Fulton - For just the second time in the 2023 high school football season, LaVille will hit the road. The early-season schedule had the Lancers on the road to open the campaign on August 18 against Bremen. LaVille's next three games were on its home turf at Lancer Field, a short walk from their own locker room. Now, it's Week Five of the high school season and first-year coach Jeff Kaiser's club is 4-0 and climbed to the #3 spot in the latest Associated Press and Coaches Association 1A ratings. In our normal pre-game chat, we had the change to ask Kaiser what the coaching staff has learned about the 2023 squad and how things have gone at practice this week. "We have learned that this team has a ton of fight and desire to be a really good football team," Kaiser said of his first team. "They continue to want more and find ways to improve. "Preparation so far this week has gone well. The guys seem focused and locked in to put themselves in a position to win on Friday night." Kaiser spent four years as the defensive coordinator before stepping into the pilot seat late in 2022. "Felt like our game on Friday night against Winamac was a solid TEAM win," said Kaiser. "Offensively we were able to mix it up, defensively we were able to stick to our scheme and continue to get better." LaVille was able to turn away Winamac, 38-6 to continue at the top of the HNAC standings. The Lancers are the defending Hoosier North champions. A Lancer visit to Caston will be the 13th meeting in the series. LaVille and CHS first met on October 23, 1970, which was won by LHS, 25-0. Following 49 year gap, LaVille and Caston met in the first round of the Indiana High School Athletic Association state tournament in 2019 and 2000. Then, in 2015, the two schools joined the Hoosier North Athletic Conference and have played eight times in conference play. LHS owns a 12-0 lead in the all-time series. "Keys to beat the Comets are to prevent turning the ball over, finish drives with TD's. Create turnovers and play physical. A fast start will allow us to set the tone for 48 minutes NOTING: The Lancers – are coming off a 38-6 win over Winamac to close a three-game home stand . . . were led in rushing by junior Cody Allen with 147 yards and a touchdown against Warriors . . . were ranked #3 in the Associated Press and Indiana Coaches Poll for the second consecutive week . . . have won 14 consecutive regular season games dating back to Oct. 15, 2021 in a win over HNAC foe Culver Community, which continues to be among the state leaders for consecutive regular season victories . . . are led in rushing by Allen with 457 yards and six touchdowns . . . are led in passing by senior Lucas Plummer's 405 yards, 3 TDs, 2 Ints . . . are led in receiving by senior Michael Good, senior Jonah Skiles, and junior Collin Czarnecki . . . continue to be led by a troop of Lancer defenders - sophomore Braedyn Foster, seniors Jonathan Neese, Good, Okummer, junior Collin Czarnecki and sophomore Xzavian Lafave . . . lead Caston 12-0 in the all-time series, dating back to the 1970 season . . . averagers 41.9 points per game against Caston, while allowing just 5.2 ppg, including five shutouts . . . are the 2022 defending HNAC Champions. The Comets - are led in passing by sophomore Gavin Mollenkopf with 320 yards, 2 TDs, 4 Ints . . . are led in rushing by sophomore Jabez Yarber with 258 yards overall and a 4.9 per carry average along with 2 TDs . . . senior Kyle Roudebush adds 116 yards and a 5.3 yards per tote / / / senior Grant Yadon is the leading receiver with 158 yards and a touchdown . . . are led by a trio on defense with Pete Duvall, Roudebush, and Yarber . . . head coach Chris Ulerick is 0-1 in games played against LaVille. QUOTING: "Caston will run a double wing offense that looks to get the edge and will also run a trips set to try and spread you out a bit to get some mismatches by getting you in single coverage. #19 Roudebush plays wing and is very active in running game and #21 Yeldon plays TE/Wing/QB so they want him involved. Both are big and physical and will give us fits if we don't tackle well. Caston will play a 4-4 defense and again #19 & #21 are their top players and are very physical. We must identify them every play and not let them make a big play. Things that concern us are playing on the road for only the second time this season. Not playing to our full potential and lack of executing at the level we know we can play. We need to stay focused and be disciplined in all 3 phases of the game." – Jeff Kaiser, LaVille head football coach G A M E D A Y Teams: 2A #3 LaVille (3-0) at Caston (0-4) Kick: September 15, 7 p.m. ET Site: Comet Crater, Fulton, IN Coaches: Jeff Kaiser (4-0 in first year at LaVille). Chris Ulerick (66-42 in 21 year at Caston) Last Outing: LaVille defeated Winamac, 38-6. Caston lost to Pioneer, 35-6 All-Time Series: LaVille leads Caston, 12-0 Last Meeting: LaVille def. Caston, 63-6, Sept 16, 2022 Broadcast/Live Stream: The LaVille game can be viewed and heard by clicking https://www.ihsaatv.org/?B=590606 Gameday Preview Provided by Scot Shearer