Published: October 08, 2009 10:18 am      

Bounce back time for Falcons, Minutemen

One week after being handed their first losses of the season, the Concord Minutemen and Fairfield Falcons can still claim shares of their high school football conference titles.

It’s just going to take a little help.

Concord and NorthWood are both 4-1 in the Northern Lakes Conference while frontrunner Plymouth is 5-0.

Concord finishes the regular season with home dates against Northridge and Warsaw. NorthWood is at Warsaw and hosts Plymouth while Plymouth entertains the Goshen Redskins this Friday.

“This is an important NLC game for us if we want to stay in the hunt,” Concord coach Tim Dawson said.

The Fairfield Falcons are 6-1 in the Northeast Corner Conference behind co-leaders Lakeland and Churubusco (both 7-0).

The Falcons close out their NECC schedule this week at Churubusco. Lakeland has a non-conference game with South Bend St. Joseph’s this week before hosting Churubusco next week.

“The opportunity is still there for us to claim a share of the title,” Fairfield coach Bob Miller said.



Northridge (4-3) at Concord (6-1)

Kickoff: 7:30 p.m.

Series record: Concord, 26-4

Last year: Concord, 38-0

Concord is coming off a 41-27 loss at Plymouth while Northridge pulled out a 40-34 triple-overtime thriller from Goshen.

“We lost to a great team,” Dawson said. “The key for us is seeing how the kids respond. Northridge is playing with a lot of confidence and they did a better job at Plymouth than we did.”

Northridge coach Jonathan Kirkton said, “I’m sure Coach Dawson is going to have his team fired up. Concord is an impressive team. Other than the first eight or nine minutes of the Plymouth game, it was a back-and-forth contest.”

Concord has won 16 straight in the series since Northridge won back-to-back games in 1992 and 1993. Two of the key Raiders on those teams were Eric Domer and Justin Love.

“This is the best Northridge team I have seen since those,” Dawson said. “They had a good team a few years ago when Joe Gibson played, but injuries hurt them.”

Current Northridge leaders on offense are 6-2 (195) senior quarterback Andrew Hooley, 5-8 (170) senior fullback Carsten Miller, 6-2 (180) senior wide receiver Gatlin Rassi and 5-9 (160) junior wideout Garret Yoder.

Hooley has completed 64-of-114 passes for 891 yards to go with six touchdowns and just one interception. Miller has rushed the ball 130 times for 725 yards and eight TDs. Rassi has caught 22 passes for 328 yards and two TDs and Yoder 17 for 241 and two scores.

“Other than (Plymouth senior) Gordy Holloway, Hooley might be the best quarterback we have seen this season,” Dawson said.

Kirkton said, “Hooley had a good night against Goshen (15-of-25 for 214 yards). Goshen defended us on the perimeter as good as any team we have played. Our slots got very few carries, but the slant routes were open. It’s tempting for a quarterback to throw the ball down the field, but Hooley was content to take was Goshen’s defense was giving us.”

The Concord offense is led by 6-0 (165) junior QB Anthony Yoder who is 100 for 177 passing for 1,719 yards with 20 TDs and four interceptions. He also has 204 rushing yards on 51 carries.

Dawson had a few anxious moments last week when Yoder, who is recovering from a Grade 1 shoulder separation, took a big hit from the Plymouth defense.

“Yoder came off the field in a lot of pain,” the coach said. “But Anthony is a competitor and went back in.”



NorthWood (5-2) at Warsaw (3-4)

Kickoff: 7:30 p.m.

Series record: NorthWood, 31-9

Last year: NorthWood, 54-24

“Warsaw has changed from a spread offense to more of a running game the last two weeks,” NorthWood coach Scott Hoover said. “They have won both of those games. That should be a confidence boost for them.”

Warsaw gained 340 yards on the ground last week against Wawasee with 6-1 (200) senior tailback Andy Conrad running for 198 on 29 carries and 6-0 (170) junior Jeremy Coppes 74 on one.

The Panthers allowed a total of 111 rushing yards in last week’s 17-10 win at Elkhart Memorial.

“Our run defense was pretty good,” Hoover said. “We contained (5-11, 168, senior) Zach Corpe (41 yards on 12 carries).”

