Sep. 24—High school football enters the second half of its season this weekend, with highlight games including the resumption of a local rivalry, at least one more homecoming game, a possible conference clincher and an occasionally nasty neighborhood rivalry.
And if you see South Vermillion athletic director Tim Terry in a store this week, he’s probably looking for lightbulbs for his scoreboard.
Let the games begin.
—Northview (3-1) at Terre Haute South (0-5), 7 p.m. — The visiting Knights would like nothing better than to sweep the two Terre Haute schools this year, and bring a team that’s probably angry about letting last week’s game with Owen Valley get away. The Braves continue to improve but without an end-of-the-game reward — yet.
—West Vigo (1-2, 0-2 Western Indiana Conference Green) at South Putnam (4-1, 2-0), 7 p.m. — The Vikings still haven’t put a full game together, despite looking dangerous in two of the six halves they’ve played.
This would be a good week to do so, because the Eagles are pretty good.
—Sullivan (3-2, 0-1 WIC Gold) at Owen Valley (5-0, 3-0), 7 p.m. — The Golden Arrows will try to keep the Patriots from clinching a division championship and stay alive for a share of it themselves. Sullivan won 48-12 last year but — as Northview learned last week — this is a different Owen Valley team.
—Parke Heritage (3-2, 2-0 Wabash River Conference) at South Vermillion (2-3, 1-1), 7 p.m. — Has a scoreboard ever blown up from overuse? This game might test that theory because the Wolves and Wildcats haven’t had trouble scoring but also haven’t been particularly good preventing their opponents from doing the same. Over/under for combined passing yards? Opening line is 800.
—Cloverdale (0-4) at Riverton Parke (1-3), 7 p.m. — The Panthers are probably better than their record indicates. So far, the Clovers can’t say the same.
—Park Tudor (4-1) at North Central (0-4), 7 p.m. — It’s homecoming for the Thunderbirds. There have been quite a few seasons when the visiting Panthers were a desirable homecoming opponent, but 2021 may not be one of them.
—North Daviess (4-1) at Linton (5-0), 7 p.m. — The Cougars had a surprising opening-game loss but have won four straight since, so this could be interesting. There’s no love lost between the two teams.
—Columbus North (2-3, 1-0 Conference Indiana) at Terre Haute North (2-3, 1-2), 7:30 p.m. — If the Patriots are healthy, they could have a shot at ending a seven-year losing streak against the Bull Dogs. That’s a big if, however.
—-In Illinois:
—Paris (2-2) at Hillsboro (0-4), 7 p.m. — After getting a big win over Dugger last weekend, the Tigers should be favored again. The host Hilltoppers haven’t won in quite a while.
—Olney (2-2, 1-1 Little Illini Conference) at Marshall (0-4, 0-3), 8 p.m. — The Lions have a losing streak of their own to take care of, but the visitors have had some good moments this season.
—Robinson (2-2, 2-1 LIC) at Casey (2-2, 2-2), 8 p.m. — Two teams fighting to stay in the top half of the Little Illini Conference should have a barnburner.
And on Saturday:
—Martinsville (4-0) at South Fork (2-2), 2 p.m. — Can the winning streak continue? South Fork’s two losses were to teams the Bluestreaks have beaten decisively.
—Oblong (0-4) at Dugger Union (0-2), 7 p.m. — The first of two scheduled meetings this year between these two teams.