Week 8 is championship week for CIC Football featuring the two most successful CIC programs over the past decade in Mississinewa and Eastbrook-two schools separated by less than 10 miles. A lot is at stake for this game, and with very good rationale to back it up.
Obviously, both teams enter this contest at 7-0 overall and 5-0 in CIC play. The next closest teams (Oak Hill, Alexandria, and Madison-Grant) all sit at 3-2 in conference play. The winner of this game essentially wins the conference.
The winner of the CIC wins the traveling milk can trophy named “Frank”. The winning team then decorates the milk can however they wish to design the milk can to claim their status as CIC champions. Certain conferences like the SAC have their own traveling trophy to decide a conference champion.
Mississinewa has won the last two CIC championships, so that means the milk can has stayed in Gas City during that stretch of time. Eastbrook-who has won the conference 16 times since joining the CIC in 1998-have not won the milk can in four years.
The season series between these two Grant County rivals dating back to 1967 is 26-21-1 in favor of Eastbrook. The last three have went to Ole Miss and all by double-figures. And to add another flavor to this rivalry, former defensive coordinator at Eastbrook Jeremy Lochner departed to take the Mississinewa head coaching position.
Meanwhile, Jeff Adamson is in his 37th season as Eastbrook’s head football coach and has been apart of Eastbrook’s gridiron tradition for a good part of over 45 years as a 1982 alum of that same school. It’s rare to have that type of consistency and familiarity between the coach and the program itself. In a changing world of athletics, often times structure is a person’s best strength.
To sum this game up even further, Eastbrook is scheduling a tailgate fundraiser between 5 and 7 p.m. with all proceeds going to the Lochner family. 2002 Eastbrook grad Joey Lochner-who is on the Mississinewa coaching staff was diagnosed with Oligodendroglioma-a rare, slowing brain tumor that currently has no cure. Joey is scheduled to undergo his second brain surgery in November to remove the tumor. Additional information can be found below.
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Which sets up the game itself. We know there’s a rivalry that stems decades between two county rivals. We know there are connections between two programs, primarily with Jeff Adamson’s influence and their personal connections with Eastbrook as former students. There is a conference championship on the line, and there is an even greater cause with a Mississinewa coaching and former Eastbrook student needing to receive medical treatment.
These are two teams that should expect to play hard-nosed, physical football with a good dose of running the ball. This season, Eastbrook averages 7.2 yards per carry and 299 yards on the ground per game. Most of that is led by senior running back Ryder Gipson who has run for 794 yards on 119 carries and 16 touchdowns.
Look for quarterback Bodie Howell to play a pivotal role in this game for Eastbrook on the ground as he averages 7.7 yards per carry and has 12 combined touchdowns on the season. Defensively, look for Jacob McDermit at defensive end, Mason Shell at defensive tackle, and corner Gary Cook to make some noise tonight.
As for Ole Miss, the Indians average 7.3 yards per carry and 209.6 yards per game. Over the last couple seasons, the unstoppable force in the CIC has been the explosive running back Ah’lijah Monday, and he is not a fun player to compete against. Monday has amassed over 3,200 rushing yards in his career averaging eight around 6 yards per carry. He is closing in on his 2nd straight season with 1,000 rushing yards on the season.
For as talented as he is as a running back, Monday is just as intimidating as a middle linebacker with 29 tackles, 6 TFL’s, 2 sacks, and 1 fumble recovery. He is a beast for Ole Miss. They also have a young but explosive sophomore running back in Levi Crandall who is averaging over 9 yards per carry and leads the team in touchdowns with 13 through 6 games.
On my podcast at ANEC Sports, Jeff Adamson informed me that Mississinewa has a lot of size and speed that will challenge Eastbrook’s gameplan in this contest. Kadin Fouce makes a lot of it work playing both ways as a guard and tackle and already has at least 5 sacks on the season. When Ole Miss does throw the football, Kallen Quderer is their guy that has big-play potential everytime he gets targets. Quaderer is averaging 18.8 yards per reception in his career and 19.4 yards per catch this season alone. Quaderer is also their starting strong safety with at least 4 interceptions on the season and over 35 tackles.
This should be a fun night of football in Grant County when the Eastbrook Panthers host Mississinewa in a CIC championship game atmosphere expecting to draw a massive turnout.