“I reminded our guys sometimes you gotta lose to win,” noted the Notre Dame football coach in his opening statement. “There’s (sic) lessons in losing that if you learn from them will help you be better prepared for the next opportunity that presents itself.”

Freeman spoke of everyone in the program taking ownership of the loss to the Cougars, which leaves the Irish at 6-1 on the season.

“What last week gave us the opportunity to do is ask ‘Do you really know what it means to own it’,” recalled Freeman. “That means there’s no ‘but” to the statement ‘I should have done this better’.  Coaches say ‘Man, I have should called something different.’ Head coach says ‘Man, we should have practiced this situation more.’ Player says “i should have done this better’ and that’s the end of the statement. It took maybe an extra day to make sure everybody in our program understood how important that was.”

That doesn’t mean the Irish are a shaken program, although they may be stirred right now to do greater things.

“I’ll never allow our program to lose confidence,” stated Freeman. “It’s my job to make sure they understand how good they truly are and how much better we could have played and have to play.”

Freeman was asked many questions about personnel decisions and strategies in the loss to the Cougars

On wide receiver rotation: “That becomes the flow of the game. In those toughest moments, you’re going to go with those guys you truly trust. That’s not to slight these other receivers. These guys are ascending, and we have to play them more.”

On Jonaz Walton only getting five carries: “We want to get Jonaz on the field more. In the first half, he was in at the end of the second series and the next series we went three and out. In the second half, the first series he was in was three-and-out, so that limits the opportunities he has.”

On a lack of aggression on defense: “We can’t let offenses talk us out of what we do defensively. ‘If they hit us on a manbeater, let’s go to zone.’ No, let’s play man better. ‘Hey, we’re playing zone and they hit us on an easy pass, let’s go to man’. No, let’s play zone better. I’m not saying do more. I’m saying continuously do what we do, but do it at a higher level.”

However, this week’s opponent, Navy, can be the kind of team that takes away an opponent’s aggressiveness.

“As you study their offense, they’re as explosive and putting up as many yards as any team we’ve seen,” Freeman says of the 2-5 Midshipmen option attack. It starts with (QB Jackson) Gutierrez. He’s a really good player, rus the ball hard, making real good decisions. Defensively, they’re as aggressive and exotic as we’ll see. They do a heckuva job stopping the run.”

The 97th meeting between Notre Dame and Navy will be played Saturday at high noon in Foxborough, Massachusetts. The game will be televised by ABC.

Sports Michiana’s Chuck Freeby and Angelo Di Carlo share more from Freeman’s press conference and preview the game Monday night at 7 on Notre Dame Federal Credit Union’s “Irish Football Fix”. The show airs locally on Pulse FM (92.1, 96.9, 103.1) and then can be found in podcast form on Spotify and Apple.

The post Philosopical Freeman reflects on BYU, looks to Navy appeared first on Sports Michiana.

Teams earn playoff points during the season based on wins and schedule, with 32 squads placed in each division (16 in 8-man divisions). Schools are then divided into eight-team regionals based on geography. Then, the field is seeded with the four teams with the highest amount of playoff points given home field.

Five area teams will have the benefit of home-field advantage for the first round, as St. Joseph, Lakeshore, Edwardsburg, Buchanan and Constantine all earned top-four seeds in their regionals

Niles, Berrien Springs, Cassopolis, Bridgman and Marcellus will all have to earn their tournament survival on the road.

Here are the pairings for area squads.

D3: Zeeland East (5-4) at St. Joseph (7-2), Niles (4-5) at Zeeland West (7-2)

D4: Vicksburg (7-2) at Edwardsburg (9-0), Hastings (7-2) at Lakeshore (8-1)

D5: Berrien Springs (8-1) at Lake Odessa Lakewood (8-1)

D6: Napoleon (8-1) at Buchanan (7-2)

D7: Saranac (7-2) at Constantine (8-1), Cassopolis (8-1) at Ravenna (7-2)

8-man D1: Bridgman (8-1) at Colon (8-1)

*-man D2: Marcellus (6-3) at Litchfield (8-1)

All games are schedule for Friday, October 30 at 7 pm.

The post MHSAA Football Pairings announced appeared first on Sports Michiana.

CROSS COUNTRY: At New Prairie, the Penn boys prevailed over Northridge to claim a regional cross country crown for the first time since 2019. Penn managed to run as a pack, as all five Kingsmen harriers finished between 14th and 20th in the field, led by senior Brody Lederer with a time of 16:15.56.

