NECC Game of the Week: East Noble @ Angola

Tonight, it kicks off sectional play across the entire state, especially for all the local schools here in Northeast Indiana. Can you feel the air? The ice-cold breeze, the green leaves turning to autumn, and the seasons changing from the beautiful summer skies to the majestic organic fall. It is postseason football!

It’s win or go home as two old NEIAC members renew their rivalry as the 4-5 East Noble Knights make the 40-minute drive north onto I-69 to Hornets’ Field to take on the 6-3 Angola Hornets. In the head-to-head series, Angola owns a 13-10-1 record against East Noble. The Hornets are 7-5-1 all-time at home against East Noble, and Angola holds an all-time postseason home record of 10-16. This is Angola’s first postseason home game since they beat Northwood 27-26 to win their fourth and most recent sectional title.

SuperSam’s Sectional Storyline

• Angola is facing the injury bug at the worst time. Will Tyler Call and Andre Tagliaferri be able to play tonight?
• East Noble is in jeopardy of finishing with a losing record for the first time since 2001. Can the Knights’ defense get one big gutsy effort?

Keys to Winning

1. Contain the Run

When we look at the matchup in itself, the biggest talking point between these two teams is being able to stop the run. The Angola Hornets head into sectional play averaging 235.8 rushing yards and allowing just 141.9 rushing yards per game. The Pistol Motion offense is predicated to using the quick motion speed of the Angola Hornets using their backfield, and of course the quarterback has to be very athletic. Getting high quality football athletes at Angola has improved since the arrival of Andy Thomas as the Hornets’ head coach.

However, this is a team that has to commit to playing both ways, and so the depth of the Hornets is extremely vital to their success. Call and Tags combine for 1,412 rushing yards and 20 TDs. Ideally, you want at least one of these guys to play tonight because of their importance on both sides of the field. But if neither kid is able to play, it’ll have to come down to Gavin Willis and Ethan Miller to lead the backfield.

Defensively, Angola’s performed well all year, but it does seem like they started to lose some momentum with Garrett’s toughness and the extreme physicality of Eastside. Angola’s defense has given up over 212 yards rushing per game over the last two seasons. It is clear that stopping the run is critical against a young East Noble team.

Normally, the Knights come into past sectionals as big favorites to win these types of games and compete for a sectional crown. However, the 2022 Knights have been facing the inevitable truth: Inexperience finally caught up to them just enough to see them in a rare down season. Every great program has that one down season, but East Noble still has a chance to at least pull off an upset.

East Noble’s run game averages 158.6 yards per game, but that number has stepped up to 250 rushing yards over the last two weeks. It starts with the two-headed backfield of Tyson Reinbold and Dylan Krehl combining for 1,292 rushing yards and 10 TDs.

Past Knights’ offenses usually throw a modern spread offense with the likes of Andrew McCormmick and Bailey Parker being notbale QB’s that were able to find a Dylan Hunley or a Rowan Zolman or a Nick Munson type of player. Plus, this year’s offensive line is facing a retooling year after Chris Hood graduated last spring. This year team has experience with Zander Brazel throwing for 1,045 yards as their QB, but his weapons are very young. For the Knights to beat Angola, they got to pound the rock, not just anyway, but the EN way. East Noble is 3-0 when they run for over 200 yards.

On defense, it has faced some turnover as well with guys like Bryce Charles, Nolan Rhodes, Aidan Sprague (now wrestling at UIndy), Kainon Carico, Trayce Holliday, Ethan Nickles, and Tristan Ward. They graduated a TON of DAWGS on defense on top of losing their even BIGGER DAWGS that I just mentioned. With that, they will have to rely on Logan Hatton, Damon Bentley, Connor Leins, Dylan Krehl, Cody Biddle, Tyrin Parks, and Jacob Ramey to put up a MASTERFUL DEFENSIVE EFFORT!

