Two teams seem to clearly look like the best in the NIC-10. That’s normal. What is unusual is trying to sort out who is next-best. This may be the biggest, messiest jumble of middle-class teams in NIC-10 football in years.
Harlem at Guilford on Friday is the key game this week that will help establish that eventual order.
“That’s the way we see it,” Harlem coach Jim Morrow said. “There are a lot of good teams after Hononegah and (Belvidere) North that are going to be battling it out for records to make us playoff eligible.”
“I totally agree,” Guilford coach Tony Capriotti said. “Even the teams you think are going to be in the lower part of the conference, they are going to have a say in it, too. Jefferson might be the best 0-4 team I’ve ever seen.”
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And Harlem might be the most unproven 4-0 team. The Huskies moved back into a tie with North for first place Tuesday when Hononegah had to forfeit its 38-14 win over Harlem two weeks ago because of an ineligible player. The IHSA also placed Hononegah on probation for the remainder of the school year.
“I take full responsibility for the oversight that led to this sanction,” Hononegah athletic director Andrew Walter said in a news release. “This athletic transfer's timing and particular circumstances led to an oversight in my office’s protocols to ensure the student’s eligibility.”
Harlem’s other three wins are against the league’s three 0-4 teams. Guilford (2-2) has also only beaten winless teams, while losing 29-0 to North and 35-0 last week to Hononegah.
Still, both teams have shown flashes — in completely opposite ways. Harlem has used big plays all year. Against Hononegah, the Huskies scored on a 104-yard interception return by Jackson Cook and a 66-yard screen pass to star running back Jahmani Muhammad. Last week, a 64-yard bomb from Nate Johnson to Cook jump-started a fourth-quarter rally from two scores down to beat Jefferson.
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“Jim Morrow, he knows when to call the big-shot play,” Capriotti said. “And that’s been a thorn in our side all year, regardless of who is in front of us. When we played Belvidere North, they had 80 percent of their offense on five plays. When we played Belvidere, they had minus-11 yards rushing and the game was 14-7 at the half because of a 22-yard pass on a bubble screen when we missed a tackle on third-and-10. We’ve given up big plays when a guy has gotten out of position.”
While Harlem’s strength, and Guilford’s weakness, is big plays, the opposite is true of grinding out long drives.
“If we are operating right, we should be a very physical, in-your-face running team,” Capriotti said. “That’s a big part of us going forward.”
That’s who Harlem wants to be on offense — and sometimes is. But Harlem has struggled mightily defending the run. Jefferson’s LaShawn Gathright ran for 330 yards against the Huskies last week, third-most in NIC-10 history. Hononegah also ran at will against Harlem.
“We definitely got exposed,” Morrow said. “We weren’t very physical. That’s a focus of ours this week. Our physicality needs to pick up.
“We’ve also got to take better care of the football. We’re averaging two to three turnovers a game. Hopefully, we can eliminate those and give ourselves a chance.”
Suddenly, Harlem again has a chance to win only its third NIC-10 football title in history. But this game is just as big for Guilford. It is a chance for both teams to begin to define who they are.
“The big message for us,” Guilford’s Capriotti said, “is, ‘Live in the moment.’ That doesn’t mean smiling and waving at the stands and enjoying the second. Living in the moment is no matter what is happening around me, I am mentally and physically ready to dominate the next play.”
Matt Trowbridge is a Rockford Register Star sports reporter. Email him at mtrowbridge@rrstar.com. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter, at @MattTrowbridge.
This article originally appeared on Rockford Register Star: Hononegah forfeit puts Harlem back in first, but Huskies need to be more physical
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