying on a clutch fourth down stand inside their own 5-yard line and relying on the strong running of Kale Shotts and Trenton Meadows in Week 8.

In Week 9, they had to face Class 3A, No. 9 Maconaquah and lost 49-6. Maconaquah quarterback Aiden Robinson threw five touchdown passes, but they also gave up 123 yards rushing and two touchdowns to Marcell Sims in the first quarter.

“A little bit,” Rochester coach Isaac Shaffer said when asked if he was caught off guard by Maconaquah’s start to the game. “I really felt like they were going to come out slinging it, especially with just how the weather was to start the game. I feel like at the start of the game it was a little bit better than when we got into the second quarter. But yeah, I was a little caught off guard by that, but again, it’s just pick-your-poison with them. If you put three down linemen, then Sims is going to run all over you. We went to the four-lineman front, and then you can’t cover all the weapons that they can throw the ball to.”

Now they will host a Lakeland team in a Class 2A, Sectional 34 quarterfinal at Barnhart Field whose offense has not shown the explosiveness of Northwestern or Maconaquah. In fact, their offensive productivity has been on a gradual decline: The Lakers averaged 35.9 points per game in 2023, 30.1 ppg in 2024, 20.2 last year and just 17.1 this year.

Some of the dropoff can be attributed to the graduation of quarterback Brayden Holbrook, who is now playing at Saginaw Valley State.

Junior Brady West has taken over under center. West missed last week’s 21-20 home loss to Churubusco due to an injury, but coach Tom Wogoman told KPC News afterwards that West “is expected back” for the Rochester game.

West will be handing off to running backs Bryar Alleshouse and Kyren Arroyo. Alleshouse is a senior that Shaffer described as a “stud,” and Arroyo is a freshman whose older brother Keyan, a 2026 Lakeland grad, is the all-time leading receiver in school history.

Kyren Arroyo played quarterback against Churubusco with West out but would appear to be heading back to running back for this game.

“When he’s in at quarterback, they’re a little more comfortable with their offense,” Shaffer said of West. “They can run a lot more plays. They’re more balanced on offense. … When he was out, they were heavily relying on the run. Now they’re a little more balanced. They can both throw the ball and run the ball. The only thing I question is how well he’s going to be able to throw the ball. Based on what I saw on film, it looked like it was right before half of the Garrett game (on Oct. 9). Just went to throw the ball, and there was a Garrett defender coming to him, and it looked like it was one of those where he follows through and smacks his finger right on the helmet of the Garrett player somewhere on there. It will be interesting to see how well he can throw the football if everything is healed and all that.”

While Lakeland would appear to get some good health news regarding West, Rochester’s would appear to be more up in the air. Shaffer said that two-way linemen Derek Wortley and Owen Lett will both be “game-time decisions” with ankle injuries after they left early against Maconaquah. Offensive guard-linebacker Gavin Pinder will miss a third straight game with a shoulder injury, though Shaffer hopes to have him available if they have a game next week.

Also, Shaffer said that Gavin Fincher will be out due to an injury that he has tried to play through but has yet to recover from.

“He took a big hit in the Northfield game, and things just haven’t been getting better in the last two weeks, so we’re just going to not play him this week,” Shaffer said. “We don’t want something bad to happen to him or anything like that. … I think it’s just his quad. … He’s just hurting more and more from it.”

Defensively, Lakeland shut out Central Noble 44-0 on Sept. 18, but since then, they have gone 0-4 and allowed 33.8 points per game. Churubusco showed balance last week, running for 120 yards and passing for 123.

Alleshouse has moved from safety last year to linebacker this year and will be right in the middle of the Laker defense.

“It kind of changes every single week,” Shaffer said of Lakeland’s defense. “Against Garrett, they had a four-man shell playing a 4-3. And they had those guys playing at about 10 yards for the safeties and about seven or eight for the corners against Garrett. Last week, against Churubusco, which is a little more wing-T like us … their safeties were playing at five yards and their corners at two. So I’m not real sure what we’re going to get from that, but I’m assuming the box is going to be 4-3. They’re going to have four down linemen and three linebackers.”

Lakeland’s wins are against Prairie Heights and Central Noble, who are a combined 4-14. Lakeland is 3-15 in their last 18 sectional games dating back to 2011. They have not won a sectional road game since 2015.

