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BY VAL TSOUTSOURIS
Sports Editor, RTC
Wabash at Rochester, 7 p.m.
Rochester’s Ron Shaffer kicks off his fourth season as coach, and during his tenure, he has already had a chance to coach offensive linemen like Marshall Fishback, Hunter Shriver, Brady Beck and Xavier Vance.
Fishback, Shriver and Beck have graduated from the program while Vance starts his senior season tonight. Vance has made his way back from a torn ACL suffered against Lafayette Central Catholic in last year’s sectional semifinals.
A shot putter, he already made it back for track season in the spring.
The Indiana Football Digest has named Vance to its Class 2A Preseason All-State team. Shaffer said Vance, who is listed at 6-5 and 320 pounds, has “a chance to play at the next level” and aspires to play collegiately.
In addition to Fishback, Beck and Vance, other offensive linemen who have matriculated through the program include players like Austin Rogers, Eli Swango, Jesse Shriver and Peyton Young.
Shaffer, a 1991 North Miami grad who himself was an offensive lineman during his playing days, was asked about the key to developing linemen.
“You’ve got to have kids who are gritty, for one thing, and are willing to work hard,” Shaffer said. “And we push them. When we even talk to them in their postseason interviews, it’s like how hard do you want to be pushed? How good do you want to be? Are you willing to get out there and pay the price to be a good offensive lineman?
“There are times we go over there, and we have what we call a crash pad that people get tackled on. That thing is only about 10 inches tall, and we make our linemen dig down in and drive that thing around the field and get their noses down there and get dirty and scrape their knees across the ground. And then we go hit the sled, and then we hit each other. And then we go and do it again. We always preach you’ve got to be gritty, you’ve got to be tough, and you can’t get bored with repetition because we do the exact same things over and over and over again because we call the same plays over and over and over again. For us to get the same results, we have to continue to do that constantly.”
Tonight’s game features quarterbacks Haiden McWhirt of Wabash and Carson Paulik from Rochester. Both are first-team all-Three Rivers Conference baseball players – McWhirt is a catcher while Paulik is an infielder and pitcher. Paulik is a junior in his second season as the starting quarterback.
McWhirt did have 196 yards rushing as a running back last year, but this is his first career start at quarterback.
Rochester is 16-0 against Wabash since Wabash joined the TRC in 2006. That included a 56-7 win at Wabash last year.
This is Rochester’s only regular season opponent who is also in their sectional.
Wawasee at Tippecanoe Valley, 7 p.m.
Valley coach Stephen Moriarty told RTC that junior Jamison Phillips will start at quarterback. Phillips had been competing with sophomore Hunter Stage for the starting spot through the first two weeks of practice. Moriarty said he wanted to see them play in last week’s scrimmage against Fairfield before making a decision.
This is the fourth straight year that Valley is opening its season against Wawasee. Valley has won the three previous meetings by a combined 91-19 score.
Since the start of the 2021 season, Valley is 28-4 and Wawasee is 4-27.
Valley has won 17 consecutive regular season home games. They have not lost a regular season home game since a 21-18 loss to Peru on Sept. 4, 2020.
This marks Matt Thacker’s first game as Wawasee coach. He spent the previous six seasons as the coach at Fairfield.
Caston at Carroll (Flora), 7 p.m.
This marks the first time since 2016 that Caston has opened the season with an opponent other than West Central.
Caston opens their season with two straight games against sectional rivals. They host North White next Friday.
This is their first meeting since Carroll beat Caston 49-6 in last year’s sectional semifinals. Carroll is the three-time defending sectional champion.
This is the first time these teams have played each other in the regular season since 2014. Caston has not beaten Carroll since a 21-14 win on Sept. 14, 2012.
Pioneer at Lewis Cass, 7 p.m.
With the exception of the pandemic-marred season of 2021, these teams have opened the season against each other every year since 2007. Pioneer won last year’s season opener 29-22 in Royal Center.
Pioneer junior quarterback Micah Rans is both the team’s leading returning passer from last year (144 yards) and its leading returning rusher (331 yards). Pioneer lost 75 percent of its rushing production from last year due to graduation, including fullback Rylahn Toloza.
Lewis Cass senior running back Trevor Rowe rushed for 968 yards last season.
Attica at Culver, 7:30 p.m.
Culver has lost 10 consecutive regular season games. They have not won a regular season game since a 28-8 win over Pioneer on Oct. 7, 2022.
The Ramblers have lost 28 consecutive games. That is the longest active losing streak in the state. This marks the coaching debut for Attica’s Derek Dean.
This could be a good early barometer of Culver’s defense. Attica was shut out four times last season. Meanwhile, opponents scored 40 or more points 10 times in 11 games against Culver’s defense last year.
West Central at Winamac, 7 p.m.
Winamac is 13-1 in their last 14 meetings against West Central, including a 22-14 win last year in Francesville.
The 22 points that Winamac scored last season were the second-most points West Central allowed in any game last year. A key could be whether the West Central defense can contain Winamac running back Addison Allen.
Winamac held West Central to 59 yards rushing last year. All four West Central ball carriers in that game were seniors.
