After a journey that started in weight rooms in January, a chilly and rainy November night resulted in hardware being hoisted around Michiana.

Football sectional and district championship games were played on both sides of the state line, with some familiar teams adding to their trophy cases.

In our Sports Michiana “Game of the Week”, Penn captured its 28th sectional championship with an impressive 48-7 win over Elkhart. Landon Hall threw for 203 yards and three touchdowns, two of them to Miami of Ohio commit Buddy Hurley, who snared five passes for 123 yards. Pete Riordan’s Kingsmen will visit Crown Point in next week’s 6A regional.

In 5A, a pair of Northern Lakes Conference teams picked up trophies. Warsaw’s defense held strong and the Tigers rallied to beat Fort Wayne Snider, 14-3. Bart Curtis’ squad moves on to visit Lafayette Jeff in next week’s regional.  Meanwhile, Concord manhandled LaPorte, 38-14, picking up a sectional trophy of its own. Craig Koehler’s Minutemen will entertain Chesterton next Friday at Jake Field.

The turnaround story of the year continues in Class 4A, as Northridge ran its record to 12-0 with a 43-21 triumph over county rival NorthWood. Jake Scholl threw for three touchdowns and ran for two more to lead the Raiders into a regional matchup with Hobart next Friday.

North Judson represents the area in 1A after the Blue Jays ended West Central’s season with a 40-8 victory. Brett Lambert’s Blue Jays visit Clinton Prairie in the regional next week.

Here’s the full McKinnies Realty “Around the Area” scoreboard for the Sports Michiana coverage area