Rivals trying to stay in NIC hunt
A four-way tie for second place in the Northern Indiana Conference Northsouth Division will be partially broken up when Glenn (3-2, 1-1 NIC) pays a visit to Bremen’s (2-3, 1-1 NIC) Don Bunge Field this Friday.
Bremen is coming off a loss to NIC first-place Jimtown, 32-19.
“We give credit to Jimtown for making a lot of good plays, but at the same time I didn’t feel like we were as enthused as a team as we should have been,” said Bremen head coach Jordan Leeper. “One thing we noticed from watching film of last week was our lack of team engagement. We’ve showed glimpses of being a pretty good football team, but we’re not building on those momentum plays that need to happen each game. It’s like we’re settling into ‘this was good enough’ and we can’t have that mentality. Then it seems like we are able to bounce back from that and look good for a couple of plays or a series or two then we go back to complacency. We’ve got to avoid that and we’ve got to get better. When you are complacent, you are not consistent. We need to get off the roller coaster ride and get onto a more stable situation. (This week in practice) we want our guys to show that they care about each other.”
The Lions have alternated each week with a loss, then a win, etc., and need a ‘W’ to keep that streak going. Bremen and Glenn have both played Jimtown this season, with the Falcons losing to the Jimmies, 21-0.
“It all starts with (quarterback Nathan) Creed,” Leeper said of this week’s opponent. “He’s a good athlete and operates their system well. He’s capable of making big plays.
We need to key on him on offense. If we can stop him, we think we’ll be in a pretty good spot, but he’s good enough to get other people involved so we’ve got to be disciplined with the way he runs their option-read stuff. Defensively, we’ve got to execute for 48 minutes. We have to establish a consistent offensive identity. We’ve had two physical games on the road so it’s
nice to be back at home.”
Behind the running of Creed (202 yards, 3 TDS), the Falcons snapped a twogame losing streak with a 28-7 win at Knox last week. Glenn is averaging 25 ppg and allowing just 12. In its three victories, the defense has not allowed more than seven points.
“You’re never going to complain about getting a ‘W’, especially going on the road,” said Glenn head coach Austin Foust. “Knox has had our number here lately. We didn’t play overly well offensively in the first half, but were able to get a big play just before halftime (an 84-yard touchdown pass). Defensively, we played extremely well. We scored on our first drive to start the second half, were up 14-0, and our defense kind of controlled the game from there. We only had 30 plays on offense compared to 60 or so from Knox. Our defense was on the field a lot, but they played gutsy and battled all game long. Hopefully we’ll continue to play well this week.”
Bremen won last year’s meeting with the Falcons (28-8) and leads the series 22-11 over the past 35 years.
So how is Glenn going to approach this meeting?
“It will be a tough game. They are bigger than we are, but we’ve faced that before,” Foust said. “Bremen is a tough place to play. Coach Leeper has a tough, physical football team, year in and year out. It’s weird, with this rivalry the past four years the road team has won. Hopefully that tradition stays alive and next year it stops. The last couple years we’ve played well there, but it will be a tough test for us. They will run the football and be physical. That’s just what you get with Bremen. They have a veteran line and the sophomore (Lance) Moser kid is running the ball hard. We’ll have to match their physicality and stop the run. Our kids keep battling and playing. They don’t quit.”
The other two teams currently tied for second in the NIC N-S, South Bend Washington and South Bend Riley, square off this week. That winner will be tied with the Glenn-bremen victor with two conference games remaining. Bremen plays Riley on Oct. 8. Glenn faces Washington Oct. 15.