Northview shuts out Terre Haute North to open 2026 season | Brazil Times
Northview kicked off the high school football season at Terre Haute North on Friday night and dominated in every way.
The Class 4A No. 17-ranked Knights pitched a shutout on defense while lighting up the scoreboard on offense, which culminated in a 46-0 win.
Even better, at least from a coach’s perspective? Northview head coach Mark Raetz said there were still areas that could be cleaned up, showing the potential this year’s group has in them.
“There were a couple of breakdowns – they got a couple of pop-out runs and hit a bubble screen that went for a big game – but overall, I felt like our guys executed pretty well tonight,” said Raetz.
Northview’s offense featured a multitude of new faces in starting roles on Friday.
It hummed against the Patriots, moving the ball down the field with consistency.
Northview scored – touchdown or field goal – on its first six possessions and six of its seven possessions in totality. Quarterback Cooper Schimmel, who was making his first career varsity start under center, looked the part, completing five of his eight passes for 112 yards and three touchdowns – a 24-yard pass to Jake Raetz who also had an 11-yard touchdown run; an 11-yard pass to Bryer McCluskey who also had a 33-yard punt return for a touchdown; and a 38-yard pass to Elijah McBride – while DeMarius McLawyer ran for 97 yards and one touchdown and kicker Luke Whitman booted a 29-yard field goal and five extra points.
“We ran the ball well at times tonight and we threw the ball well at times tonight. When [Terre Haute North] started to use more blitzes, we struggled a little bit early on. They came out in a different defense than we saw in the jamboree, but we knew they’d throw some kind of wrinkle at us. Our guys adjusted to it pretty well,” Raetz said of the offense.
“We emphasized taking what the defense gave us. We feel really good about all of our guys on offense. We know they can make big plays. We don’t want to force-feed one guy. We want to take what the defense gives us. Cooper did a good job with that.”
And as good as the offense was, the defense held up its end as well.
Northview contained the Patriot offensive attack to 189 total yards – 62 of which came on the final drive of the game after the Knights removed the varsity starters – while forcing four turnovers.
Terre Haute North moved the ball well on its opening drive, which saw the hosts reach the Northview 40-yard line before stalling out and turning it over on downs. After that? North snapped the ball in Northview territory 11 more times – eight of which came on the last drive of the game.
“It’s always nice [to shut out the opposing team], but it’s even nicer to get a win,” said Raetz.
The win was a great start to the 2026 season, Raetz told his team afterwards. But waiting for them next week is Vincennes Lincoln, a team that upset Class 5A No. 13 Terre Haute South on Friday.
Northview understands it will need to elevate its level of play to be prepared for the Alices, and with another good week of practice, that’s what Raetz anticipates from his group.
“Things are going to get tougher as we go along this year. Vincennes Lincoln is going to be a tough game for us next week,” said Raetz.
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Northview 46, Terre Haute North 0
Northview 15 17 14 0 — 46
TH North 0 0 0 0 — 0
Nv — Raetz 11 run (McLawyer run), 7:08 1Q
Nv — McCluskey 11 pass from C.Schimmel (Whitman kick), 6:18 1Q
Nv — Raetz 24 pass from C.Schimmel (Whitman kick), 11:12 2Q
Nv — McBride 38 pass from C.Schimmel (Whitman kick), 6:24 2Q
Nv — Whitman 29 kick, :50.7 2Q
Nv — McLawyer 17 run (Whitman kick), 10:03 3Q
Nv — McCluskey 33 punt return (Whitman kick), 5:45 3Q
Nv THN
First downs 4 9
Rushes-yards 15-136 35-116
Passing 112 73
Comp-Att-Int 5-8-0 6-17-3
Return yards 111 47
Punts-avg. 1-35.0 3-20.3
Fumbles-lost 1-1 3-1
Penalties-yards 4-45 3-21
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
Rushing — Northview, C.Schimmel 3-28, McLawyer 7-93, Raetz 1-11, Stewart 2-4, Brewer 1-1, Killion 1-(-1). Terre Haute North, Loftson 24-73, Owens 3-15, Maina 2-9, Millington 6-19.
Passing — Northview, C.Schimmel 5-8-3 112. Terre Haute North, Owens 4-9-0 50, Millington 2-6-0 23.
Receiving — Northview, Raetz 2-33, K.Bell 1-31, McCluskey 1-11, McBride 1-39. Terre Haute North, Garrett 2-43, Akons 1-4, Millington 1-3, York 1-8, Jamerson 1-13.
Next — Northview (1-0) hosts Vincennes Lincoln and Terre Haute North (0-1) hosts Mooresville Friday.