Week 1 of Indiana High School Football was a great start to the year with some huge wins like our own Giants and some tough loses to some top teams in the state.
Last week the Giants made a statement by going out and blowing away the #2 school in Ohio, Cincinnati Moeller. It was a very impressive win as the Giants beat Moeller on the road 49-28.
Quarterback Thomas Gotkowski, was 16-of-28 passing for 283 yards and ran the ball for 49 yards and a touchdown. Running-back Alijah Price rushed the ball for 141 yards, getting two touchdowns in the process.
Mark Zackery had some impressive plays on both sides of the ball, while on defense he went from endzone to endzone on a 99-yard touchdown fumble recovery. On the offensive side he caught for another big play of a 67-yard receiving touchdown.
The Giants come home for the next couple of weeks starting this week against the Avon Orioles.
Some surprises around Indiana were the three-time defending state champions, Center Grove who also went over to Ohio and took a tough loss to the two-time defending state champions of Ohio, St. Edwards. Hamilton Southeastern came back against the team that ended their undefeated season last year in semi-state, Carroll (Fort Wayne). HSE came out ready to get some payback by beating them 28-14.
One last big time game was the Fort Wayne Snider vs Warren Central game. Warren went into week 1 ranked in the top 10 in the state and 6A class of football but we’re shocked just as much as we were as Snider came in beating the Warriors at their places 42-20. After all, this is still only the first week of the season and as expected from the Giants, teams will only get better as the season goes on and Center Grove should be careful how they play this season.
There are many teams that can take that fourth straight title away from Center Grove and the Giants are definitely one of the few teams that can do it.