Congratulations to the Warren Central Warriors football team upon achieving yet another state championship. Coach Jayson West led the Black and Gold to another undefeated season and then the class 6A championship with a 27-7 win over Carmel at Lucas Oil Stadium. USA Today ranks the team number 9 in the nation. Warren has also set a national record in that they are the first high school to have both an undefeated boys basketball and football team in the same calendar year. W-O-W!
Congrats to Purdue
Congratulations to coach Jeff Brohm and his Purdue Boilermaker Football squad on their defeat of the Indiana University Hoosier to keep the Old Oaken Bucket for a second year in a row. It also makes them bowl eligible. The Boilers finished 6-6, but were 5-3 in the Big Ten East, including their 49-20 thrashing of Ohio State, then ranked number 2 in the nation. Purdue finished 3rd in the Big Ten East division. Which post season bowl game they will play in has yet to be announced.
Congrats to the Colts
The Indianapolis Colts won their 5th game in a row over the Tennessee Titans at Lucas Oil Stadium last Sunday by handing the Titans a 27-24 loss on an Adam Viniteri field goal with literally 1 second left on the clock. Andrew Luck threw 3 touchdown passes for the 8th straight week to tight end Eric Ebron and one to tight end Jack Doyle. Andrew Luck has never lost to the Titans but they gave the Colts all they wanted, playing the Horseshoe tough all game. The Colts are now 6-5 for the season and #2 in the ALC South and are now definitely in the playoff hunt. The game saw an unusual ending in the first half. Luck threw an interception, then on the Titans play they fumbled. Luck threw a second interception to end the half all in the span of 14 seconds. In the game-winning drive in the 4th quarter, Luck escaped a sure sack to complete a 34 yard pass to wideout Chester Rogers which set up Automatic Adam’s game winning field goal.
Luck now has 31 touchdown passes for the season and is on track to set a personal high in 2018. Eric Ebron now has 11 touchdown catches which ties Dallas Clark’s old record for Colt tight ends. He has become Luck’s favorite red zone target and is the major free agent pick-up by GM Chris Ballard this season. On the down side, Jack Doyle suffered a kidney injury and is done for the season. His blocking and short yardage catching will be sorely missed. The Colts travel to Jacksonville next Sunday to take on the Jags.
Bell to the Colts in 2019?
Steeler Running Back Le’Veon Bell is one of the NFL’s great running backs. He is currently sitting out the 2018 season because of a contract dispute with his team, the Pittsburgh Steelers. The Steelers have uncovered a more-than-competent replacement in second year man James Conner. Conner is producing a Pro Bowl-worthy season for the Steelers which would certainly lessen their interest in meeting Bell’s request for a contract restructuring. The Steelers could let Bell walk.
Bell has filled his Twitter account with criticisms of the Steeler’s front office which has not endeared him to the home fans so he just might not return to the Steeler roster. Over the weekend Bell Twitted that it would make logical sense for him to join the Colts team in 2019 and that he and Andrew Luck could be a Super Bowl winning combination. The Colts also have $50 million in cap space which leads the NFL and could afford Bell’s contact demands. However, Chris Ballard has shown little interest in shelling out big bucks to expensive free agents, so he might take a pass on Bell next year. Bell and Luck in the same backfield is an intriguing thought, however.
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