Take nothing for granted.

This past week the Wawasee community lost two young men in Dakota Singer and Dimitri Kaplanis who were killed in a car wreck early Sunday morning. Both were Wawasee graduates and the loss of them has hit the community hard. I didn’t know Dakota, but I know how the loss of him has affected many in my home community.

I played football with Dimitri my senior year at Wawasee. A mutual friend told me what had happened and I could only hope that she was trying to play off some really bad joke. Some of my best friends knew Dimitri very well, much better than I ever did. This hit them hard, very hard.

“Meat” was a great guy, one of the best. Maybe it’s cliché to say that now, I don’t know and I don’t really care, facts are facts. Meat was a noticeable personality on the gridiron as a freshman, you could tell he was going to be a good representative for the program early on. He was a confident guy as a freshman and that never left him. He carried himself well, made you laugh and I never had a dull conversation with him in the seven years that I knew him, I’d be surprised if anybody ever did.

Meat was great at sports, but he was even better at cracking jokes. The majority of conversations between the two of us started with him walking up and making a joke about whether or not I’d put any weight on. Or if I wanted to wrestle/race/fight him just for fun. He’d break the ice, flash a smile and I’d throw a jab back at him. That was probably 90-percent of our conversations. It was simple and entertaining, but that was Meat. He was simple and his personality was always entertaining.

It’s easy for me to sit here and talk about what made Dimitri a great person. It’s not easy to deal with an unexpected loss of a close friend or loved one

I decided to share a little bit about Dimitri today to make sure people that didn’t know him were aware of how much joy he could bring into someone’s life. I did not know him as well as many of my friends. They were much closer and are taking this loss much harder.

I want to send out my deepest condolences to the families and friends of Dimitri and Dakota. The community mourns your loss by your side.

As this year draws to a close and a new one is soon to begin I hope we can all make an effort to appreciate those in our life a little more. It’s easy to take things for granted and I do it far too often. Make an effort to tell your family and friends how much they mean to you when you get the chance, don’t take it for granted.

I also want to offer thoughts and prayers for Warsaw head football coach Phil Jensen who is recovering from a nasty fall he took this past week.

Finally, a big shout out to a former football coach of mine, Tim Nelson, who has decided to return to coaching next season for Calhoun High School in Illinois. Coach Nelson has been winning his battle with cancer over the past few years and decided to not let it take his passion from him. This guy was an absolute pain to play for, he worked your butt off but you were always better because of it. Congrats to him and the boys of Calhoun.

Every one of our local hoops teams gets picked this week, let’s get to it.

Last Week: 4-1
Overall: 63-37

Girls Basketball 12/11-12/12

Wawasee (2-6, 0-1) at Goshen (8-1, 1-0), 12/11 7:30 p.m.
The Scoop: It’s another hot start for Goshen as the Redskins (say it while you still can) roll into Friday’s NLC game with an 8-1 overall record. This has, for the most part, been a close game the past few seasons. Wawasee brings in a young team (two seniors) that just hung with a good Northridge team for three and a half quarters. The Lady Warriors enter at 2-6 but have definitely shown signs of being much better than that so far. Wawasee’s issue has been finishing games.
This game should be low scoring and should come down to which team can make baskets. I look for a more experienced Redskins team to pull out a tight game here.
Nick’s Pick: Goshen 46, Wawasee 40.

No. 8 Tippecanoe Valley (8-1, 2-0) at North Miami (5-3, 2-1), 12/11 7:45 p.m.
The Scoop: Valley continued its great start to the season with an old fashioned whooping of Wabash in TRC play last week then picked up a big win over Triton on Wednesday. Meredith Brouyette had the hot hand against Triton and when she’s on it’s hard to stop.
North Miami has had a solid start to its season and has only played one other team that matches the talent of Valley, at least in my opinion. That team is Whitko and the ‘Cats stomped the Warriors 61-23.
I expect another big win for Valley here as they creep closer to a game with Whitko.
Nick’s Pick: Valley 56, N. Miami 28.

Manchester (4-6, 1-1) at No. 6 Whitko (8-1, 2-0), 12/11 7:45 p.m.
The Scoop: Speaking of the Wildcats…
Whitko is itching for that matchup with Valley but has two games before that showdown next Saturday. Whitko has been cruising through teams since its only loss against Huntington North. The Wildcats have two prolific scorers in Aly Reiff and Brianna Cumberland and a great supporting cast around both of them. There are tough games ahead for Whitko but I don’t see Manchester as much of a challenge tonight.
Nick’s Pick: Whitko 68, Manchester 40.

Lakeland Christian Academy (3-5) at South Bend Trinity (0-4), 12/12 2 p.m.
The Scoop: I got to see this LCA squad play once this season and it was a lot of fun. This team has a lot of energy and few playmakers. Trinity is coming off of a 35-21 loss to LaLumiere on Thursday night and have struggled to get to that 30-point threshold this season.
LCA will be led by Melissa Goss and Rachel Sand in this one as the Cougs get ready for back-to-back tournaments over the next two weeks.
Nick’s Pick: LCA 48, Trinity 32.

