I love this picture, it gives the impression that I haven’t gained weight in three years…

It was a 111-day break but I am finally back. This should be good news, but when I start making football picks it really just means that summer is over and I have no time to be on the lake.

Speaking of the lake, let’s start with Lake Wawasee. Earlier this summer I foolishly dove into the lake head first and lost my favorite sunglasses. Now, this happened in the vicinity of the Eli Lilly properties. I’m guessing it’s only about 15-25-feet deep there. I cannot stress enough how much I loved these sunglasses. They were yellow and I got them for free at a Colts game where I found them on the ground, true story. So, I am offering a $10 reward for the brave person that goes and dives into the lake to retrieve them. I will also put your picture online. Yes, you get $10 and become a celebrity. Think about it, that’s all I’m saying.

One more fun story from the summer, two weeks back I ran into a lady from Massachusetts that was visiting family.. This lady and I had the funniest conversation thanks to her accent and observations on the small town of Syracuse. She informed me that she had no idea there was so much life and activity going on in Indiana. She was impressed by the great lake life in the area but gave me one quote I will never forget.

“I just never knew there was so much to do in Indiana,” she said looking around at the town. “There is a lot of civilization. Look, right over there, rail road tracks.”

No, I’m not kidding. Of all the things to point out she chose the rail road tracks. So, congratulations to Syracuse for having the rail road crossing capable of wowing our friends from out east.

Fall sports have already started and we are going to have some big seasons from local athletes and teams this year. I think there will be some deep postseason runs coming for sure. This week high school football starts and I could not be happier. There is just something special about Friday nights and prep football. There is a certain smell, a certain feel and a special excitement that cannot be duplicated.

It’s week one, scrimmages tell me very little, this is stabbing in the dark at its best.

High School Football 8/21

Columbia City at Warsaw, 7 p.m.
The Scoop: Last year the Tigers debuted their spread offense in Columbia City and it ended in a 33-21 Eagle victory. Warsaw has had a nine games and an entire offense since that game to figure out the kinks and you better believe it will be a different story this time around.
I see this as a great opportunity for Warsaw to send a message to everyone in the area that this spread offense is going to hurt some people in 2015. With Michael Jensen slinging balls to Riley Rhoades and Tommy Hickerson I see the Tigers putting up some big numbers this season. But the real key to this game will be defense and the pass rush from Warsaw. I look for guys like Brock Riley, Drew Brock and Ross Armey to pressure CC’s Brock Snouffer and put pressure on an offense that has very little yardage returning.
So, to recap, Brock and Brock are going to help win the game by pressuring Brock. Get it? Got it? Good.
Nick’s Pick: Warsaw 30, Columbia City 7.

Cambridge City Lincoln at Whitko, 7 p.m.
The Scoop: For those of you asking, “Hey, Nick, where the heck is Cambridge City?” Well, I’m here to tell you that is not as far as you think, it’s farther. Cambridge City is south of I-70 on U.S. 40. The town celebrates Canal Days in early September. So, you better believe I am excited to go down for Whitko’s game next August.
Whitko lost a big chunk of its offensive production with the graduation of Tanner Hughes and a lot of defensive contributors, but the Wildcats return some key players on both sides of the ball starting at QB with Garrett Elder. The Wildcats plan to spread the field a little more this season, but will still work out of a triple option base offense. Whitko returns four starters on the offensive line and I think that will be huge in this opening game to help control tempo. Lincoln also returns several players from a team that finished 2-8. Not having to make a long road trip certainly helps my pick in this game. I look for a low-scoring affair with a big fourth quarter touchdown from Gavin Powell.
Nick’s Pick: Whitko 16, Cambridge City Lincoln 7.

