Fort Wayne Playoff Preview: Week 11

We’re highlighting a few of the best playoff matchups that involve some of the teams we’ve covered all year. Bishop Luers @ Prairie Heights - 7 PM ET Bishop Luers is making the trip 45 minutes up north to face off against the Panthers. The Knights will be led by their typical offensive trio in [player_tooltip player_id="98092" first="Carson" last="Clark"], Sir Hale, Antwian Lake, and [player_tooltip player_id="175710" first="Brody" last="Glenn"]. Prairie Heights struggles to defend the passing game so I expect Clark to open it up early. The Panthers are led by their QB Luke Severe and RB Sam Levitz. The Prairie Heights Panthers are going to come into the game as huge underdogs and are going to need to steal a possession or 2 at some point. I don’t think the Knights have any issue Friday and will beat the Panthers. Homestead @ Carroll - 7 PM ET There are some big matchups every year in the first round of the playoffs and this is one of them. 2 of the best teams in the area landed each other and now they will duke it out on Friday. Homestead is led by their passing attack which Peyton Slaven leads. He’s going to need Isaac Barkes and Nathan Anderson to step up to match Carroll’s passing game on Friday. With [player_tooltip player_id="98016" first="Jeff" last="Becker"], Carroll can and will sling it all over the yard. It’s probably going to be a high-scoring shootout on Friday. Whoever makes the least amount of mistakes will win. I think Becker is the best player on the field so I think the Chargers get the job done at home. Northside @ Bishop Dwenger - 7 PM ET Northside has a tough matchup going into Bishop Dwenger. All season long the Legends have had an up and down season and now they’re heading to face the Saints, who are healthy, at home. [player_tooltip player_id="185247" first="Brashawn" last="Bassett"] of Northside is going to need to have a huge game. He’s able to run so he will also need to extend plays on the backend. Rodney Woods and Ryan Collins are going to be the key players he relies on. Bishop Dwenger is going to be ready to roll. Bohde Dickerson has that offense running on all cylinders. Sam Campbell and Kevin Masasu are going to have key roles on Friday. Northside will likely play 2-high forcing Dwenger to play it slow and steady. I think Dwenger takes care of business on Friday and moves to the next round. Concordia @ Norwell - 7 PM ET Sometimes teams draw a short straw and get a tough matchup. Concordia has an uphill battle to face for this week’s playoff matchup. Eli Mattox and Landon Kaschinske will be leading the Cadets into hostile territory looking for the upset. They have the offensive talent to score, they just need to put it all together on Friday. The offense has shown great flash all year. As for the Knights, Luke Graft and Lleyton Bailey will have them ready to go. They are 9-1 and at home Friday. I think they come out hot and stay hot all game. I expect Norwell to get the win here on Friday. Wayne @ Delta - 7:30 PM ET This might be the most intriguing matchup of the upcoming week. Wayne has found its offensive rhythm as of late and are going into Muncie confident. That offense runs through Shawn Collins and the things he’s able to do with the ball in his hands. If they get him going and get him the ball in open space he could create serious issues for Delta. Delta is led by Palmer Samuels and Abram Stitt. Those 2 are much more dynamic in the passing game so I’ll expect them to try opening it up. However, Wayne is decent against the pass and may force Delta to play the slow and steady game. I think this game comes down to the final minutes but I’m taking Delta to squeak out the win. Northrop @ Snider - 7 PM ET On paper, this game doesn’t look to be that interesting but Northrop always seems to give Snider fits. Roosevelt Norfleet III and Amarion Collins are going to need big games if they want to pull off the upset. These 2 make their offense go and if they are firing on all cylinders Northrop is a tough out. Snider has more confidence in QB [player_tooltip player_id="185238" first="Luke" last="Haupert"] than we can imagine. They also have Tyrese Brown and Langston Leavell who are an elite combo at RB. Once they get going Snider becomes ever harder to slow down on offense. That is when Haupert is at his best. Snider has more talent across the board and they are at home so I’m taking Snider to pull off the win and move forward.