Caston (2-8, 0-0) at Triton (3-8, 2-0), 12/12 7:30 p.m.
The Scoop: After a rough start to the season Triton has found comfort in playing in the newly formed Hoosier North Conference. The Trojans have scored well above their season average (28 )in both conference wins and I expect to see the same Saturday night.
Caston has scored big in its two wins but those wins came against teams with a combined 1-14 record. Triton’s wins came against teams with a combined 12-15 record. I feel good about Triton getting a win here before a tough matchup with No. 1 Rochester on Wednesday.
Nick’s Pick: Triton 49, Caston 34.

Warsaw (0-9) at Plymouth (6-4), 12/12 7:30 p.m.
The Scoop: There is no good way twist Warsaw’s start to the 2015-16 season outside of talking about the ridiculously grueling schedule the Lady Tigers have. That schedule will certainly pay dividends down the road, but the experience needs to start paying off now. I’m probably not going out too far on a limb to call this game a must-win for Warsaw.
Everything can be turned around here for the Lady Tigers. A 1-0 start in the NLC can erase the negativity of an 0-9 non-conference record. Why? Because these games matter now. There is no trophy for a team that starts the season 9-0. You certainly never want this kind of start to a season, but it doesn’t matter if you don’t let it matter. I’ve seen Warsaw play twice this season and in each game it was very different teams I was watching. One looked lost and confused, the other looked determined.
This game will be decided on which team shows up for Warsaw. Turnovers will be an absolute killer, they can’t happen. I’m going to play the fool and pick Warsaw to steal its first win of the season.
Nick’s Pick: Warsaw 41, Plymouth 36.

Boys Basketball 12/11-12/12

Pioneer (1-2) at No. 10 Triton (3-2), 12/11 7:30 p.m.
The Scoop: I’m looking for the Triton boys team to find the same success that the girls team has found in the HNC. That starts tonight when Pioneer comes to town. These two teams last met in the regional in 2013. The Trojans left with a 53-41 victory and would eventually finish their season in the IHSAA State Finals.Triton’s two losses have come at the hands of two 3A teams (NorthWood and Plymouth), both of which should finish near the top of the NLC.
Pioneer has scored 50+ in each of its three games, so defense will be a key for the Trojans. I expect the home team to get the job done here behind a big night from Masen Yeo.
Nick’s Pick: Triton 58, Pioneer 42.

No. 17 Warsaw (5-0) at Lake Central (2-2), 12/11 8 p.m.
The Scoop: The Tigers took down defending 4A state champ Homestead last week (That was correctly predicted here) and has picked up wins over Huntington North and Manchester since then.
This will be another tough game for the Orange and Black as LC has been a prominent team in 4A the past few seasons. I’ve never been to a game at LC, but I’m sure it will be a great environment and a tough one for the Tigers to play in. But, Warsaw fans have always traveled well and I’m sure the story will be the same tonight.
Warsaw has plenty of individual talent but makes a point of playing well as a team. All Tigers are playing great right now and I don’t see this team losing a game until at least mid-January.
Nick’s Pick: Warsaw 55, Lake Central 40.

Lakeland Christian Academy (0-4) at South Bend Trinity (3-1), 12/12 3:30 p.m.
The Scoop: LCA has been close in a few games this year but has yet to find a way to pull out a win. It took 22 games for the Cougars to find a way to win last season and while I don’t think that will be the case this year, I don’t see them getting a win on Saturday. Trinity has shown it can win games and has a win over a common opponent in Benton.
LCA’s offensive output is well ahead of where it was last year but there are still a few steps to take for this team.
Nick’s Pick: Trinity 58, LCA 43.

John Glenn (2-1)* at Tippecanoe Valley (1-3), 7:45 p.m.
The Scoop: It hard to get a feel for a team so early in the season. There are such small sample sizes to go on and who knows how good or bad teams really are at this point. Valley has no shown much on offense this year, but that could be a product of who the Vikings have been playing, I really don’t know.
Judging off of what we’ve seen so far the Vikings are going to win games when it holds opponents under 50 but will be hard pressed to come out on top in a high scoring affair.
Glenn comes in averaging 62 points per game and has held opponents to around 41. Valley is only producing 41 points per game and giving up closer to 50. Once this Valley team figures a few things out I will have an easier time picking this but right now I think there are too many question marks. If Valley comes out on top it will be from multiple scoring efforts, it can’t all be one guy.
Nick’s Pick: Glenn 56, Valley 45.
*Glenn plays Friday night

Wawasee (1-3) at Whitko (3-2), 7:45 p.m.
The Scoop: Wawasee and Valley are in similar boats. The Warriors struggle offensively and make their name off defense. Last week I picked Wawasee to beat Manchester but the Warriors offense never showed up and the Squires walked away with a 70-37 victory. Manchester was led by Chase Fierstos’ 26 points. Letting one scorer get hot will only get the rest of Whitko’s team going so Wawasee has to control Nate Walpole and that’s much easier said than done.
Whitko has to limit turnovers and control the paint. Actually, whatever team controls the paint should win. Both teams have shooters but both also lack a dominant presence inside. Both lack size in general. Walpole and River West will score, limiting the totals is the key. Wawasee does not have a “go-to” scorer but several guys have stepped up at times so far and sophomore Cayden Wegener is never afraid to take a shot. He can be dangerous if he starts to hit.
I’m looking for a very entertaining game here and it could really go either way. I’ll give the edge to Whitko since it gets to play at home and has the more proven scorers.
Nick’s Pick: Whitko 61, Wawasee 50.