Week 5 preview: Winamac to finish 3-game road swing at North Judson

BY VAL TSOUTSOURIS

Sports Editor, RTC

Winamac (0-4, 0-3 Hoosier North) at North Judson (2-2, 2-1), 7:30 p.m.

The Warriors averted a shutout on Addison Allen’s 8-yard touchdown run on the last play of the game but still fell to Class 2A, No. 3 LaVille 38-6 last week.

Winamac had 167 yards on offense, including a team-high 56 yards rushing from Maddox Bucinski. But they also gave up an interception return for a touchdown.

Winamac themselves forced two turnovers on defense but also yielded 347 yards of offense to LaVille, including a 57-yard pass for a touchdown to start the scoring.

“Actually, I thought after the first quarter, defensively we settled in a little bit. … First play, we kind of blew a coverage on that and gave up a touchdown pass, but really after that, I thought we did a little bit better job of recognizing formation,” Winamac coach Josh Burgess said. “The score doesn’t show it, but we had guys in position and had some guys make some plays, so I thought there was some improvement defensively.”

Winamac will travel to North Judson this week in a rivalry showdown. The Blue Jays have lost two straight since a 2-0 start, including a 22-18 loss at Knox last week.

Jesiah McDaniel is in his first season as North Judson’s quarterback. North Judson runs a triple-option, but they also have some sets out of the I-formation where they like to run belly and a lead play where the tailback follows his fullback.

“Really athletic,” Burgess said of McDaniel. “He’s done a good job so far running their offense. I think they’ll probably want to get him a little more involved as far as the run game is concerned, but a really athletic kid, and he can throw the ball if he needs to as well, so he’ll definitely present some challenges.”

North Judson has won six of the last seven meetings against Winamac. The last time Winamac started 0-4 was in 2016, and Winamac went on to win its Class 2A sectional that season in Tim Roth’s final season as coach.