Indians victory secures NIC-10 leadership seat

By Christopher Johnson

REPORTER

With a third of the 2021 fall sports campaign now complete, the Hononegah Indians know their 3-0 start to the NIC-10 season is good enough for at least a share of the title “best of class.”

Air attacks were a constant form of battle management planning for the front-running Indians. Paired with a swarming defense, former co-conference leading Freeport lost control of its position with the front-runners one first down at a time and ended up losing the game 49-24.

The Indians controlled how much time they would take before scoring plays started filling the playbook. The defense also began dictating when they would make their presence known.

As the lead grew, Hononegah began seeing Freeport get a few things moving in the right direction and subsequently, saw a couple scores filter onto the scorebook.

Before the fourth quarter was decided, athletes began looking to the week ahead. For the Indians that means a showdown with the suddenly threatening Rockford East E-Rabs.

The E-Rabs secured their second win of the season on Friday night as they shut down the Auburn Knights offense 26-8. East stands a full game behind undefeated Hononegah and conference co-leader Belvidere North.

The Blue Thunder toppled the Jefferson J-Hawks in the week three match to remain undefeated and on pace with the Hononegah Indians.

Following this Friday night’s road trip east to East, Hononegah shifts its attention west and into the sites of Rockford Boylan in what could be a playoff making opportunity for the Indians.

A 5-0 start to the 2021 fall, given the strength of schedule played and that yet to come, would seem to indicate points, if nothing more, could assure their post-season placement.

In week six, the challenge for late-season control of the NIC-10 shows up and with it , Belvidere North.

One week after the NIC-10’s “game of the week,” Hononegah gets a bit of a break on the schedule as they play host to the Belvidere Bucs.

With the 2021 schedule closing against two teams that might not be considering post-season participation this time around, Auburn and Jefferson, Hononegah’s chance to get a favorable starting position in late October seems highly probable.

The Lady Indians are also looking at having a lot of things going well so far this season. Their 6-1 mark helps them stay in contention for the lead in the NIC-10, as they venture early into the mid-season.

Hononegah has won six straight matches, heading into the Tuesday, Sept 14 get together at Freeport.

The success streak began on Wednesday, Aug. 25, as the Lady Indians toppled Rockford Lutheran two games to one. They followed it up with a similar 2-1 win over Belvidere.

Over the past week they have taken down Jefferson, Harlem and Guilford by match scores of 2-0.

Honoengah plays through the Rockford East Lady E-Rabs on Thursday night and will have to deal with the Boylan Lady Titans to open next week’s schedule of games on Tuesday, Sept. 21.

NIC-10 control heading into the third week of September was in the hands of the Belvidere North Lady Blue Thunder. They are unscathed this season.

Their 6-0 mark and head-to-head win over second place Hononegah has them pacing the way in the NIC-10 early going.