Indiana Preps | On The Line — Week 9 Preview

There is no next week to fix anything.

Week 9 is the last regular-season Friday in Indiana high school football, and this one comes with more than postseason tune-up energy. Conference championships are still on the line. Unbeaten seasons are going head-to-head. Several teams inside the Indiana Preps Power 25 get one final chance to sharpen the résumé before the tournament takes over.

Penn and South Bend St. Joseph are both 8-0. Warsaw and Northridge are both 8-0. North Judson and Pioneer are both 8-0. Wheeler and Griffith are both 8-0.

Somebody is losing for the first time Friday.

Here are eight games worth tracking.

Bloomington South at Center Grove

Bloomington South gets one last measuring stick before tournament play.

The Panthers enter 7-1 and have spent most of the season validating their place in the statewide conversation. Friday sends them to Center Grove, where the Trojans are coming off a 28-20 loss to Lawrence North that dropped them to 6-2.

That creates pressure on both sides. Bloomington South can leave the regular season with the kind of 6A win that changes how its postseason résumé is viewed. Center Grove gets one week to respond after falling behind Lawrence North 28-3 and coming up short in the comeback.

The Trojans are still one of the most dangerous teams in 6A. Friday is about looking like it again before the sectional begins.

For Bloomington South, this is an opportunity. For Center Grove, it feels closer to a reset.

Evansville Reitz at Evansville Mater Dei

The Golden Acorn is enough. The standings make it bigger.

Reitz and Mater Dei enter 7-1 overall and 6-1 in the SIAC. Memorial has already secured at least a share of the conference championship at 8-0, but if Castle beats the Tigers, the Reitz-Mater Dei winner can grab a share as well.

Then there is the rivalry itself. Reitz arrives after a 48-8 win over Bosse. Mater Dei has won four straight since its loss to Memorial, including wins over Jasper, Evansville North, Bosse and Harrison. Both have recovered from their only defeat. Both get one final rivalry game before moving into different postseason classifications.

And one leaves with the Golden Acorn. That is enough to make this one of the best Week 9 games in Southern Indiana.

Lowell at Andrean

This one has been building for five weeks.

Lowell lost to Griffith on September 4 and has not lost since. The Red Devils have won five straight and enter Friday 6-2. Andrean is 7-1 and has spent its first season back in Class 3A looking like a program that never needed an adjustment period.

Now they meet with the Northwest Crossroads Conference race attached.

Lowell has leaned heavily on a rushing attack producing close to 300 yards per game. Andrean brings a more balanced offense and one of the more experienced winning cultures in Northwest Indiana.

This is exactly the kind of game both teams want before the postseason. Physical. Familiar. And meaningful after the clock hits zero.

North Daviess at Springs Valley

North Daviess has one more chance to finish the regular season perfect.

The Cougars are 8-0 and have outscored opponents 364-73. They have won six games by at least 25 points and survived their closest conference test last week, beating North Knox 28-20. Springs Valley is 6-2 and brings a different kind of problem — the Blackhawks average more than 200 rushing yards per game and have scored at least 48 points five times.

North Daviess has spent the season playing from ahead. Springs Valley has enough offense to test whether the Cougars can do the same thing against a team capable of creating its own pressure.

Eight wins have already established North Daviess as one of the better small-school stories in the state. Nine would send the Cougars into the bracket without a blemish.

North Judson at Pioneer

Nothing complicated here.

8-0 versus 8-0. Hoosier North championship on the line.

North Judson has scored 347 points and allowed 46. The Bluejays have posted three shutouts and allowed more than 14 points only once. Last week was different — Caston pushed them to a 21-14 game. That might have been useful, because Pioneer is not showing up Friday to admire the record.

The winner takes an unbeaten season into tournament play. The loser gets its first reminder that October does not care what happened in August.

South Bend St. Joseph at Penn

This is the headline game in northern Indiana.

Penn is 8-0. South Bend St. Joseph is 8-0. Both are 6-0 in Northern Indiana Conference play. Winner takes the league.

The numbers are absurd. Penn has scored 403 points and allowed 38. Since Week 3, the Kingsmen have beaten conference opponents 305-7. St. Joseph has been dominant in its own right, scoring 312 points and allowing 48.

Penn has spent the season looking like one of the six best teams in Indiana. St. Joseph has spent the season making a case that it deserves more statewide attention. Friday gives both sides the answer. No comparison needed afterward.

Warsaw at Northridge

Another undefeated conference championship game.

Warsaw is 8-0. Northridge is 8-0. The Northern Lakes Conference title is sitting in the middle.

Warsaw has survived close games against Snider, Northrop, NorthWood and Concord while also showing it can overwhelm teams — scoring at least 37 points in each of its last five games. Northridge comes in just as hot, beating Concord, Plymouth, Mishawaka and NorthWood in succession, including a 45-7 win last week.

This is not two unbeaten records arriving from different directions. These are two teams playing their best football at the same time. One NLC championship. One unbeaten record survives.

Wheeler at Griffith

This might be the most fun game on the board.

Wheeler is 8-0. Griffith is 8-0. The Greater South Shore Conference title is on the line. And both teams can score.

Wheeler has 357 points through eight games and has allowed only 54. Griffith has been even more explosive — 70 against River Forest, 63 against Highland, 55 against Boone Grove — before beating Calumet last week. The styles are different. Wheeler has been more controlled defensively. Griffith has been more volatile and explosive.

Now they get each other. Conference title. Perfect record. One night. There is no better way to finish a regular season.

The Last Friday Before Everything Changes

Week 9 always feels different.

For some teams, the conference championship matters most. For others, protecting an unbeaten season does. And for teams like Center Grove, Bloomington South, Andrean and Lowell, Friday is one last chance to learn something useful before every mistake becomes an elimination mistake.

Penn-St. Joseph gives us 8-0 versus 8-0. Warsaw-Northridge gives us 8-0 versus 8-0. North Judson-Pioneer gives us 8-0 versus 8-0. Wheeler-Griffith gives us 8-0 versus 8-0.

The bracket is already waiting.

First, Indiana gets one more Friday.