KENDALLVILLE-The Northeast Eight Conference-just 10-years-old-has already cemented itself as one of the top football-powered conferences in the entire state. Over the past decade, the one constant in its history has been the hype surrounding Leo and East Noble-particularly when it comes to competing for a conference or a sectional championship. Since 2019, East Noble and Leo have battled it out for not only the NE8 conference crown but also for a sectional title. On this (K)night, it was East Noble taking firm control of the NE8 race as their fans left the stadium smiling from grin to grin in a 56-40 NE8 conference win over Leo.
The game began with nervous anticipation and a lot of hype surrounding this game. Going into this game, whoever can win the battles in the line of scrimmage and taking care of the football was likely going to win this game. It took the Knights four minutes and change for them to set the tempo.
Ball placed at Leo’s own 8-yard line, freshman Austin Phillips stripped the ball off the hands of Leo quarterback Titus Stoller-where it was recovered by Ayden Ley. Two plays later, the aforementioned Austin Phillips received the handoff and tipped toed his way into the end zone for the first score of the game at 7-0.
Just under a minute later, Leo responded with a 35-yard TD pass from Stoller to Luke Tackwell to tie the game at 7. But a common theme in this game was East Noble’s resilience and quick responses each time Leo scored. On the next drive, Rylee Biddle threw a dime to Alex Scott for a 68-yard score to take the lead 14-7, a lead they wouldn’t relinquish for the rest of the game.
However, Leo’s next drive was poised to tie the game up, but Austin Phillips took down running back Nathan Foster for a 3-yard TFL on 4th down to turn it over on downs. On the very next play, Austin Phillips-did I mention he is only a freshman-found a huge hole near his team’s sideline for a 93-yard score and what eventually became the turning point of the game.
“Huge momentum shift for us,” said East Noble Head Coach Alex Stewart. “And on that touchdown run, Ayden Ley-our tight end-had a huge block. He hit the linebacker. The linebacker just chips and gets a piece of the safety, and that’s just enough to let us get the crease and take it 93 yards to the house.”
Stewart credits the freshman’s “incredible effort” on both sides of the football that has made an immediate impact on the Knights. Austin Phillips ran the ball 14 times for 158 yards and 3 touchdowns. Phillips would record one more touchdown run with 7:17 left in the 4th to provide insurance for this East Noble squad.
“His (Austin Phillips) motor on defense and his ability to step in and run the ball really well for us offensively, just a great effort all around. “ said Stewart on the freshman’s performance.
While the offense proved to be a key storyline against a Leo defense that held their previous four opponents to below 9 points per game coming in, it was East Noble’s defense flying to the football that dictated the pace of the game.
“I felt like they (Leo) made some adjustments at halftime and, you know, obviously they got to score late in the game, but I told our kids-you know, some nights, the offense is going to be clicking. Some nights the defense is going to be clicking-and we responded offensively when the defense gave up a score. And that’s what good team football is all about.”
While the Knights are a team that wants to establish the run early and often, tonight it was the athletes-particularly in the passing game that showed out tonight. East Noble extended their lead once again when Biddle became Rylee Dimes on that 50-yard bomb to Jack Slater giving East Noble a 28-7 halftime lead.
Biddle threw for 182 of his 304 yards (12-17 passing on the night) in just the first half alone and would go on to record 4 combined touchdowns in this game (2 passing and 2 rushing). East Noble recorded 313 yards of total offense in that first half. Leo’s Nathan Foster was held to just 81 rushing yards in the first half. He would go on to rush for 251 yards and 2 touchdowns to lead Leo’s attack.
While Leo never quite matched the explosiveness of East Noble’s offense, the Lions did not give up as they were able to cut it as far down as 15 on Luke Tackwell’s 2nd TD reception of the game. In the end, East Noble played a really good football game, and the offense was able to move the ball at will because of great blocking and talented kids making big-time plays.
In a game of football, it is indeed a game of inches. Leo had plenty of chances-especially in the first half-but they were able to strike when the opportunity was there. East Noble has won the game of inches every week up to this point, even in that 21-14 comeback win at DeKalb.
East Noble’s schedule is far from a cupcake playing the likes of Wayne, Snider, Huntington North, and now Leo. Coach Stewart knows that this team is not at the level they believe they can play in the postseason.
“We got a lot of guys that know are great playmakers and a lot of guys with big playability and firing on all cylinders,” said Stewart. “In the first half, I felt like we did a better job of getting there, wrapping up, (and) making the tackles. Second half, I felt like we didn’t tackle in face as well. And that’s something that we’ve got to do better a better job of. There are several times we had him and we put a shoulder into him instead of wrapping him up. And that’s just something that we’ve got to continue to work on.”
Being able to play through various situations in different moments of the game against the best competition in the area allows for programs at the caliber of East Noble and even Leo to craft and continue to build their team through the duration of the season. Keep in mind that these two teams may meet again at some point in sectional play-which does not include Bishop Dwenger, DeKalb, Angola, and Columbia City being in the same sectional.
“We have the toughest sectional in 4A And currently there’s four teams in the top ten in our sectional,” said Stewart. That’s half our sectional in the top ten, and we just went down to the wire with another team that’s in our sectional. So, we have to have this preparation for that if we want to make a deep tournament run, we’ve got to be ready in nights like tonight, when it’s going to be a shootout. We’ve got to have those moments of adversity and be able to respond to it.“
East Noble is on the road for the next two weeks with trips to Norwell and Columbia City. Meanwhile, Leo will host winless Bellmont next week.