This week, the South Adams Starfires are set to host the Lafayette Central Catholic Knights in a battle to decide who will punch their ticket to state in 1A.

Throughout the postseason, the Starfires (12-0) have outscored their opponents 192-49 with their last meeting being a 48-35 shootout over then undefeated Southwood. They will be playing in their first Semistate game since 2014 and the first one at home since 1992. The Starfires have never won a Semistate title in high school football.

They will be going up against the reigning state champions Lafayette Central Catholic (5-3) who has faced a ton of adversity this season due to COVID-19 and a defense that’s allowing under 25 points a game. They’re coming off a tightly-contested 37-32 win over Winamac in regionals. This will be their 9th Semistate game in program history and 2nd in a row (the Knights have made it to state in 8 of those years and have won a state title in all of their appearances). Lafayette Central Catholic has only lost in Semistate once in program history (2014 @ Lewis Cass 17-14).

According to John Harrell, South Adams is a near 85% favorite to win this game and a near 47% favorite to win it all in 1A. The outcome of this game likely comes down to senior QB James Arnold who has thrown for 3,162 yards and 41 TD passes. Last week’s game saw him passing for a season best 435 yards and 5 TD passes and throwing 162 of those yards to senior Drew Stutzman. Lafayette Central Catholic does have a explosive offense of their own led by junior Clark Barrett who has thrown for nearly 2,000 yards and 18 TD passes in just 8 games. Sophomore Owen Munn had 255 receiving yards in their regional game against Winamac.