NorthWood ran for 198 yards in the Memorial contest. Leading ground gainers were 5-10 (160) senior Christian Diemer 99 yards on 23 attempts and 5-10 (183) sophomore Coy Brown 40 on 11.

Six-one (196) senior quarterback Brant Nine was 9-of-12 passing for 58 yards.

“We need to continue to run the ball and make improvements in our passing game,” Hoover said. “Last week we completed some pass plays we have been working on.

“We need to eliminate mistakes. Penalties and fumbles have hurt our drives. If you want to have 12 or 14-play drives they need to be perfect.”

One Panther who will be out of action this week is 6-3 (220) senior right guard Mike Bough.

“He had an appendectomy,” the coach said.

Bough will be replaced in the line by 6-1 (205) junior Chris Fodor.



Fairfield (6-1) at Churubusco (7-0)

Kickoff: 7:30 p.m.

Series record: Churubusco, 13-9

Last year: Fairfield, 41-30

Fairfield is No. 7 ranked in Class 2A and the Churubusco Eagles No. 4 in 1A.

The Falcons dropped a 28-6 decision to Lakeland last week.

“I told the kids there are a lot of teams around the state who would trade for a 6-1 record,” Miller said. “A loss is not the end of the season. We need to keep things in perspective.”

The loss snapped Fairfield’s 33-game regular season winning streak.

“Another thing I told the kids is that we would trade those three undefeated regular seasons for a sectional championship,” the coach added.

Churubusco’s offense, racking up 2,771 rushing yards and 3,183 total yards, will be a big test for the Falcon defense.

“Those are season numbers for a lot of teams,” Miller said.

Among key players on the Eagle offense is 6-2 (185) junior fullback Kyle Mathewson. He has rushed for nearly 1,400 yards.

“Mathewson averages about 12 yards per carry,” Miller said. ‘He is a heck of a player. They play a wing-T offense and watching them execute it is like going to a clinic. The offense is very much like an option attack in the fact you have to play assignment football. Their linemen are not big, but are quick. We will not be seeing the kind of dominant linemen we saw last week.”

Fairfield’s touchdown against Lakeland came when 6-2 (180) junior quarterback Chase Pinion tossed a 14-yard scoring strike to 6-2 (170) classmate Tanner Foust.

Foust leads the team in scoring with 14 TDs and has scored at least one in every game so far this season.

Pinion has tossed four TDs since replacing 6-4 (180) senior Justin Scott who suffered a season-ending knee injury in the Eastside game.

Five-eleven (200) junior Jordan Bontrager was one Falcon the coach highlighted on defense.

“We have been having some problems at strong side defense end,” Miller said. “Bontrager had a great game with a couple sacks.”



Memorial (4-3) at Wawasee (2-5)

Kickoff: 7:30 p.m.

Series record: tied at 4-4

Last year: Memorial, 49-20

“Everything for Memorial runs around the Corpe kid,” Wawasee coach Tom Wogomon said. “He put on a clinic the other week with Clay, returning a punt and an interception for scores. He has a great supporting cast, but is putting the team on his shoulders and getting the job done.

“Our game plan like most teams is to try and contain him. We need to make Memorial use other players. The problem with that is they have some talented receivers and a good quarterback.

“Our key is still consistency. We have gotten off to some terrible starts and have got to stop playing catchup football.

“Some people are saying we are young and inexperienced. You can’t say that in the eighth week of the season. What we need to do is start playing football like we are capable.”

Five-nine (150) senior wide receiver and defensive back John Cox is out for the rest of the season after breaking a collarbone in practice.

“He started the season with a sprained knee and was just getting healthy,” the coach said. “I feel badly for him as a senior. A year ago, he never missed a practice.”

Five-five (140) senior linebacker Jeff Deleon is questionable for the game after spraining g a knee.



West Noble (1-6) at

Prairie Heights (0-7)

Kickoff: 7:30 p.m.

Series record: West Noble, 26-15

Last year: West Noble, 34-28

The West Noble Chargers have won eight of the last 12 meetings with the Panthers.

West Noble defeated Central Noble 21-20 last week for its initial win of the season. The Chargers gained a season-high 241 yards total offense with 120 rushing and 121 passing.

Scoring touchdowns last week for the Chargers were 5-8 (155) senior Luke Hardesty, 6-3 (190) senior Dakota Kreczmer and 5-11 (160) sophomore Zach Rupright.