The Penn and Northridge girls are also headed to state as the two squads finished second and fifth, respectively. Penn’s Shreya Nayee was the top area finisher, placing third overall with a time of 18:08.51

VOLLEYBALL: Meanwhile, on the volleyball court, Penn made quick work of Chesterton, winning 25-22, 25-14, 25-16, to claim the 4A LaPorte Regional Championship. It’s the third consecutive regional title for the Kingsmen, who will face state power Fort Wayne Carroll in the opening game of next week’s Huntington North semistate.

A pair of NECC schools will also earned regional crowns at NorthWood. West Noble takes its first volleyball regional in school history, downing Marian, 25-21, 25-21, 25-18. The Chargers return to the Panther Pit next Saturday, meeting West Lafayette at 12:30 p.m.

Lakeland captured the 2A regional title, sweeping Boone Grove, 25-22, 25-23, 25-15.  The Lakers move on to the Peru semistate next Saturday, facing #1 Southwood in a high noon showdown.

SOCCER: The soccer season came to an end for two teams in the Sports Michiana coverage area in semistate action today. #10 Guerin upset 2nd-ranked Saint Joseph, 1-0, in the girls 2A semistate at Kokomo.

At Chesterton, Fort Wayne Carroll dominated Goshen in the first half and held on for a 2-0 win, ending the Red Hawks season at 17-4.

The post Penn’s two regional championships highlight prep Saturday appeared first on Sports Michiana.

Instead, assistant coach Craig Redman, who was the head coach at Adams from 2011-2015, is serving as the acting head coach.

Despite being on fall break last Thursday, John Adams players were summoned to a team meeting where they were informed of the change.

The 5-4 Eagles are preparing for their IHSAA tournament opener, as they will play host to Concord in a Class 5A sectional semifinal Friday night at School Field.

Hopes had been high on South Bend’s East Side, as the Eagles boast the best win-loss record of any team in the sectional field. John Adams has never won a football sectional.

Karczewski is in his fifth year as head football coach. The 2013 Adams alum has made steady progress in rebuilding the program, where he was a star quarterback for Redman.

The post Redman named “acting head coach” for Adams football appeared first on Sports Michiana.

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The exception to that occurred at Sharpe Stadium where Jimtown avenged a regular-season loss to Tippecanoe Valley, as the Jimmies edged the Vikings, 15-14. The Jimmies deflected a Viking field goal attempt with nine seconds remaining to down the Indiana Northern State Conference champs and move into next week’s semifinals at West Noble.

The other close game was in class 1A, as Caston survived a challenge from Madison-Grant, winning 23-22. The Comets defense stuffed the Argylls on a key 4th-and-2 late in the game to secure the win.

The area’s three ranked teams that were in action all cruised. 4A #6 Northridge smashed Mishawaka, 57-26, as quarterback Jake Scholl ran for four touchdowns and threw for two more. 4A #9 Saint Joseph blanked Riley, 38-0. Northridge and Saint Joseph collide next week in a sectional semifinal on Sports Michiana.

Also 1A, #4 North Judson walloped Triton, 62-7.

In Michigan, Edwardsburg completed its first perfect regular season since 2021 with a 48-18 win at Niles.

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

The post McKinnies Realty “Around the Area” high school football scoreboard appeared first on Sports Michiana.

The post WATCH REPLAY: NorthWood pulls away in 2nd half to oust Plymouth appeared first on Sports Michiana.

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Anne joined us from Rome where she’s been covering Pope Leo’s recent surgery and cancer diagnosis. She explains what it’s like to cover an American Pope and how she got started as NBC’s ‘beat reporter’ for the Catholic Church.

Anne also discusses her love for Notre Dame and what it’s like when she gets to cover the Irish in her reporting, like she recently did with a story on Notre Dame wide receivers and their NFL dads.

Anne got her start in the TV business at WNDU and she shares some stories about Jeff Jeffers and Maureen McFadden as well.

Our Focus on Faith interviews are presented by Vince and Pat Turner.

The post Interview with Notre Dame alum Anne Thompson of NBC News appeared first on Sports Michiana.

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In segment 1, we look at why the Irish suddenly can’t win a top 10 game anymore under Marcus Freeman, the controversial final play, CJ Carr’s mishaps and Notre Dame’s red zone failures.

In segment 2, we turn our attention to the defense and why the highly regarded Irish struggled so greatly against Bear Bachmeier and the Cougars.

In segment 3, it’s our Focus on Faith interview with Notre Dame alum and long time NBC News reporter Anne Thompson.

In segment 4, we look at the national landscape and our thoughts on where Notre Dame stands in the playoff picture.

The post Podcast: What has happened to Notre Dame in Big Games under Marcus Freeman? appeared first on Sports Michiana.