ANDY AMEY: Conference week? Or hang-in-there week?

This weekend is the start of the high school football conference season for every team but two in the Wabash Valley. Northview got its Western Indiana Conference season off to a good start last week (the Knights are unbeaten in the WIC the last two years, by the way) and North Central ran into a North Daviess team that was also perfect in 2024 and 2025 in the Southwest Conference. Otherwise there are conference openers aplenty around the Valley, with the Wabash River Conference and the Little Illini Conference teams playing nothing but conference contests the rest of the regular season. This is also a week, maybe earlier than usual this season, when morale can be as important — or more so — as execution for some teams. Seven teams in the Valley remain winless, which isn't necessarily unusual. But at least six of them play teams in the next three days that would appear to be, on paper, among the best they'll face all season (you'll probably be able to guess the outlier). I'm not familiar with the situations of all seven, but I know a little about Terre Haute North and West Vigo. North might be the youngest team in the state, if it weren't for West Vigo. The future for both teams is bright. If the players survive. That's where the morale comes in. Patriots and Vikings — and the other winless teams, for that matter — still need to be having fun and playing as hard and as tough as possible, no matter who they're playing and/or what the score is. If they don't, they'll certainly get beat. And they're a lot more likely to get hurt. The turnaround for both young teams is going to happen if they stay the course. And if they stay, period. I I I On the other side of the coin are Valley teams favored to play bully-ball again this week. Go Panthers! Go Bulldogs! Thursday • Palestine-Hutsonville (0-2) at Kincaid (South Fork) (2-0) — Things don't get any easier for the Pioneers, who still have two weeks to go before they face a team that's lost a game in 2026. Friday • Terre Haute North (0-2) at Bloomington South (2-0) — The Patriots had encouraging offensive numbers despite their loss last week and moved the ball against Bloomington South last season too. Stopping the Panthers, probably the best team North has faced so far, could be the problem. • Terre Haute South (1-1, 0-0) at Harrison (West Lafayette) (1-1, 0-0) — It's possible that this is the most important game in the Sagamore Conference this fall and a winnable one for the Braves, if they can get a little better at turning yardage into points. • Vincennes Lincoln (1-1, 0-1) at West Vigo (0-2, 0-0) — The visiting Alices have a big win and a bigger loss in their two games so far. The Vikings need to draw some inspiration from playing their home opener. • Sullivan (2-0, 0-0) at Northview (2-0, 1-0) — Game of the Week? It certainly could be in the top-heavy WIC. • Fountain Central (0-2, 0-0) at Riverton Parke (2-0, 0-0) — The Panthers don't even have wily Herb King to worry about anymore (he's now at Benton Central) so they'll be heavily favored in their WRC opener. • South Vermillion (1-1, 0-0) at Parke Heritage (1-1, 0-0) — This one could be fun, featuring two teams greatly improved over last season. • North Vermillon (0-2, 0-0) at Covington (1-1, 0-0) — The Trojans' win, as one-sided as it was, doesn't change the narrative for this game: a toss-up. • Linton (0-2) at Indianapolis Lutheran (2-0) — The last thing the Miners want is for anybody to feel sorry for them. But the Saints will surely be reminded often this week of the last time they entertained Linton. • Park Tudor (1-1) at North Central (1-1) — The Thunderbirds probably have a better strength-of-schedule number than the visiting Panthers, so this one could go a lot of different ways. • Marshall (1-1, 0-0) at Paris (2-0, 0-0) — The Lions won at home last season against the Tigers but it was close. And it's probably not too early to mention postseason implications for both. • Mt. Carmel (2-0, 0-0) at Robinson (1-1, 0-0) — The Golden Aces won big at home last year, so the Maroons would love to return the favor. • Casey (1-1, 0-0) at Newton (1-1, 0-0) — A good test for the visiting Warriors, whose season-ending goals haven't changed although their roster has. • Oblong (0-2) at Metro East Lutheran (1-0) — The host Knights scored more points in their first game than the Panthers have given up in two games. Saturday • Dugger Union (2-0) at Waldron (0-2) — The Bulldog subs have played a lot of minutes so far, even though both their games were shortened by running clocks. • Martinsville (0-2) at Pawnee (2-0) — Like Palestine-Hutsonville, the Bluestreaks still haven't played a team that's lost a game this season. Andy Amey can be reached at andy.amey@tribstar.com or by mail at P.O. Box 149, Terre Haute, IN, 47808.