Meanwhile, Rochester has won their first sectional game in five of the last eight years. They will try to bank on better confidence and a belief that they can make adjustments on the fly.

“As far as an approach goes, you approach it just like any other game,” Shaffer said. “I’d say the one thing is I would say is every year when you’re playing the same conference teams, you can look at old film and see what went well and what didn’t. We don’t have that. Everything is just a clean, fresh slate. So we’re slowly building that up as we see things on film. But I’d say that’s the biggest thing is you don’t have an idea of what you want to do going into it, so it’s going to be both teams feeling each other out as far as the first quarter goes and figuring out what works and what doesn’t and where we need to attack them, and they’ll probably be doing the same against us, so you have an idea to start, but things change quickly.”

If Rochester wins, they would play either Manchester or Central Noble on the road.

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Ty Kiser Ruger Benn

Tippecanoe Valley (8-1) at Jimtown (6-3), 7 p.m.

(winner plays West Noble-South Bend Washington winner in Class 3A, Sectional 26 semifinals)

The Valley defense continues to plug gaps against even the best rushing teams in the Indiana Northern State Conference.

Last week, they did it to Bremen in a 25-7 win that wrapped up the outright conference title.

Valley coach Stephen Moriarty said the conference title showed their “heart” and “character” and added that winning the INSC was a team goal set at the start of the season.

Moriarty bemoaned a Bremen fake punt and a long scramble in the first half, but in the second half, Valley shut out the Lions and held them to 25 yards of offense. Bremen came in averaging 41 points per game. 

They also held Bremen leading rusher Logan Moser to a season-low 59 yards rushing on a season-low 3.7 yards per carry.

Due to an injury to Garrett Hart, Valley essentially switched their defense in midseason from the traditional 4-3 that they had run during Moriarty’s tenure as coach to a 4-4. Linebackers Ty Kiser, Mason Miller, Grant Paxton and Charlie Moriarty have thrived in the new defense.

Kiser has a team-leading 81 tackles, Miller is second with 72, Paxton is tied for third with 47, and Moriarty has 43. A freshman, Moriarty had nine tackles, including three for loss, against Bremen.

“They’ve been doing well all season,” coach Moriarty said. “Putting Mason and Grant at the outside position where they can contain things and with Ty and Charlie in the middle making sure they don’t run north and south has worked out well. Ty is a good leader and keeps those linebackers together and makes sure that they direct the defense the way we’re shifting our line too, so we don’t get outmanned, and that’s a big thing too is how you line up. Ty and them do a good job of moving around our d-line so we’re not mismatched.”

Another emerging force is sophomore defensive tackle Ruger Benn. Benn also had three tackles for loss against Bremen.

Coach Moriarty noted how Benn has improved at a move called “wrong-arming” that Valley teaches their defensive linemen to use to baffle opposing offensive linemen.

“He goes hard,” coach Moriarty said. “He’s a hard hitter. He has improved over the last (few) weeks on his technique and making sure that he wrong-arms things and he reads his keys well. He reads on the fly, and he has a motor. With Ruger, he just keeps getting better and better. Being only a sophomore, the time that he’s got to start this year will make him even better for the future and the playoffs.”

Valley’s latest challenge is a Jimtown team that they edged 17-15 in Baugo Township four weeks ago.

Nash Hamby leads the Jimtown ground attack, and he runs behind a line led by 295-pound behemoth Logan Kelley.

“He’s just one of those guys that refuses to go down,” coach Moriarty said of Hamby.

Defensively, Jimtown’s defensive average is 24.4, but it is only 14.7 during their current three-game winning streak.

“Their linebackers are so fast,” coach Moriarty said. “They run a 3-4. Both outside linebackers… it’s hard to get outside on them. They do a good job of containing, but in the middle, their linebacking corps is excellent. They move well to the ball, and they have a nose for the ball, and they’re able to read things pretty quickly. We’re going to have to make sure we get some hats on them to slow them down so that we can find those running lanes.” 

Meanwhile, Valley figures to keep feeding running back Hunter Paxton, who has run for over 100 yards in back-to-back-to-back wins over Woodlan, John Glenn and Bremen and who is up to 802 yards on 6.4 yards per carry. Prior to the Woodlan game, he had never run for more than 100 yards in a game.