Caston at Triton, 7 p.m.
The Scoop: Triton had a shake up on its staff earlier this summer as Ron Brown took over as head coach with the departure of John Johns (forever one of the coolest coach names) and I think this will be a great hire for Triton in the long run. Brown has been at the head of a very successful Trojan wrestling program and I look for that success to find the gridiron sooner rather than later. Caston is also breaking in a new coach in Brady Jones…who also happens to be the head wrestling coach. That means we have to make this a rivalry, “Triton v. Caston: The Wrasslin Wrangle” (patent pending).
The first annual Wrasslin Wrangle will go in favor of the home team. Triton lost some key pieces but returns studs like Malachi Greene and Jeremy Jones. I’m leaning on a big game from Jones here to ring in the new era of Trojans football.
Nick’s Pick: Triton 27, Caston 12.

Plymouth at Bremen, 7 p.m.
The Scoop: I chose to pick this game this week to shed some light on the Plymouth football team. I am picking the Rockies as my preseason Northern Lakes Conference champion. This should surprise almost nobody as PHS is currently ranked No. 2 in the state 4A polls. But I just wanted to be on record that I picked them to win the NLC.
Bremen enters the game ranked No. 5 in the polls for class 2A, that makes this matchup sound intriguing, but it’s not. Plymouth has not lost to Bremen since 1988, when the Lions were still in the NLC. To give you an idea of how weird of a season that was for the Rockies: Plymouth lost that game 6-2 to Bremen. That loss was preceded, respectively, by a 7-0 loss to Northridge and 7-0 win against Warsaw. After falling 6-2 to Bremen the Rockies turned around and lost 7-0 to Wawasee.
To recap, Plymouth played four consecutive games, went 1-3 in those games and were outscored 20-9. That’s gotta be close to the weirdest stretch of football in PHS history.
Anyway, I’ve got the Rockies rolling here.
Nick’s Pick: Plymouth 42, Bremen 13.

Jimtown at NorthWood, 7 p.m.
The Scoop: Sometimes in life we make bad decisions. My bad decision was befriending my coworker Keith Knepp. Keith approached me earlier this week and demand that I pick the Jimtown-NorthWood game because he already had the final score predicted. He badgered me in person, sent me an email and then badgered me in person some more. So, I finally caved, but mainly because Keith has the best candy in the office.
I did not read up on these two teams because I had not planned on picking this game so I won’t try to make something up here. Instead I will just give you Keith’s guaranteed, sure-fire, ne’er-do-wrong pick followed by my pick that will completely refute his.
Keith’s Pick: NorthWood 21, Jimtown 13.
Nick’s Pick: Jimtown 14, NorthWood 10.

Griffith at Wawasee, 7:30 p.m.
The Scoop: Griffith is coming off of its worst season since before Japan bombed Pearl Harbor, that was a long time ago. The Panthers will certainly be looking to prove something in week one but will struggled after graduating their top leading rushers. Wawasee is in a similar boat since the Warriors graduated virtually all of their offensive producers from 2014. The Warriors are also implementing a new offense this season. This game is the biggest coin flip of them all for week one.
Griffith brings a small, quick lineup to the table while Wawasee will rely more on its size than its speed. Figuring out how to handle a smaller, quicker team early on might do wonders for the Warriors down the road against teams such as Warsaw, Elkhart Memorial and Concord. But for now Wawasee has to focus on getting comfortable in its new offense and protecting the football. I can’t say what the Warriors offense will bring to the table in 2015 but I do like the looks of their defense with playmakers such as Stephen Possell, Austin Pearish and newcomer AJ Villarreal.
Wawasee traditionally does well out of conference so I’ll give the Warriors the benefit of the doubt before its week three matchup with Northridge.
Nick’s Pick: Wawasee 23, Griffith 14.

Tippecanoe Valley at Culver Military Academy, 7:30 p.m.
The Scoop: Hey, Vikings, you remember CMA, right? This is the team that punched you in the mouth to start last season 36-13 then ripped out your hearts in the opening round of the sectional with a 27-26 win. If that doesn’t serve as motivation to go out and kick some serious butt then I don’t know what will.
Valley has a real opportunity to get things going in week one against a CMA squad that graduated a large number of impact players. Valley returns a good amount of its key players and I feel this can be a great coming out party for them as well as new head coach Darin Holsopple. I’m calling two scores for Garrett Bell in a close game down in Culver.
Nick’s Pick: Tippecanoe Valley 21, CMA 17.