By Quintin Harlan, Herald Bulletin Sports Writer
There are two local high school football teams still standing, and in a surprise to no one, they’re the consensus underdogs in their respective regional games tonight.
The Lapel Bulldogs (10-2) travel to Indianapolis Northwest for their game against the Class A No. 1 Indianapolis Cardinal Ritter (12-0).
Madison-Grant (7-5) will play its third straight home playoff game when it welcomes Class 2A No. 9 Jimtown (10-2) to Argyll Field.
Lapel’s kickoff with Ritter is slated for 7 p.m. The Madison-Grant vs. Jimtown contest will get under way at 7:30 p.m.
At Lapel, a community pep session began with a deal being honored as Bulldogs coach Nate Andrews kept a promise to his players and had his head shaved at the beginning of Thursday evening’s festivities.
During the evening, some of his players were asked “which of the Seven Dwarfs do you think is most like coach Andrews?”
For the record, the four teams came up Doc, Grumpy and Dopey (twice). The winner, based on crowd response, was Doc.
“It’s been a big week for a lot of reasons,” Andrews said. “First, we’re excited that we won the sectional. There’s eight teams left in the state and we’re one of them.
“It doesn’t happen very often and especially around here. I want to make sure we take in the environment but also press forward and learn from the experience.”
“It’s been awesome; the support all year from the community has been great,” said Lapel quarterback Ryan Scott. “We know we have to play our best game (to win), and we’re looking forward to it. We just have to believe and play our game.”
At Madison-Grant, the Argylls are enjoying one of the rarest things that any team can in the IHSAA football playoffs: a third straight home game.
Add to the fact that Jimtown is making a three-hour drive from Elkhart to Fairmount, and this becomes even better news for Argylls fans.
“That’s huge and great for us; we’re glad we’re not driving three hours,” said M-G coach Beau Engle. “We think it’s going to be a huge crowd (tonight). Jimtown said they’re going to bring a good crowd. We’ve added some temporary bleachers and some port-a-pots.”
The Bulldogs’ match with the undefeated Raiders will pit a Lapel squad that scores 29.8 on offense and gives up 17 on defense against the Raiders, scoring nearly 40 points a night (39.6) and giving up under 10 points per contest (9.4).
“They run the ball very well,” said Andrews of Ritter. “We’re looking at it as a challenge. When we looked at the film, they look solid all the way around, and they got some playmakers and that’s the challenge that lies ahead of us.”
For Madison-Grant, the area of concern for Engle is the same as always this season.
“I still want to see us play well on defense,” Engle said. “They want to run the football. They have two good backs and a good offensive line, and they play every snap like it’ll be their last.”
