A lot has happened in northeast Indiana as the high school football season zooms past the halfway point.
There’s been a near-unstoppable quarterback throwing for yards and TDs not seen around these parts in a long time; there has been a long winning streak snapped in an upset (North Side 26, Bishop Dwenger 16); a top-ranked team has a loss without actually getting beat; and some contenders no longer look like pretenders.
I can’t wait to see what happens over the next half of the year and into the postseason. Here’s a prediction of some of the highlights coming up.
Terrell tears it up
This will continue.
No team has found a way to slow down Homestead senior quarterback Zach Terrell, who leads the state with 1,241 yards passing. And this has come with the Western Michigan recruit not logging a lot of time in the second halves.
The signal-caller has completed 74 of 96 passes. He has almost as many touchdowns (19) as he does incompletions (22).
Terrell has an outside chance to be among the state’s top 25 in single-season passing yards. The 25th name on the list, Ron Moyer of Hamilton Southeastern, threw for 3,250 in 1981.
With Terrell’s 248 yards passing per game, he has a chance to throw for 3,000 yards – more if the coaching staff would just leave him in the second half.
With 5,537 career passing yards and counting, Terrell will go down as northeast Indiana’s most prolific passer.
Postseason possibilities
Let’s start with the obvious: Bishop Luers stands a great chance of making a third straight appearance in the Class 2A state finals, where the Knights have won the last two titles.
At this point, the only thing stopping Luers from an undefeated record is the minute an ineligible player was on the field in a 53-0 win over South Side, which resulted in a forfeit for the Knights (3-1).
Seventh-ranked Homestead, with the aforementioned Terrell, could go far in 5A but will have to get through the likes of Snider, No. 2 Carmel, No. 3 Penn and No. 5 Hamilton Southeastern. Not the best of odds, but with that offense who knows?
The surprise? Leo.
OK, so it’s not really a surprise considering Leo went to the 3A semistate a year ago, but this year the Lions (5-0) are up a class in 4A. But with Dwenger not looking like its usual dominant self, the sectional could belong to the Lions.
Conference champions
Once again, not exactly a stretch to pick three of the conference champions in northeast Indiana: Luers in the SAC, Homestead the NHC and Leo the ACAC.
Now when it comes to the NECC, it is a two-team race between Churubusco and Lakeland, both with 5-0 records. It will come down to the two teams’ matchup Oct. 14 at Lakeland. It’s a tough one to call with the Eagles getting the advantage with a gritty defense (9.4 points allowed), and the Lakers having the high-scoring offense (50.2 ppg).
Just a guess, but I say defense wins titles, so Churubusco takes the NECC.
Dwenger down under .500
Bishop Dwenger hasn’t been below the .500 mark in the regular season since going 4-5 in 2003, but that year it made a run to the semistate and wound up 8-6.
A combination of inexperience, injuries and a tough non-conference schedule will be the undoing for the five-time defending SAC champion Saints (3-2). They have already lost to North Side to end their 38-game SAC winning streak and Indianapolis Cathedral in a non-conference game. Still left on the slate are home to Wayne, at 2010 Class 3A state champion Indianapolis Chatard, at Snider and home to two-time defending 2A state champion Bishop Luers.
If the Saints go 4-5, it will be one more loss than Dwenger had combined between 2007-10.