“I’d say his vision and his patience a little bit,” coach Moriarty said when asked how Hunter Paxton has improved. “You can tell that he sees the holes open up quicker, and he’s making good cuts and good reads, and he’s being patient for letting those blocks take care in front of him to work and get those things open.”

Both Valley and Jimtown are 1-4 in their last five sectional games.

If Valley wins, they would play West Noble on the road or South Bend Washington at home. South Bend Washington is 0-9.

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Luke Hipsher Cameron McFatridge

Madison-Grant (7-2) at Caston (7-2), 7 p.m.

(winner plays Tri-Central-Clinton Central winner in Class 1A, Sectional 43 semifinals)

The Caston offense used up almost nine-and-a-half minutes of the clock and scored a touchdown on a Logan Mollenkopf quarterback sneak from the 1 on their opening drive in a 16-8 home win over Winamac last week.

Running backs like Ashton Bowyer, Landen Rigney and Tucker Woolever ran behind an offensive line consisting of Brody Brewer, Parker Zimpleman, Luke Hipsher, Cameron McFatridge and Jayden Cox.

They have also had good health among the big guys, according to Caston coach Chris Ulerick.

“It’s certainly the deepest because we’ve been able to run a few kids in to get some other reps,” Ulerick said. “Drew Williams and Braxton Mills-Taylor are two kids (who) don’t get a lot of playing time, and I’ve tried to tell them this, but year-in and year-out at Caston High School, those two kids are called upon and needed. It’s just an odd year for us that we have several big bodies that can get in and get out of the game, and the ones that have been there have been consistent. We haven’t had very many injuries in that area and thankfully so because once you start banging up kids, you start losing them because they’re not just one-way players, they’re two-way players. That’s certainly been a blessing to be healthy and have as many good kids as what we have.”

With the development of the offensive line, that has allowed Woolever to bloom as a fullback. According to Ulerick, the initial plan was for Woolever and fellow junior London Herd to split carries at fullback, but when Herd went down with a season-ending leg injury against Triton three weeks ago, Woolever has taken on more of the workload.

“They started the year supposed to be splitting, and we were supposed to be keeping each other fresh for defense by splitting time on offense,” Ulerick said. “He’s certainly had to take over most of the void with London going out with a broken leg. It’s hard to replace those two kids because they’re together. They’re both 200-pound kids. They’re both physical, both able to open a hole without the other one if the other one gets tired. So London had to take the brunt early in the year because it was hot, and we were trying to get our game legs underneath of us and things like that. London was able to do that, and Tucker has had no other choice because we just don’t have another body like that. … Tucker’s had to answer and be the bell cow and do that and continue to open up holes and draw some attention for our other running backs.”

Now No. 12 Caston will seek an elusive eighth victory.

How does one put seven wins in a season in perspective for Caston? Prior to this year, they had won seven games in the last four seasons combined.

Caston has not won eight games in a season since 2012, and they have not won nine in a season since 2003.

Madison-Grant could well be a stylistic twin. Both run a wing-T offense. Both are known for their big offensive lines.

Ulerick noted the size of 270-pound lineman Brody Solms and 285-pounder Brody Rigney, but he added that Winamac’s line is even bigger than Madison-Grant. 

The big linemen will be trying to carve a path for 1,100-yard fullback Harry Brooks and sophomore fullback Jon Stanley.

But the Caston defensive front has been stingy, and they have cut their defensive average from 23.7 last year to 12.6 this year.

Ulerick credited assistant coach Dave Floyd with the defensive line’s development.

“Defensively, we can fill, and we can fit, and we can do things that we practice,” Ulerick said. “And then it’s super nice to have Logan back there as our safety net because he’s saved us several times throughout the year as far as just running plays down from behind and keeping teams out of the end zone. Two weeks ago against Judson, he did it twice, and we were able to right the ship and keep them out of the end zone. That’s certainly been a welcome sight to see is just a good, solid defensive effort and kids playing the way they should be playing.”

Defensively, Ulerick said he expects Madison-Grant to put nine defenders near the line of scrimmage. It is not an uncommon defense for a Caston rushing attack that is averaging 249 yards rushing per game on 5.6 yards per carry to see.