The defense has faced its ups and downs as they are allowing 209.2 rushing yards per game, and while the Knights won 49-7 at Bellmont, the Knights still allowed Bellmont to run for 170 yards. So, you have to expect the Knights’ coaching staff, if they haven’t been already, to really challenge the defensive line to not just work their tails off but to also execute the scouting report.

East Noble cannot allow the Hornets to run all over them. It’s got to be old-school, ugly football. That means this is a game where the defense is stealing the show, and that means East Noble has to play intense football the way Amstutz’s defense is known for.

2. Move the Chains

Given the importance of this sectional game, the offenses have to be able to convert in any situation and keep the drive moving. That starts with great tackling and strong fundamentals. Against Bellmont, East Noble was 5-11 on 3rd downs and 1-1 on 4th downs. That execution has to continue being strong to put more pressure on the Angola defensive line to make plays.

For Angola, they are converting for 49.1% on third downs this season and 55.9% on fourth downs. Their defense has held opponents to just 32% on third downs and just eight successful fourth down conversions all season. Against Eastside, Angola was 4-7 on third downs, but the defense allowed Eastside to convert 7 of 15 from third downs. They are the difference between being able to get points and being able to manage the clock/field positioning.

3. Which Team Commits the Fewest Turnovers?

When we talk about postseason football, the team that makes the fewest mistakes usually wins games. This will decide the game, without a shadow of doubt. This season, Angola has committed 11 turnovers this season, with three of them coming in the last two games. Given the importance of Angola’s Pistol offense and the number of kids committing both ways, you can’t give teams like East Noble extra possessions because that’s when madness happens.

Speaking of sloppy football, I have been a little critical of East Noble’s ball protection at times this season, yet they have only committed seven turnovers this season. Since Week 4, Zander Brazel has only thrown one INT, but the Knights have had three lost fumbles over the last four weeks. It’s clear as day: Protect the football. If the Knights have trouble sustaining plays and get too sloppy, Angola is the wrong team to be doing this. This atmosphere up in Angola is very loud when they’re engaged, and the Hornets thrive on the defensive side of the ball.

Turnovers and silly mistakes are what amplify the importance of containing the run and sustaining offensive drives. Therefore, it is crucial for the O-Lines to do their jobs and move that bus!

Players to Watch

East Noble

Tyson Reinbold Junior Running Back

EN has to get the running game to light it up tonight, which requires a strong O-Line and some serious athletes from the backfield. East Noble is 2-1 when Reinbold is rushing for 100 yards, and I have to think he’s got to be the stallion that leads the way in the rushing department. If the Knights are able to get that run game going, that allows Zander to ease into the playing field and make smarter throws on offense. The one thing you can’t have in this situation is the offense going backwards, which can lead to Brazel and several others making uncharacteristic mistakes.

This is Reinbold’s postseason debut as a junior.

Angola

Jake Land Senior DE

Given the health situation with Angola, the Stingy Hornets’ defense has to showcased exceptional toughness and determination tonight against a resilient and energetic East Noble offense. Jake has 36.5 total tackles on the season, but he does lead the team in TFLs with 7, has 2 QB hurries, and a sack on the season.

Andre could potentially be a huge loss, so that means you will see guys like Jake Land, Jack Archbold, and Ethan Miller to step up. Archbold has 35 total tackles, 4 sacks, 3 QB hurries, 6 TFLs, 2 forced and recovered fumbles, and has forced a safety this season.

In the secondary, Ethan Miller is the guy to watch with 5 TFLS and 6 Pass breakups.

Conclusion

For years, when East Noble and Angola have reached championship level football, we have speculated the possibility of an EN-Angola postseason game. There is a rich history between these two schools beyond football, and it is an extremely competitive rivalry that never gets mentioned in football because they don’t meet often.

This is only a 40-min drive between these two schools and the fans always travel well among the two communities. Expect Hornets’ Field to be almost sold out to standing room only, because this place is about to be buzzing. Fans turning out with their blue and gold or their purple and gold apparel better make sure they come early because tonight is about to be a PARTY!