Football fast forward: It's another first for the Bloomington North program

As the only undefeated team left in Class 5A, it seemed inevitable Bloomington North would rise to the top of the Indiana Football Coaches Association rankings this week.

Six up, six down for the Cougars who are No. 1 for the first time ever, pushing ahead of former No. 1 Fort Wayne Snider (5-1) after it was knocked off 23-20 in overtime by 6A Homestead. The game was tied at 17 after a Homestead field goal in the third period and stayed that way until the end of regulation.

In OT, Snider had to settle for a field goal and Homestead answered with a TD run.

With that, voters moved North to the top spot.

"This is a really great experience," North senior lineman Max Wynalda said Friday after the win 49-14 at New Albany. "We're all working hard and its working out. It's just really fun to be here on this team."

And it's a team with a big target on its back. They'll have to earn that No. 1 every time out, but one Cougar isn't giving it any weight.

"Not to me," North defensive end Lucas Rice said. "I think we're No. 1. We could be 10th in the state but in my heart, we're No. 1. I think it's just back to our mentality, where we are as a team. We know we're that team, but we're not overconfident, we're not cocky, we just go out and play our game."

Snider is still No. 2 while Bloomington South (5-1) moved up to No. 3 after its 59-0 pasting of winless Southport. Merrillville (5-1), whose only loss is to 6A No. 4 Crown Point (39-7) is next. The Pirates have a huge game coming up at No. 5 Valparaiso (4-2), which might be a bit underrated after battling to a 19-14 loss at Crown Point (6-0).

The Vikings opened with a 38-21 thumping by 6A No. 10 Penn and its defense has been stout ever since.

Mishawaka (5-1) is next and then comes the third highest rated team in the southern half of the bracket, West Lafayette Harrison (5-1). Plainfield (5-1) was knocked off by rival Decatur Central 26-23 and the Hawks (4-2) moved up to No. 9. Franklin (4-2) and Evansville North (4-2) also got votes to make the top 12. Franklin and Plainfield meet this week.

North will put that ranking on the line this week when it plays host to Columbus East and will try to contain sophomore quarterback Kyson Villarreal (505 yards passing, 583 rushing) and running back Tyler Weller (484 yards, 7 TDs).

The Sagarin Ratings on johnharrell.com list Valparaiso, Bloomington South, Mishawaka and Snider in the top four with North listed 12th.

Rams are tough

Eastern Greene's three-game win streak came to a quick end at Paoli with a 57-27 defeat. It included a 44-point second quarter where the game got away, with the Rams taking a 38-14 lead into the break after scoring with one second left, a mere 56 after an Eastern TD.

Paoli rushed for 399 yards (with fullback Trey Rominger going for 264 and six TDs) but was actually outgained by Eastern (311 yards rushing and 102 passing). But the T-Birds (3-3) also had three critical turnovers.

"We preach taking care of the detail all the time and we didn't," Eastern coach Travis Wray said. "We had more yards than them but special teams were not good. We gave up a touchdown and almost another one. And taking care of the ball. We turned it over way too much.

"We caused a couple turnovers, but we couldn't capitalize. We were inside their 20 three times and either didn't score or turned it over. And we had 47 missed tackles by my calculation. We just decided to play our worst game against the best team we've played yet. But we did see some positives on video."

They're headed to Red Hill (3-2) in Bridgeport in eastern Illinois for Week 7. The Salukis beat North Central 21-6 in their Week 3. Then it's a Week 8 battle at home against rival Linton (5-1), which was elevated back to No. 1 in 2A by the coaches association.

Edgewood's Tackle the Stigma Night

The Edgewood Mustangs Gridiron Club will play host to a “Tackle the Stigma” Night to promote mental health awareness amongst teens and adults but more specifically for student-athletes.

Activities will begin at 5 p.m., two hours before Friday's kickoff against Sullivan. According to the organization's press release, tailgating, and resource tables including free swag from the Indianapolis Colts, Hilinski’s Hope Foundation (named after former Washington State quarterback Tyler Hilinski), SAMHSA, Protect the Player/Protect the Game, Adult & Child Health and others will be available. The Mustangs Gridiron Club will provide the first 50 students who visit the resource tables a free “Tackle the Stigma” t-shirt.

The release noted that according to a study done by the CDC in 2021, more than 4 in 10 students felt persistently sad or hopeless, about one-third of students experienced poor mental health and more than 1 in 5 students seriously considered attempting suicide and 1 in 10 students did attempt suicide.

South rising again

Bloomington South (5-1, 3-1) crushed winless Southport 59-0, gaining 296 yards on the ground, led by Gavin Adams (17-149, TD) and QB Jarrin Alley (6-46, 2TDs). Duke Conrad got the rout started by taking a fumble 20 yards for a score just eight seconds into the game and special teams also blocked a field goal attempt and a punt.

It was South's second shutout of the season, the first time that's happened since 2016.

The next two weeks will me more of a bear. First, it's Columbus North, which has two losses to Indy powerhouses Bishop Chatard and Roncalli, in a Conference Indiana test. The Bull Dogs are led by the arms and legs of sophomore quarterback Asher Ratliff (523 yards passing, 8 TDs, 6 INTs; 256 yards rushing). Then comes a trip to Brebeuf Jesuit, which just beat Roncalli, 39-23.

"We know that we're going to be in for fights and we welcome that fight," South coach Gabe Johnson said.

So cleaning up things the past two weeks was a huge deal.

"Identifying mistakes and cleaning them up," Johnson said. "You look at snapping, you look at some decision making at times for some players. And we're continuing to address those issues so they don't become issues again. You can't think you have everything solved. The kids have played hard the past two weeks."

Around the state

Greencastle trampled Brown County, 84-0, as freshman quarterback Cole Stephens had a ridiculous day going 23-of-26 for 572 yards and a school record 10, yes, 10, touchdowns. The old mark was six, which Stephens had previously tied. Noteworthy is just eight of those TDs came before halftime as the Tiger Cubs blew out to a 63-0 lead, setting the running clock in motion. Despite that, Stephens was back out on the field in the third quarter and threw for nearly another 150 yards, with his ninth TD making it 70-0.

On a side note, Greencastle voted Monday to join North Putnam and Cascade (which originally agreed to come back next year) in leaving the WIC in 2025-26 to join a new conference composed of former Sagamore Conference members.

Quarterback Jalen Sauer of Indian Creek also had a huge night against Edgewood in a 44-25 win, going 13-of-20 for 294 yards and five touchdowns. He also ran for another 60 yards.

Looking at 5A sectionals 15 and 16: Floyd Central is 5-1 now after a 28-3 win over Columbus East and has Bedford North Lawrence (4-2), which has won four straight at home this week. Seymour (3-3) handed its neighborhood rival Brownstown Central (5-1), which had just risen to No. 1 in 2A, a 41-20 defeat. Evansville North (4-2) has a huge game with conference title implications this week at home vs. Vincennes Lincoln (5-1) after a 30-0 win over Evansville Mater Dei. Castle (3-3) fell to 4A powerhouse Reitz, 38-17 and faces a tough trip to Jasper.

Contact Jim Gordillo at jgordillo@heraldt.com and follow on X (Twitter) @JimGordillo.

This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: Here's another first for the Bloomington North football program