“We’re going to get nine guys down there no matter what defense they’ve got going on,” Ulerick said. “But that’s kind of what we’re seeing, a 3-4 or a 5-2. Whatever you want to call it, the flavor of the week. But at the end of the day, they’ve only got 11. Hopefully, the officials won’t let them play with 12. … We’ve just got to block our rules and get after it. If we do that, I think we’ll be OK. But they will pack it in there tight, and they’re going to get after it.”

In addition to Herd, Abel Lovelady is also out with a season-ending ankle injury.

If Caston wins, they would play Tri-Central on the road or Clinton Central at home in the semifinals. Tri-Central is 0-9 and lost to Clinton Central 51-7 last week.

North Miami (3-6) at Sheridan (5-4), 7 p.m.

(winner plays Taylor-Pioneer winner in Class 1A, Sectional 43 semifinals)

The North Miami ground attack ran through Triton for 407 yards in a 41-12 last week. That included a career-high 113 yards from Alex Towles.

Towles had 12 carries against Triton after having only 12 carries in the previous four games combined.

“We haven’t played him that much on offense,” North Miami coach Joe Grant said. “He’s been playing with a broken thumb, so he’s had a cast. There were two weeks where I didn’t put Alex in the game almost at all, and honestly, looking in hindsight, that was stupid on my part. I probably should have had him more involved, even with a busted thumb. But we just took the gloves off last week and said we’re going to give him the rock. So Alex has stepped up, but a lot of that is just him actually being able to play a little bit more.”

The ground game success did not stop with Towles. Cooper Pattison ran for 97 yards, Jension Carr ran for 96, and sophomore fullback Oliver Wildermuth ran for 74.

“I don’t know if the running game necessarily improved,” Grant said. “We executed a lot better is how I would put it. Against Culver, we had a lot of miscues. We had players going left when the play call was right. We had formations that were messed up in transit. So communication and execution was a lot better. That helps. … And then us being able to refocus on what we were doing. We cut down on the playbook a little bit from Week 8 to Week 9 and just said, ‘Hey, you know what, if we can’t do these things, then nothing else matters.’”

Towles also contributed defensively with six tackles, just one fewer than team leader Logan Smith. Carr added five tackles.

“It comes down to big plays executing our alignment to start,” Grant said. “We go back to some games that we lost. We lost a tight one to Caston earlier this year, and two of their touchdowns were literal busted alignments. We did not line up right. They just unbalanced us, and we didn’t move, and they had the numbers, and they scored on a couple big plays where we didn’t align correctly. I’d say the last few weeks we really have done a better job of our guys getting lined up. If we’re aligned correctly, our guys do play hard. We’re a physical team. We’re young, but we will hit. I’d say our production has helped tremendously with just being able to get aligned correctly.”

North Miami will now head to Sheridan, a school where Grant got his teaching and coaching career started as an assistant under coach Larry “Bud” Wright. (Wright later returned the favor and served as an assistant under Grant at North Miami in 2025. He is currently the head coach at Southwood. Tonight’s game will be played at Bud Wright Stadium.)

Sheridan started the year with two losses before winning five in a row and then losing two straight to close out the regular season. Their losses are to Maconaquah, Alexandria, Eastern (Greentown) and Carroll (Flora), who are a combined 31-5. Of that group, only Carroll is in Class 1A.

Running back Hayden Alexander has run for 927 yards, but senior quarterback Brock Hagan has also thrown for over 1,300 yards for the Blackhawks. Top receivers Landon Moffitt and Brady Heck are both seniors and have combined for 62 catches and 820 yards.

“He’s pretty consistent,” Grant said of Alexander. “The last couple weeks, though, they’ve thrown the ball a little bit more against Carroll and against Eastern. Alexander is a weapon, but the Moffitt kid out at receiver is a solid receiver. So they’re able to do some different things, but Alexander has been pretty consistent for them all year. He likes to run between the tackles for the most part, so we have to be able to take that away from their game.”

North Miami beat Sheridan 27-17 on Aug. 31, 2024, in their most recent meeting.

North Miami is a two-time defending sectional champion, and Sheridan is a four-time defending sectional champion.

If North Miami wins, they would play their sectional semifinal game against Taylor or Pioneer at home.

Taylor (1-8) at Pioneer (9-0), 7 p.m.

(winner plays North Miami-Sheridan winner in Class 1A, Sectional 43 semifinals)

• No. 1 Pioneer is coming off a 35-9 win over No. 3 North Judson in which they wrapped up both the Hoosier North title and an undefeated regular season. This marks their first undefeated regular season since they had four consecutive undefeated regular seasons from 2015-18. Pioneer won back-to-back Class 1A state titles in 2017-18.

• Taylor is coming off a 38-0 loss to Delphi last week. They have been shut out three times this season, and they will be facing a Pioneer defense that allows just 10.1 points per game.

• Pioneer senior Shiloh Rine had 176 yards from scrimmage last week – 93 rushing and 83 receiving. He is up to 1,491 yards for the season – 861 yards rushing and 630 receiving. He is averaging 12.7 yards per carry and 27.4 yards per reception.

• Pioneer freshman quarterback Colton Popejoy has gone three consecutive games without throwing an interception after throwing four in his first six games.

• Coach Chris Weeks is in his second stint as Taylor’s coach. He also coached the Titans to a 1-9 record in 2000 and then did not resurface again as a head coach until a one-year stint at Peru in 2022. He has also had head coaching stops at South Vermillion and Brebeuf Jesuit.

• Taylor won their lone sectional title in school history in 2024, beating Pioneer 28-6 at the Panther Pit in the sectional final. They have not played since. Rob Patchett, who coached Taylor that night, has since moved on to Perry Meridian.

• If Pioneer wins, they would play their sectional semifinal game against North Miami or Sheridan on the road.

West Central (8-1) at Culver (3-6), 7 p.m.

(winner plays North Newton-Bowman Academy winner in Class 1A, Sectional 41 semifinals)

• Culver beat South Central (Union Mills) 53-16 last week to give them their first winning streak in the Austin Foust era as coach. Culver ran for 364 yards, including 117 from Brayen Bush, 114 from Carter Beem and 96 from Braylon Jackson. Bush and Beem are sophomores, and Jackson is a junior. Beem’s 114 yards came on just three carries, and he also had a 39-yard reception.

• Culver’s defense held South Central to 137 yards, and the Satellites went just 2 for 10 on third down. Culver’s Coehn Markley had a 31-yard interception return for a touchdown in the third quarter that stretched the lead to 39-8.

• That marked the second straight week that Culver had had a pick-six. Drake Zorich had one against North Miami in a 20-8 win in Week 8.

• West Central has won eight in a row since a season-opening loss to Winamac. One of those wins was a 36-0 win at Culver in Week 2.

• West Central is averaging 52.1 points per game. They are averaging 9.9 yards per carry as a team for the season. Seven of their eight wins have ended with a running clock.

• Quarterback Connor Huber leads the Trojans with 690 yards rushing, and Rosendo Martinez, who is listed at 5-5, has 642 yards. Martinez is a sophomore.

• If Culver wins, they would play North Newton on the road or Bowman Academy at home.

Winamac (6-3) at South Central (Union Mills) (0-9), 7:30 p.m. Eastern

(winner plays North Judson-Triton winner in Class 1A, Sectional 41 semifinals)

• Winamac is coming off a 16-8 loss to Caston while South Central lost their 20th consecutive game in a 53-16 defeat to Culver.

• Winamac has increased their offensive average under first-year coach Eric Davis from 15.8 last year to 25.1 this year. They have also cut their defensive average from 36.3 to 18.3. Their win total has blossomed from two last year to six this year.

• Winamac had only half as many offensive snaps as Caston did last week – 32 to the Comets’ 64. They were limited to just 148 yards of offense.

• Louis Rugg III leads Winamac with 898 yards rushing on 10.3 yards per carry, and fullback Tearson Wolford has 564 yards on 5.7 yards per carry. Nine of Ivan Cardenas’ 45 carries have resulted in touchdowns, and he averages 6.8 yards per carry. Meanwhile, the South Central defense allowed 364 rushing yards against Culver.

• Winamac beat South Central 44-6 in their regular season meeting two weeks ago at Roudebush Field. Winamac has won the last six meetings, including sectional wins in 2011, 2017 and 2020.

• If Winamac wins, they would play North Judson on the road or Triton at home.